Week 0 - Sunday Storylines
Farm O'geddon, Kansas cruises and Hawaii heroics.
Instant Replay
What did we just watch?
Farm O’Geddon - Midway through Saturday’s marquee matchup between Kansas State and Iowa State, both teams found themselves at a crossroads. The two teams had a combined four first-half turnovers, and the offenses looked as comfortable as a 16-year-old driver on the freeway for the first time, with the game itself a sloppy, slugfest resembling something more like an Irish pub scrap than a matchup between two Top 25 teams.
But late in the third quarter, we saw signs of competent football. Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht orchestrated an 11-play, 67-yard drive, capped by a 24-yard touchdown pass to put the Cyclones up 14-7. Then K-State answered, with dual-threat quarterback Avery Johnson slinging a beautiful 37-yard touchdown to passcatcher Jace Brown to tie the game up at 14-all.
Later, the Cyclones’ defense, which struggled to stop the run early, bowed up and stuffed Johnson on a crucial fourth-down run deep in Wildcat territory. After the big stop, Becht found paydirt and put his team up 10 points—giving the Cyclones just enough breathing room.
Johnson once again answered the bell, launching a 65-yard heave to put the game within three points. The Wildcats suddenly had life and a chance to snatch the game by the scruff of the neck.
But fortune favors the bold, and Matt Campbell was awfully fortunate Saturday afternoon. With 2:26 remaining on fourth-and-three at the K-State 16-yard line, Campbell pushed his team’s cards to the center of the table.
The Cyclones did what Kansas State failed to do earlier: converted on a critical fourth-down opportunity. With the game on the line, Becht hit running back Carson Hansen for a 15-yard pass play that simultaneously put a punctuation mark on the 24-21 victory and put the rest of the Big 12 conference on notice.
Becht is such a gamer. He came up clutch when his team needed him most. He’s got just enough moxy to make this Iowa State team dangerous.
For what it's worth, I thought Avery Johnson played well, even if he was a little shaky out of the gate. He’s clearly improved year over year. While this game hurts the Wildcats’ Big 12 title chances, if he plays this well again, they just might have a chance to stay in this thing.
Kansas cruises - Kansas emphatically took care of business in its 31-7 win over Fresno State Saturday evening.
Quarterback Jalon Daniels was equal parts surgical and sensational, finishing the game with 176 passing yards, three touchdowns and just two incompletions. The KU offense looked a lot more like the 2023 version than it did the 2024, and that’s a great thing for neutrals.
I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention how good the Jayhawks’ defense played, allowing a measly 37 rushing yards on the evening.
If Daniels can stay healthy (big if), I don’t see why Kansas can’t be a frisky, tough out in the Big 12 this season.
Rusty Rebels - In this week’s addition of The Call Sheet, I foolishly dismissed Idaho State’s chances against UNLV, and I almost paid the price.
Dan Mullen is known for his effective work sparking life into listless offenses, but it was his team’s defense that almost let go of the rope Saturday evening in the Runnin’ Rebels’ 38-31 victory.
It wasn’t enough that UNLV started the game in a 10-0 hole, but it managed to give up almost 550 yards of total offense, with almost 400 of them coming via the passing game. It doesn’t matter who you play; that kind of defense is simply not good enough.
UNLV needed a furious fourth-quarter comeback to stave off the Bengals and walk out of Week 0 1-0.
On a concern scale, I’m labeling this a 6.5/10. UNLV needs to figure some things out in a hurry if it hopes to compete in the Mountain West title race.
McIvor Magic - Western Kentucky’s game plan to portal awesome OC + QB combos seems to be working out swimmingly. On Saturday, new transfer quarterback Maverick McIvor (yes, real name) put on a show, finishing the game with 401 yards and three touchdowns to lift the Hilltoppers to a 41-24 victory over Sam Houston.
This game was second-screen material, sandwiched between Kansas-Fresno State and Stanford-Hawaii, but was all sorts of fun. I thoroughly enjoy watching WKU sling the ball around year in year out, no matter who is calling plays or throwing said football.
I think the Hilltoppers are going to make a solid push for the Conference USA title.
Hawaii heroics - Stop me if you’ve heard this before…Hawaii’s YouTube kicker (yes, the kicker learned to kick from YouTube) knocked down a sick game-winning field goal as time expired to spoil Frank Reich’s Stanford debut.
No, you weren’t dreaming. Yes, it was real.
YouTube kicker aside, Hawaii quarterback Micah Alejado is such a badass. My guy got crunched on a nasty hip drop tackle and limped his way through multiple monster drives, including the one that set up the Rainbow Warriors for the game-winning field goal.
The finish was so awesome that it almost made me forget that Hawaii opened its first offensive drive by fair catching the ball on its own 1-yard line and then getting sack fumbled for a touchdown to fall behind 10-0.
It was Week 0 for everyone!
The Brent Musburger Gambling Guide
Let’s review my locks of the week.
Iowa State vs. (-3) Kansas State - -1 units
Great O week. Big 12 so wide open that I could possibly see a possibility of Farmageddan II as the championship game in December at Jerry World I believe.
I was so disappointed in Stanford qb from Oregon State. He couldn’t complete short simple passes to wide open Y’s ( the Cardinal play about 5 different ones) which destroyed their offense. They are a running team, GM Luck wants that BUT that opens up play action which was open constantly. Even the 2 announcers wondered out loud if Stanford s back up quarterback could complete a 10 yard route. I felt bad for Stanford but they definitely saw their deficits. Yes, the Hawaii quarterback is an islander johnny football.