Manhattan ? Sixteen years after Bill Snyder began the work of lifting Kansas State from the depths of college football to a place among its elite, and just two years after the Wildcats won the Big 12 Conference, the “Miracle in Manhattan” is showing some wear.

The Wildcats (4-4) haven’t won since Oct. 8 and face the prospect of missing the postseason for a second straight year — something that hasn’t happened since 1991-92.

“It’s big for me personally, and I know from talking to the other guys that it’s big for them too,” senior offensive tackle Jeromey Clary said Tuesday. “We don’t want to go out the way we did last year.”

Especially frustrating to the Wildcats is after going 4-7 in 2004, they started this season 3-0 and easily could be 6-2. Their last two losses were by a total of five points — 30-28 to Texas A&M and 23-20 to Colorado — and both were preventable.

A slow start kept Kansas State from taking advantage of mistakes by the Aggies, and a muffed punt set up Colorado’s game-winning field goal last weekend.

“It’s not a lack of effort that’s holding us back,” defensive tackle Quintin Echols said. “It’s penalties and doing dumb things.”

Snyder’s job would appear to be secure, even if Kansas State doesn’t make it to a bowl. Who, after all, is going to fire the architect of what has been called the greatest turnaround the game ever has seen?

Even if Kansas State doesn’t win again this year, Snyder’s 135 victories since he took over in 1989 would still match the Wildcats’ total wins from the 53 seasons before that.

Kansas State coach Bill Snyder, shown Saturday in Manhattan, took over a moribund program and built the Wildcats into a perennial Big 12 Conference powerhouse. But the Wildcats are 4-4 and could miss the postseason for a second straight year - something that hasn't happened since 1991-92.

The evidence of Snyder’s successes are everywhere in Manhattan, including the Powercat logo he designed that adorns everything from license plate holders to sweat shirts to the occasional tattoo.

Stars such as Michael Bishop, Ell Roberson, Darren Sproles, Mark Simoneau, Chris Canty, Terrence Newman and David Allen made Kansas State a top-10 staple.

But this year, K-State hasn’t found those type of players.

Thomas Clayton had the nation’s best rushing average after two games, and in the Wildcats’ third game, Parrish Fisher became the first freshman in school history to rush for more than 100 yards. But the ground game has been missing since, producing just 279 yards in five Big 12 games.

And while the defense has produced a respectable 16 turnovers, the offense has committed 21 — often at crucial times.

Snyder remains his usually stoic self.

“I think it’s important for young people to understand that you don’t just float in the wind, that there is a staple, that there is something that is, for lack of a better term, grounded,” he said.

Defensive tackle Derek Marso agreed.

“Kansas State’s going to be Kansas State again,” he said. “No doubt about that.”