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College Football’s First Game of the Year Also Featured First Bad Beat of the Year

Iowa Stata vs. Kansas State gave bettors their first heart-racing replay review of the season.

Tyler Lauletta

Carson Hansen’s dive for the goal line was determined to be just a few inches short.
Carson Hansen’s dive for the goal line was determined to be just a few inches short. / ESPN
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Iowa State secured the first win of the 2025 college football season on Saturday, taking down Kansas State 24–21 in Dublin, Ireland.

As fans celebrated the return of college football, some also celebrated the chance to once again gamble on college football—at least until the last few plays of the game.

The total on the game was set at 51.5 points, and through the first half of action, it seemed like the under was a lock, with the teams trading turnovers and struggling to find the end zone.

But after an outburst of scoring in the fourth quarter, the over was suddenly in play, with Iowa State holding a 24–21 lead with six minutes to play after a K-State touchdown. The Cyclones would work to drain the clock on the ensuing drive, but faced a fourth-and-3 inside the red zone just before the two-minute timeout. Rather than kick a field goal and ensure that a Wildcats field goal could not tie the game, the Cyclones went for a knockout punch.

Quarterback Rocco Becht dumped the ball off to running back Carson Hansen on a quick screen, and Hansen dashed upfield for a first down and dove for the goal line. On the field, the play was called a touchdown.

If the score stood, the ensuing extra point would give over bettors the win. But after a review, it was determined that Hansen’s forearm was down before the ball crossed the plane.

Ultimately, the reversed call helped the Cyclones. While it took points off the board, it also allowed Iowa State to down away the game from the one-yard line and secure the win. While it was a win for the Cyclones, it was a tough break for over bettors.

ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt, one of our foremost scholars in the study of bad beats, acknowledged the tough break.

Overall, this isn’t a fully loaded bad beat in this casual bettor’s humble opinion. It was a painful one, no doubt—any time a win turns into a loss is a brutal outcome for both the bettor and their bankroll. That said, the under was the right side of this bet the entire game.

It’s a bad beat, but it could have been badder.

Over bettors can see the play as a bad beat, or as a near-miracle bet they almost pulled out at the last second. It’s a glass half-full, half-empty sort of thing. Or, I guess a wallet half-full, half-empty thing.

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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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