For Kansas State and Iowa State, Farmageddon is a treasure — and the stakes have never been higher

On By Littum

America’s breadbasket straddles the Missouri River, with Iowa on the eastern slope and Kansas burying a knee in the back from the southwest. The river’s thick, muddy waters and countless tributaries irrigate the world’s most fertile farmland. In Iowa, that means corn, hogs and even turkeys. In Kansas, it’s winter wheat, sorghum and cattle.

Agriculture dictates business in both states, and their land grant institutions are among the nation’s best for growing the next crop of farmers. It has caused Iowa State and Kansas State to forge close ties, and that cooperation rubs off on the competition in athletics. It also helped launch one of the biggest rivalry nicknames in sports.

Once considered a derisive term, “Farmageddon” has pushed its way into the lexicon of modern college football in a way that belies its run-down roots. In a new-look Big 12, tossed and reformed through realignment, Farmageddon is a relic and a treasure. With expansion, teams change conferences and rivalries dissolve. Still, Iowa State and Kansas State have found in each other an organic partner and competitor.

“There’s that sense of a rivalry between the two schools and it’s always a battle,” said Kansas State defensive end Brendan Mott, who grew up in Iowa City, Iowa. “It’s super physical up front. Conditions are always tough. It’s definitely a rivalry. I know us as players look forward to it every year. And I’m sure Iowa State does, too.”

Farmageddon has never meant more to the participants, fans or college football, and the series has grown in importance. For just the second time in their century-plus contest, the programs meet as ranked opponents. Saturday night at Jack Trice Stadium, no. 18 Iowa State (9-2, 6-2 Big 12) could win a 10th game for the first time in school history and qualify for the Big 12 Championship Game. No. 24 Kansas State (8-3, 5-3) could crash the party in Ames and maybe sneak into the title game itself.

“We’ve had the game in a circle,” Kansas State tight end Will Swanson told reporters.

Humble beginnings

For generations, the Kansas State and Iowa State football teams sat like loose nails on a wooden fence, waiting for the hammer to knock them into place. From the inception of the Big Six Conference in 1928 to the end of the Big Eight in 1995, either the Cyclones or the Wildcats finished in last place 54 times in 68 seasons. In 1989 and 1991, Kansas State moved its home games with Oklahoma to Norman so both teams could generate more revenue.

Then came the Manhattan Miracle led by Bill Snyder. In perhaps the greatest turnaround in college football history, Snyder took a program that was teetering on a lower division move and won multiple Big 12 championships. Snyder, a College Football Hall of Fame inductee, was 215-117-1 in 27 seasons with five top-10 finishes. The Wildcats had participated in a bowl game in their first 93 years. Snyder took them to 20.

“When you look at both programs, their history is very similar,” said Jeff Woody, an Iowa State running back from 2009-13. “Kansas State just got out of it quicker. Kansas State, before Bill Snyder got there, was awful, and Iowa State was awful until (Dan) McCarney got there.”

Iowa State had a few spikes under McCarney, but the Cyclones were far behind their foes 350 miles to the southwest. For 90 years, it was less of a rivalry than just a series between two similar institutions that simply played each year.

“They had a great run under coach Snyder, and in some ways they were the gold standard of what maybe Iowa State was kind of striving to do,” said Iowa State’s Jamie Pollard, who ranks third in longest-tenured Power 4 athletics directors. “Their institutional makeup, their makeup, their history is more like us than not.

“You look at K-State as a program. They won Big 12 championships. They played in the Cotton Bowl. They did some things that Iowa State wanted to do. Honestly, with coach (Chris) Klieman there right now, the way to where we want to go, in some ways through them.

Farmageddon

In 2007, Kansas and Missouri played a top-five game at Arrowhead Stadium. The stands were full and exuberant, the game was a great success. Kansas City Chiefs brass then reached out to several schools to gauge interest in staging future games.

“K-State was willing, like we were willing, to each give up a home game, so we did the two-year deal,” Pollard said. “It was a good one-time opportunity that allowed us to go into the Kansas City market, which is a big market for us.”

Before the first game in 2009, a Kansas State fan site coined the term “Farmageddom”. It quickly caught on and made it into newspapers and other media. At first, many fans and supporters considered the term too cheesy and clichéd. However, the nickname took off and stuck despite the series moving back to campuses in 2011.

At the same time, the Big 12 were in the midst of a radical restructuring. For several years, there were heated discussions about six schools — including Texas and Oklahoma — joining the Pac-10. After the 2010 season, Nebraska and Colorado left for the Big Ten and Pac-10, respectively. The next year, Missouri and Texas A&M joined the SEC. Each time, Iowa State and Kansas State were left to writhe at the whims of their higher-profile counterparts. In the midst of the chaos, a bond formed.

