ESPN podcast says Big 12 doesn’t like Farmageddon nickname for K-State, ISU rivalry
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Big 12 leadership reportedly discouraged ESPN from using 'Farmageddon' nickname.
- ESPN hosts Davis and Thamel expressed support for the nickname despite pushback.
- Fans continue to embrace 'Farmageddon' as a cultural symbol of the rivalry game.
Let’s suppose it felt like ESPN didn’t spend much time referring to Kansas State’s annual football rivalry with Iowa State by its popular fan nickname — Farmageddon — as the two teams played Saturday in Dublin.
Well, in that case, it turns out there may be a reason for that.
ESPN staffers Rece Davis and Pete Thamel revealed on their ESPN College GameDay podcast this week that some influential people within the Big 12 aren’t “big fans of that moniker of Farmageddon.” Those people may have asked ESPN to avoid the nickname as it televised Iowa State’s 24-21 victory over Kansas State.
Davis, who serves as the host of “College Gameday” every Saturday morning during football season, said “we got a directive that some of the powers that be, I guess for the institutions and perhaps from the conference, they weren’t big fans of that moniker of Farmageddon. And I don’t really understand why.”
Despite that, it seems like both Davis and Thamel are fans of the nickname, which has been used by K-State and Iowa State fans for the past two decades as a clever way to describe a rivalry between a pair of schools with agricultural roots.
Some fans like the nickname so much that they use emojis to express their loyalty for either side: corn for the Cyclones and wheat for the Wildcats.
In the future, Davis and Thamel would prefer to use the term “Farmageddon” as much as possible.
“When you have something that is a rivalry that historically is not at the forefront of college football consciousness,” Davis said on his podcast, “and you have a really cool name like that ... it’s not meant in a derisive way, because you just mentioned that it’s in their DNA. It’s part of their charter, and they have done wonderful and magnificent things on that field.
“It becomes a fun way to identify the game. Hopefully people won’t send emails like that anymore and take away things that make it memorable.”
This story was originally published August 26, 2025 at 12:34 PM with the headline "ESPN podcast says Big 12 doesn’t like Farmageddon nickname for K-State, ISU rivalry."