Why Avery Johnson is treating Kansas State’s season opener like a ‘revenge’ game
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kansas State players target Iowa State in opener after two close recent losses.
- Turnovers and explosive plays defined past defeats despite higher yardage gains.
- Quarterback Avery Johnson highlights focus on ball security and redemption.
There is much for Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson to feel excited about as he prepares for a much-anticipated football game on Saturday in Dublin, Ireland.
Not only will he be able to showcase his skills in the very first college game of the season, with a huge audience following along on TV, he will get to experience a potentially unforgettable trip to Europe with family, friends and teammates.
But it’s something else that truly has Johnson fired up about this game.
“Everybody is just just ready to get back out there,” he said. “With it being Iowa State and them beating us the past two years, we’re really excited to be able to go get our revenge.”
K-State football players have made one thing clear in the buildup to their upcoming clash with Iowa State in their annual Farmageddon rivalry -- they are sick and tired of losing to the Cyclones.
In recent years, no Big 12 team has caused more problems for the Wildcats than their neighbors to the northeast. Iowa State has won four of the past five in the series, by a victory margin of 72 points. Cyclones coach Matt Campbell has consistently found ways to best his K-State counterpart, Wildcats coach Chris Klieman.
The Cyclones beat the Wildcats on senior day in each of the past two seasons, 42-35 in 2023 and 29-21 in 2024.
For that reason, Johnson and many of his teammates are focused on beating Iowa State this week than they are living it up in Dublin.
“It’s a big motivator for everybody,” Johnson said. “I think it will come to show that our guys are hungrier. We still have a bad taste in our mouths, not just from last year, but the year before and the fashion that we lost those games. They were both one-score games, games that we had right in our hands. We seemed to beat ourselves two years in a row.”
K-State gained more yards than Iowa State in each of the past two years, but other factors enabled the Cyclones to win.
Last season, K-State lost a pair of fumbles while Iowa State didn’t commit a single turnover.
“Taking care of the football,” Johnson said, “is the main thing.”
Two years ago, the Wildcats had no answer for Abu Sama as the Iowa State running back zoomed his way to 276 yards and three touchdowns in the middle of a blizzard at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Klieman is willing to show respect to Iowa State, saying, “they’re really well coached and they have really good talent.” Much like his quarterback, though, he thinks the Wildcats are capable of more than they’ve previously shown against the Cyclones.
“They don’t beat themselves,” Klieman said. “If you look over the last couple years, we’ve done things that have beaten ourselves and then they’ve capitalized on those, whether it’s turnovers or explosive plays or whatever you want to say. That’s something that we’ve got to do a really good job of, is protecting the football and eliminating the explosive play.”
One thing is for sure: Motivation won’t be a factor for the Wildcats when they travel overseas for this game.
Will Swanson is a senior tight end who has more experience with Iowa State than Johnson. For that reason, he is blocking out everything associated with this game other than the matchup itself.
This is a revenge game for him too.
“I’m looking forward to this game,” Swanson said. “I really want to beat Iowa State.”
This story was originally published August 19, 2025 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Why Avery Johnson is treating Kansas State’s season opener like a ‘revenge’ game."