SI

Chaotic Start to Kansas State vs. Iowa State Marks True Return of College Football

College football is so back.

Tyler Lauletta

Kansas State and Iowa State got off to a delightfully chaotic start in Dublin, Ireland.
Kansas State and Iowa State got off to a delightfully chaotic start in Dublin, Ireland. / ESPN
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At 12 p.m. ET on Saturday, a nation turned its attention to ESPN, to watch the 2025 college football season officially begin.

Kansas State and Iowa State, a rivalry game known as Farmageddon that goes back more than a century, kicked off from Dublin, Ireland, marking the start of Week Zero.

Sometimes it can take a little while for the reality to kick in—college football is back, and will continue to be back until January 19, 2026. Thankfully, the Wildcats and Cyclones had a bit of chaos early to really slam the point home.

With the rain pouring down and a packed house at Aviva Stadium, Iowa State’s opening drive of the game stalled just short of midfield. On the ensuing punt, Kansas State return man Dylan Edwards wasn’t able to handle the ball cleanly, and Iowa State recovered deep in Wildcat territory.

A delightful bit of chaos that was quickly topped.

The Cyclones first three attempts at the end zone were stopped, but a pass interference call on third down set them up with a fresh set of downs and just three yards between them and the first touchdown of the college football season.

Not so fast, my friends.

After getting stuffed on first down, running back Abu Sama III was unable to handle a high pitch from quarterback Rocco Becht, and the fumble was recovered by the Wildcats.

Three minutes later, Kansas State completed their first pass of the game—it was batted at the line, and an offensive tackle secured the reception.

College football is great. The traditions are great. The rivalries are great. The players making great plays are great.

But some of the appeal to college football is undeniably the fascination that comes from chaos. We stare into the collegiate football abyss, and boy oh boy does it stare right back.

Welcome back to college football season folks.

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Tyler Lauletta
TYLER LAULETTA

Tyler Lauletta is a staff writer for the Breaking and Trending News Team/team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI, he covered sports for nearly a decade at Business Insider, and helped design and launch the OffBall newsletter. He is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, and remains an Eagles and Phillies sicko. When not watching or blogging about sports, Tyler can be found scratching his dog behind the ears.

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