III, 634–5; Carúpano, 2 June

1816, _Decretos del Libertador_ , ed. Vicente Lecuna, 3 vols (Caracas, 1961), I, 55–6.

. Austria, _Bosquejo de la historia militar de Venezuela_ , II, 448.

. Decree, 24 September 1817, _Escritos_ , XI, 94–5.

. Regulation, 7 June 1817, Decree, 23 September 1817, o'Leary, _Memorias_ , XV, 264–8, 304–7.

. Bolívar to Bermúdez, 7 November 1817, o'Leary, _Memorias_ , XV, 449–50; Rivas Vicuña, _Las guerras de Bolívar_ , III, 63–4.

. Clément Thibaud, _Repúblicas en armas: Los ejércitos bolivarianos en la Guerra de Independencia (Colombia–Venezuela, 1810–1821)_ , (Bogotá, 2003), 44, 282–7.

. Decree, 30 October 1817, _Escritos_ , XI, 318–20.

. Bolívar to Mariño, 17 September 1817, _Escritos_ , XI, 27; Bolívar to Mariño, 11 November

1817, O'Leary, _Memorias_ , XV, 454–5.

. Bolívar to Zaraza, 3 October 1817, to Monagas, 30next team is going to go.''

Indeed, some of the Wildcats' best seasons have come after lackluster efforts, while some of their worst seasons have come after achieving some of their greatest heights.

But the way they perform in bowl games tends to be a harbinger. They were coming off a Fiesta Bowl triumph when they ran unbeaten through the regular season in '98, and they were coming off a Holiday Bowl victory in 2003, when they beat mighty Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship game.

There is also something to be said for momentum: Kansas State (8-4) has won five of its last six, and has been on an upward trajectory ever since a season-opening loss at Stanford. The youth that had Big 12 coaches picking the Wildcats to finish