Conference championships aren’t won or lost in Week 0. The games still count the same, though.
No. 21 Iowa State’s 24-21 win against No. 20 Kansas State in Ireland was the headliner of a five-game Week 0 slate that served as the amuse-bouche to the main course of the regular season, set to begin in earnest on Thursday.
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There just aren’t enough data points to form any big-picture takeaway: Kansas State could be really good, which means Iowa State might be terrific; both teams could be pretty average; both teams might be pretty good, which seems like the most likely scenario.
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Thinking down the line, though, you can see how the Cyclones’ win ends up carrying serious weight as a tiebreaker in a Big 12 that once again looks anything but predictable. Honestly, the Wildcats didn’t have to go all the way to Dublin to lose Farmageddon – they’d been doing that just fine stateside for the past seven years.
That’s one reason why the season-opening loss feels familiar for Kansas State. A year ago, the Wildcats opened the year as the league’s co-favorites alongside Utah but dropped four games, three in November. While the Big 12 abolished the preseason poll after Arizona State’s worst-to-first finish in 2024, KSU was by consensus seen as one of the favorites for the conference crown and bid to the College Football Playoff.
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The good news is there’s three months to go. Maybe Kansas State’s really, really good and was undone by two turnovers, too many penalties and an inability to get one key stop late in the fourth quarter. Maybe Iowa State’s the best team in the Bowl Subdivision. Who knows?
There’s no way to know for sure. But what’s certain is that this win matters for the Cyclones and the loss puts the Wildcats in an early bind.
Here are the rest of the winners and losers from Saturday’s openers:
Winners
Iowa State
Longtime Cylones coach Matt Campbell faced a tough decision. Ahead 24-21 and looking at a fourth-and-3 at the Kansas State 16 with 2:18 to play, Campbell could’ve tried the field goal – kicker Kyle Konrardy had missed from 49 yards earlier – and trusted his defense to keep the Wildcats out of the zone or tried to convert and salt the win. He wisely chose the latter: Rocco Becht found running back Carson Hansen out of the backfield for 15 yards and the Cyclones took three knees and the win.
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Becht completed 14 of 28 attempts for 183 yards and two scores with 18 yards rushing and another touchdown on the ground, winning the overall battle in an interesting quarterback faceoff with Kansas State junior Avery Johnson. Hansen ran for 71 yards on 4.4 yards per carry with 19 receiving yards. Good-looking sophomore safety Marcus Neal Jr. had eight tackles and a pass breakup.
The Cyclones are always going to be looked at more skeptically than most Power Four contenders, simply by virtue of the fact of the program’s less-than-stellar history. That’s silly, of course: Campbell turned this thing around so long ago that anyone unable to look past how things largely were before his hire is still living in the past.
Always expected to win at least eight games, Iowa State’s victory in Ireland might be the impetus for back-to-back seasons with double-digit wins in program history. Maybe that’s the biggest takeaway, way down the road.
Iowa State defender Ta’Shawn James celebrates a fumble recovery with teammate Will McLaughlin during their game against Kansas State at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.
Kansas
The Jayhawks are a Big 12 contender to watch after nearly surging into bowl play following a miserable start to last season and then getting things started in 2025 with a 31-7 win against Fresno State. The debut of the program’s shiny new stadium, the win featured a really nice game from veteran quarterback Jalon Daniels, who hit on 18 of his 20 throws for 176 yards and three touchdowns with another 47 yards on the ground. While Fresno might not finish in the top three or four of the Mountain West, to hold the Bulldogs to 37 yards on 29 carries is a positive sign for those of us who think Kansas can eventually get to eight or more wins.
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Western Kentucky
In the other opening-weekend clash with conference implications, Western Kentucky topped Sam Houston State 41-24 to score an early advantage in the Conference USA race. Look, if the season ended today you’d really have to thinking about giving the Heisman Trophy to Hilltoppers senior quarterback Maverick McIvor, an Abilene Christian transfer who completed 33 of 51 attempts for 401 yards and three touchdowns without an interception.
Losers
Kansas State
Early season losses aren’t new to the Chris Klieman era and shouldn’t necessarily be seen as a definite sign of what’s to come: Kansas State dropped its first two Big 12 games in 2019, lost the opener to Arkansas State in 2020, dropped three in a row to open the Big 12 in 2021 and lost either its first or second league game in each of the past two seasons. There are 105 days from Saturday until the Big 12 championship game, giving the Wildcats plenty of time to get on track.
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The bad news is the lost tiebreaker, and there’s no sugarcoating how much that means for K-State’s place in the Big 12 race. The good news is the Wildcats outgained the Cyclones by about 2.5 yards per play, which is far from insignificant, and were even in the turnover battle after finishing one under par in turnover margin last season. There are things to build on.
Stanford
Stanford had a chance to put Hawaii away late but tossed a costly interception on first down in the fourth quarter sparked the Warriors’ 23-20 win, setting the stage for what should be an absolutely painful season for the Cardinal and interim coach Frank Reich. The longtime NFL coach made a crucial mistake late to sit on his timeouts with Hawaii driving deep into Stanford territory, allowing the Warriors to kick a 38-yard field goal with no time on the clock. This could be a winless season for the Cardinal, though it’s more likely they steal a win or two but are otherwise dreadful.
UNLV
UNLV won, beating Idaho State 38-31, and it’s not like two really good years under Barry Odom are enough to make people start spitting on any win, even one against someone from the Championship Subdivision. But this is still seen as a major threat for the playoff as the best team in the Group of Five thanks to another impressive offseason roster upgrade and the hype that has joined former Mississippi State and Florida coach Dan Mullen’s arrival as Odom’s successor. Basically, that team – if UNLV is that team – doesn’t struggle to put away Idaho State.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College football Week 0 winners, losers include Iowa State
