Kansas State adds replacement game with Sun Belt opponent to 2020 football schedule
It didn’t take long for Kansas State to add a replacement game to its 2020 football schedule.
After a string of cancellations last week by Buffalo, North Dakota and Vanderbilt left the Wildcats without a single non-conference game on their fall slate of games, athletic director Gene Taylor worked quickly to strike a deal with a new opponent Tuesday.
K-State will host Arkansas State on Sept. 12 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, a source confirmed. The Wildcats will pay the Red Wolves $550,000 for the game, according to the source.
The Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported that both teams have agreed to a game contract.
The Wildcats reached out to Arkansas State earlier this month when conferences across the country began switching to league-only schedules or postponing fall sports altogether. They needed to explore backup plans and the Red Wolves were an obvious candidate because they had openings on Sept. 12 and Sept. 19, either of which would have worked for K-State before Big 12 games are expected to begin on Sept. 26.
Fans can begin looking forward to that game with some level of optimism that it will actually be played following the decision from Big 12 presidents to allow its schools to proceed with plans for taking the field for 10 games this season with enhanced safety protocols.
Arkansas State is coming off an eight-win season that saw the Red Wolves end the year with a victory over Florida International at the Camellia Bowl.
Blake Anderson led the Red Wolves to a 43-17 victory in a non-conference game against UNLV, but they also lost high-profile games to SMU 37-30 and Georgia 55-0.
Arkansas State is on par with Buffalo as a non-conference opponent. Though projecting results at this stage is difficult, Athlon ranked the Red Wolves No. 88 out of 130 FBS teams in its preseason preview. Buffalo was rated No. 73.
K-State is expected to announce its full revised schedule Wednesday morning along with every other team in the Big 12.
This story was originally published August 11, 2020 at 8:58 PM with the headline "Kansas State adds replacement game with Sun Belt opponent to 2020 football schedule."