K-State Q&A: Iowa State rivalry, Farmageddon trophy ideas, Big 12 football and more
It’s time for another Kansas State Wildcats Q&A mailbag.
We have lots of great questions to tackle this week, so let’s get right to them.
Death, taxes and questions about why Kansas State/Iowa State don’t have a trophy for their annual rivalry game.
It’s crazy. I have probably been asked about this topic more than any other since I started this weekly mailbag. Well, that’s not true. I got more questions about Bruce Weber potentially getting fired. But that’s it.
The people have spoken. They want a Farmageddon trophy. We need one!
Why isn’t there one? I’m guessing it’s because K-State and Iowa State have only been viewed as “rivals” for the past 10 years or so. Kansas will always be the main rival, but before teams started leaving the Big 12 I would say most K-State fans viewed Nebraska as their secondary rival.
Until recently, there really wasn’t anything to differentiate Iowa State from Colorado or Missouri or Oklahoma State.
Fans cleverly calling the rivalry Farmageddon and going back and forth with each on Twitter with corn/wheat emojis has added some fun to the series. Matt Campbell improving Iowa State football over the past few years has also made it a better game than when Bill Snyder’s teams were winning every single year.
I like Farmageddon as a secondary rivalry for K-State. I do wonder, though, if Iowa State views the Wildcats in the same way. Overall, they probably dislike Iowa the most, and then it’s a coin flip between KU and K-State.
In any case, we need a trophy.
I am all for honoring former trailblazers at both school that broke the color barrier all these years ago. That would make it a meaningful trophy.
But players also love trophies they can hold and wave around after games, like a giant ax or a golden hat or a rack of ribs. I didn’t make that last one up, by the way. Memphis and UAB actually play for a trophy that is shaped like a rack of ribs. How awesome is college football?
I have always liked the idea of a mini tractor the players could drive around after the game. Or a golden shovel. Or a bronze watering can. What about a silver wheelbarrow?
There’s really no wrong answer here. We just need a trophy.
I wish I could credit myself or a fellow scribe for coming up with the term “Farmageddon.” But I’m pretty sure that honor goes to K-State fans.
KU vs. Missouri was called Armageddon at Arrowhead when they briefly moved their yearly football game to Kansas City. So K-State fans built off that and gave K-State vs. Iowa State the nickname “Farmageddon” when the Cyclones and Wildcats played two games at Arrowhead about a decade ago.
It’s probably not as good as Phi Slamma Jamma or Run TPC or The Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse. But it’s mighty good, and it has stuck ever since.
People also started calling Bramlage Coliseum the Octagon of Doom, because it was popularized by K-State fans.
There are some clever folks in this fan base.
Maybe I need to spend less time searching for GIFs on Twitter during games and spend more time stepping up my game on the sportswriter quips.
This is a tough one. Wheat is in darn near everything that tastes good.
But I’m going to go with a good wheat-filled bourbon from Kentucky. Nothing beats a good one of those.
In all honesty, K-State would benefit from better blocking up front.
It’s not like Adrian Martinez and Deuce Vaughn are running through massive holes at the line of scrimmage and owe all of their success to the offensive line.
They are putting up strong rushing numbers mostly because when they do get in the open field they make defenders miss. Martinez and Vaughn both had runs of 69 yards against Texas Tech.
Vaughn had another long gain in which he put three Texas Tech defenders on skates. You can’t really credit blocking for that.
K-State’s rushing attack has thrived on explosive gains more than a steady pour of six-yard runs over the past two weeks.
That being said, K-State has several offensive linemen who are excellent pulling blockers. Hayden Gillum, Hadley Panzer and Cooper Beebe are all very good when they get down field and get a chance to pulverize a defensive back.
But Beebe is the only offensive lineman of the bunch who has earned a high grade from Pro Football Focus this season. KT Leveston and Christian Duffie have been average at the tackle spots. Gillum and Panzer have been below average.
That showed during the Tulane game. It also showed when K-State looked clueless against all those delayed blitzes from Texas Tech last week.
I’m not trying to be negative here. K-State has a decent offensive line. But Beebe has been the only standout this season.
I fear that Tulane lost its shot at being ranked when it dropped a home game against Southern Mississippi a week after beating K-State.
The answer to your question comes down to how you define a bad loss.
The Green Wave aren’t a bad team. They should qualify for a bowl game and finish in the top half of the American standings. It’s safe to say they are one of the top 60 teams in college football.
But it’s still a bad look for a Big 12 team to lose against them at home as a 14-point favorite.
Tulane is also only favored by a field goal at home this week against East Carolina. There are more losses coming on the schedule.
K-State losing to Tulane at home wasn’t a terrible loss. But it is most definitely an outlier compared to the Wildcats’ other games.
E-MAIL QUESTION: Hey Kellis. Got another question for you. Feel free to use it in your next Q&A. Are the Wildcats the new team to beat in the Big 12? I’m starting to think they are. - Andrew B.
Oklahoma State is the current favorite.
The Cowboys are off to an undefeated start, and they won their Big 12 opener at Baylor. Spencer Sanders is back in charge of the best offense in the conference, and that defense is rapidly improving. Veteran coaches and quarterbacks are hard to beat in college football, and Oklahoma State has both Mike Gundy and Sanders.
But K-State isn’t far behind.
I would put the Wildcats in a group with TCU, Texas and maybe Baylor as the true contenders in the conference championship race. I suppose Kansas would also have to be included if they beat the Horned Frogs on Saturday.
Here’s how DraftKings currently projects the race:
- Oklahoma State +240
- K-State +350
- Texas +425
- TCU +450
- Baylor +800
- Kansas +1000
The Wildcats really need to beat Iowa State on Saturday to stay near the top of those projections, because they play TCU, Oklahoma State, Texas and Baylor in consecutive weeks afterward. That stretch will make, or break, their Big 12 championship hopes.
Fair or not, college football favors brand names.
So teams like Kansas, Oklahoma State and TCU are going to have to stay undefeated if they want to have a shot at reaching the playoff.
I can’t believe I just mentioned the Jayhawks in that sentence.
Maybe there is a slim chance the Cowboys could finish in the top four with a loss, but I doubt it. Baylor and/or TCU absolutely deserved to reach the playoff in 2014 when they were the best teams in the Big 12, but they get left out because Ohio State (brand name) beat Wisconsin convincingly in the Big Ten championship game.
Yes, Ohio State went on to win the national championship that season. But they were behind both Baylor and TCU in the rankings all year. I still think the playoff committee got that one wrong.
Baylor, Oklahoma and Texas all having two early losses makes it a little harder for everyone else in the conference to gain national respect.
I feel like most experts have already written off the Big 12 as far as the playoff goes.
Jerome Tang may have found a hidden gem in junior college transfer Nae’Qwan Tomlin. He could be one of the most versatile players in the Big 12 this season with his size (6-foot-10) and his ability to play like a guard.
Taj Manning has also been much better than expected. He could contribute as a freshman.
We will have to see if Keyontae Johnson has any rust when the games start, but he has stayed healthy so far and that is encouraging.
Tang probably said it best when he offered no prediction for the upcoming season other than the Wildcats “are going to be fun to watch.”
This story was originally published October 7, 2022 at 11:23 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: Iowa State rivalry, Farmageddon trophy ideas, Big 12 football and more."