Kansas State vs Iowa State: Open Game Thread

We’ve made it. The final game of the regular season. It’s time for FARMAGEDDON.

What a season it has been for the Kansas State Wildcats. Coming in to the start of the Chris Klieman era in Manhattan, it wasn’t unreasonable to expect a 5-7 season and hoping for 6-6. And basically nobody expected wins over Mississippi State and Oklahoma. But here we are, almost December, and the Wildcats are at 7-4, with the potential for eight wins in a regular season for the first time since 2016. And with a big road win over the Bulldogs back in September, and a huge home upset over the Sooners back at the end of October. Sure, some frustrating losses have happened, like the loss to West Virginia two weeks ago, but overall, this has been an impressive season for the Wildcats with potential for even more special things to happen.

Up in Ames, the Iowa State Cyclones have had an interesting season as well, but, maybe surprisingly, it’s been consistent. The Cyclones also enter today’s game at 7-4 on the season, and the four losses have come to teams ranked above them in the Big 12 standings plus Top 25-ranked Iowa. In many ways, they look like K-State teams of the past decade — beating teams they should, losing to teams they should. Consistency. The Cyclones are also primed for something special program-wise. A win today would give them eight wins in the regular season for consecutive seasons, just the second time such a feat has been accomplished in Iowa State football history.

If “bowl bracketology” is any indication, today’s game is a battle for the Camping World Bowl and a match-up with Notre Dame. Of course, that depends on Bedlam not going crazy, and Baylor not upsetting Oklahoma in the Big 12 Conference Championship Game. But crazy things never happen in the Big 12, right??

Be sure and check out our pre-game content for tonight’s game. Jon brought you this week’s How to Watch post with all the important details for today’s game and TB dropped his Kicking the Tires preview of the Cyclones this morning.

Same set-up as last week, with tonight’s 6:00pm CST kickoff airing on FS1 with Brian Custer (play-by-play) and Robert Smith (analyst) on the call. You might be able to stream the game via FoxSportsGo if you are in the correct market.

If you don’t get FS1, or can’t access the stream, the game can be heard across the 39-station K-State Sports Network with Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play), former K-State quarterback Stan Weber (analyst), and Matt Walters (sidelines) calling the action. The game will also be on Sirius channel 98, XM Channel 200, and available on the TuneIn app. Live stats are available at k-statesports.com, and Twitter updates (@KStateFB) will also be a part of the coverage.

Go Cats!