K-State Wildcats vs. Iowa State Cyclones: Score prediction, game time, line, TV info
THE DETAILS
Kickoff: 6:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Bill Snyder Family Stadium, Manhattan
TV: ESPN2
Radio: KKGQ (92.3 FM) in Wichita, KCSP (610 AM) in Kansas City
The line: Iowa State by 6 1/2
PREDICTION
It makes sense that Iowa State is nearly a touchdown favorite over Kansas State this weekend.
Even though the Cyclones and Wildcats almost always play close football games when they meet for their Farmageddon series, most stats clearly favor Iowa State in this matchup.
The Cyclones have the Big 12’s best defense, and they are particularly strong against the run. They are only allowing 2.6 yards per rush, 6.2 yards per pass and 15.6 points per game.
The Wildcats have not fared well against strong rushing defenses this season. Moving the ball could once again be a problem for Chris Klieman’s team against Iowa State. But the Wildcats are coming off a game in which they amassed more than 400 yards against Oklahoma and appear to be hitting their stride now that Skylar Thompson is back in charge of the offense.
Perhaps they are ready for the challenge.
If so, the Wildcats seem to be well positioned to pull off an upset.
The main reason why: Iowa State doesn’t respond well to mistakes. The Cyclones out-gained Iowa by 166 yards earlier this season and lost 27-17 because they committed four costly turnovers. They later out-gained Baylor by 197 yards and lost 31-29 because they threw an interception and allowed a kickoff return for a touchdown.
Stopping Breece Hall and Brock Purdy isn’t easy, but creating turnovers against them is possible.
Few teams are more opportunistic than K-State when it comes to scoring on defense and special teams. Malik Knowles has returned a kickoff for a touchdown in back-to-back games, and K-State should be able to come up with a turnover or two while playing in front of a rowdy home crowd in prime time.
Weird things tend to happen in this series. Here’s guessing the ball takes enough bounces toward the home team for K-State to pull off a close victory, perhaps on a last-second field goal.
K-State 27, Iowa State 24.
This story was originally published October 16, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "K-State Wildcats vs. Iowa State Cyclones: Score prediction, game time, line, TV info."