Iowa State vs. Kansas State game in Ireland makes college football history not done since 2002

Billy Heyen

Iowa State vs. Kansas State game in Ireland makes college football history not done since 2002 image

We'll talk about Week 0 as a semantic annoyance another time.

For now, it's time to focus on some history that will be made in that opening college football stanza by the Iowa State Cyclones and Kansas State Wildcats.

They're going to match up in Ireland, which is special in its own right.

But on Monday, we learned this: Both are ranked.

Iowa State is No. 22 in the initial AP Top 25. Kansas State is No. 17.

And that makes this the first ranked Week 0 matchup since 2002, per Ben Stevens.

It's got the potential to be an exciting showdown for all of those reasons and more.

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Chris Klieman's Wildcats are quarterbacked by the exciting, returning Avery Johnson. Everything they do offensively will run through him, and he's one of the best dual-threat playmakers in the country.

Iowa State has Rocco Becht ready to lead at QB in what the Cyclones hope is another exciting season under Matt Campbell.

A season ago, Iowa State went 11-3, including 7-2 in the Big 12.

Kansas State was 9-4, including 5-4 in conference play.

They met in the final week of the regular season, a 29-21 ISU win.

This time, it's the opener, a high-powered clash to kick off a new college football season on Saturday, Aug. 23, a game that kicks off at noon Eastern, 11 a.m. Central.

And even before it starts, ISU-KSU has made some sweet college football history in trying to make Week 0 an even more fun time.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle