Five takeaways from K-State Wildcats’ season-opening loss to Iowa State in Dublin
After months of buildup and thousands of travel miles, Kansas State and Iowa State gave us a Farmageddon football game that was unlike any we have seen before.
The Cyclones defeated the Wildcats 24-21 in front of an electric crowd Saturday at Aviva Stadium. It was obvious that both teams, along with their fan bases, wanted to win with every fiber of their being. After all, nobody came all this way to leave Ireland at the bottom of the conference standings.
Play was sloppy at times and nerves were obvious early on, but the game was close throughout and turned into a thriller as the day rolled on. Things were in doubt until Iowa State converted a crucial fourth down in the final moments on a pass from Rocco Becht to Carson Hansen that enabled the Cyclones to run out the clock.
K-State quarterback Avery Johnson completed 21 of 30 passes for 273 yards and two touchdowns. His long ball was on the money in Week 0, particularly with dimes to Jerand Bradley and Jayce Brown. That gave the Wildcats a chance to steal this game in the fourth quarter.
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But Becht and the Cyclones made every clutch play. The Cyclones only threw for 183 yards, but they felt like more because of all their timely gains. For that reason, they got to party in Europe while the Wildcats hung their heads.
“Bottom line, we’re disappointed,” K-State football coach Chris Klieman said. “We came here expecting to win, and we didn’t. But I’m proud of the guys. Regardless of what this game was, we have 11 more left.”
Iowa State went a perfect 3-for-3 on fourth down. On the flip side, the Wildcats were stuffed three times on the money down, including once on an ineffective run from Johnson.
The team that moves the chains in the most important situations is usually going to win. That’s what happened here.
“They made the necessary plays,” Johnson said, “that were needed to be made tonight to win the game.”
No matter the outcome, it was an entertaining start to the college football season for everyone watching in Ireland or back home.
Here are five takeaways from the action:
This was a painful loss for the Wildcats
Chris Klieman and K-State are behind the eight ball already.
That’s not good considering the Wildcats are one of just a few teams to have already played a game this season. This loss not only means that K-State will start the year 0-1, but that it will start Big 12 play at 0-1.
K-State and Iowa State are usually playing with conference championship implications on the line late in the year. High stakes were also involved in this one. The game was just played in August instead of November.
Finding a way to win this game could have given the Wildcats an advantage over the rest of the conference from Day 1. Instead, they are in an early hole.
Another worrying stat: Only two teams have posted winning seasons after playing in this game. And neither of them lost in Ireland.
The Wildcats missed Dylan Edwards
This was not the type of start to the season that Edwards was hoping for.
Most expected the junior running back to be a focal point for the Wildcats on offense after he amassed 223 total yards and scored three touchdowns at the Rate Bowl back in December.
Perhaps that will still happen as the season moves along. But it wasn’t to be Saturday. Edwards only lasted one play against Iowa State before he was forced out of the game with an apparent injury.
The Derby product came onto the field to return the first punt of the day, but he was unable to catch the ball and gave away a fumble to Iowa State. He didn’t seem shaken up afterward, but he eventually left for the locker room and returned to the sideline with a towel over his head.
At one point, he jogged up and down the sideline in a possible attempt to warm up and return to the game. But he never made it back onto the field.
Klieman ruled him out during a halftime interview with ESPN.
Joe Jackson handled most of K-State’s running back duties the rest of the way. He finished with 51 yards on 12 carries.
The first half was filled with sloppy play
There is a reason why most college football teams choose to open the season against an FCS opponent at home.
It is hard for anyone to look sharp in August, especially during the era of the transfer portal in which teams have less returning talent on their rosters than ever before. More often than not, coaches and players alike need a warmup game of sorts before they can truly perform like a polished team.
Without it, well, you sometimes get a mistake-filled game like we saw early on here.
The first half of this game was sloppy, to say the least. It gave viewers four fumbles, with two mistakes on each side, a missed field goal from Iowa State, a failed fourth-down conversion from K-State, a kickoff that sailed way out of bounds and (most humorously of all) a pass for negative yardage to offensive lineman Terrence Enos.
Rain and a slippery field likely played a role in those errors. Nerves probably didn’t help, either.
At least it was a competitive sloppy game, as the teams entered the locker room tied at 7-all. That opened the door for better play in the second half.
K-State might be best on the defensive line
No position looked better than the defensive line for the Wildcats on Saturday.
Plenty of other things may not have gone perfectly for Klieman’s team, but no one could complain about the K-State pass rush ... or the defensive front seven as a whole.
The Wildcats caused plenty of problems for Becht by consistently getting defenders into the backfield. K-State finished the day with six tackles for loss, including four sacks.
Tobi Osunsanmi led the way with two sacks and Jordan Allen added one of his own. Damian Ilalio also recorded a tackle for loss. That excellent play up front allowed things to open up for a big sack from Qua Moss on a blitz.
Iowa State eventually found success against the K-State front, but the Wildcats still had promising play.
It was an incredible football atmosphere in Dublin
The pregame atmosphere inside Aviva Stadium made Farmageddon in Ireland feel every bit as electric as a major bowl game.
Iowa State and K-State fans both sold approximately 11,000 tickets apiece for this one-of-a-kind clash, and every single seat was full at kickoff.
Supporters on both sides stayed loud throughout the contest and roared after every big play. K-State fans waved purple flags on their side of the complex. Iowa State fans chanted their songs on the other. Countless beers were consumed. This venue only holds 51,700 at full capacity, but the crowd noise made the stadium feel much larger.
After traveling overseas to watch this game, fans were fired up to watch the action.
It made for a surreal setting in Dublin. The outcome of this game felt much more important than your typical season opener. Fans in attendance were living and dying with the result of every play.
This story was originally published August 23, 2025 at 2:52 PM with the headline "Five takeaways from K-State Wildcats’ season-opening loss to Iowa State in Dublin."