“I was in college for the first round of realignment, and Kansas State was one of those review schools as well,” Woody said. “And you say, ‘Well, where are we going?’ Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech were those land grant schools. It’s kind of a sibling rivalry that I can fight you and you can hate each other. hate us.”

New era

Saturday marks the 108th straight season the Wildcats and Cyclones have faced off, but the stakes have never been higher. When both schools were ranked in 2002, it was midseason and K-State rolled past Iowa State 58-7. Now it’s the season finale, and both teams are still chasing Big 12 titles.

Should the Cyclones win, they are all but certain to appear in the title game for the second time, barring a three-way tie and a complicated tiebreaker. But the percentages are low, and coach Matt Campbell said Tuesday that’s not something that worries him.

Kansas State, which won the Big 12 title two seasons ago, needs a win to help make another title appearance. However, the long odds do not detract from the importance of the game.

Last year, 6 inches of snow fell during the Cyclones’ 42-35 victory in Manhattan. In a game dubbed “Snowmageddon,” Iowa State running back Abu Sama III rushed for 276 yards and three touchdowns. For Saturday’s primetime kickoff, temperatures are expected to drop into the single digits.

“It always seems like it’s a cold game or a snowy game or something like that,” Mott said. “It’s always a good scrimmage and fight. Last year they came down to Manhattan. It was a snowy game and it was our senior night and we didn’t really have the game we wanted to have. So we’re a real hungry team.”

Since the term Farmageddon was applied to this series, unusual situations and settings have determined the outcome. In the first Arrowhead game, Iowa State missed an extra point in a 24-23 Kansas State victory. From 2014 through 2017, the Wildcats won four straight by 5 points or fewer. In 2015, Iowa State led by a touchdown with the ball and 1:31 left. All the Cyclones had to do was kneel down for the win because Kansas State had just one timeout left.

Instead, Cyclones coach Paul Rhoads chose to run the ball on first down. The running back fumbled and Kansas State tied the game with a touchdown four plays later. A strip sack with 10 seconds left led to Kansas State’s game-winning field goal. Rhoads was fired the next day.

Campbell’s arrival in 2016 has escalated the effort. He is 4-4 against Kansas State, matching the number of Cyclone wins against Kansas State from 1999 to 2007. Klieman replaced Snyder in 2019 and is 2-3 against the Cyclones. The courses are built with the same principles with development as the core. Iowa State leads the all-time series, 53-50-4.

“Both football teams play a style that their fan bases really embrace,” Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor said. “They’re similar in a lot of ways, just tough kids from small-town Iowa, small-town Kansas. They just go out there and play really good, tough, solid football.”

Future

There is little chance of snow or sub-zero temperatures for next year’s Farmageddon. Kansas State moved the game to Ireland and it will take place in Week 0. Aer Lingus, which operates an annual game in Dublin, met with Iowa State and Kansas State to consider playing a game there. Iowa State will host only four Big 12 games in 2025, so it declined. Taylor thought Klieman would do the same, but asked his coach to look into the suggestion.

“I said, ‘There’s no way Klieman is moving the Iowa State game to a neutral site in Ireland,'” Taylor said. “Chris came down to my office and said, ‘Let’s do it.’ I was literally shocked because of the importance of the game.”

Another change is on the horizon, one that has excited the fanbase. In the 16-team Big 12, which has added eight new members in the past two seasons, only four rivalries (all in-state) are protected annually. Farmageddon is slated to cycle off the schedule in 2027. There are no plans for the schools to meet in a non-conference game.

“There’s been a lot of changes,” Taylor said. “We probably haven’t had a chance to slow down and look at such an opportunity. But I think it’s worth discussing in the future. And say maybe we rotate – not just one team a year that you play every year, maybe it’s two or three teams. How do we keep Iowa State for us and Kansas and rotate everybody else?”

Once an afterthought, Farmageddon now resonates as an authentic rivalry shaped by equality and substance. Mott, Woody and both athletic directors acknowledge that the other has become their school’s No. 2 rival, right behind their enemies in the state. It means something emotional and competitive.

“Ohio State-Michigan has played each other forever and it’s like a real hate,” Woody said. “But the existence of these programs has never been threatened, like what happened with Iowa State and Kansas State. So by recognizing that it almost fell apart, and there’s the good thing between two similar programs, that because it almost fell apart, then you appreciate it for what it is. It’s impossible not to see the similarities between the programs.”

“It’s kind of a farmers’ fight,” Mott said. “I think it’s cool that it’s got this nickname. It just adds to the rivalry.”

(Photo: Scott Winters / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)