Week 0 of college football begins unusually in Dublin with Iowa State facing Kansas State in a matchup dubbed Farmageddon or Farm O'Geddon. Both programs are nationally ranked—Wildcats No. 17, Cyclones No. 22—and the Big 12 game carries conference title and College Football Playoff implications. The rivalry marks its 109th consecutive meeting, a run dating to 1917, but the streak will end in 2027 due to conference realignment. The Big 12 now has 16 members and uses a scheduling matrix, protecting only a handful of traditional rivalries and complicating long-standing series.
Week 0 is college football's oft-ignored start to the season. The good stuff doesn't generally happen until the smorgasbord of Labor Day weekend. This year, though, it begins with a unique bang. Consider that, right now in some Dublin pub, two fan bases from Middle America are likely baffling locals by arguing not merely over their teams but the per-acre yields of wheat vs. corn. It's Iowa State and Kansas State to kick things off -- in Ireland no less.
This is the 109th consecutive meeting between these two schools, a run that dates to 1917. Yet in 2027, there will be no scheduled game; Farmageddon's streak will be a casualty of conference realignment. The series predates the old Big Eight, which is now called the Big 12 even though it has 16 members, complicating everything. Trying to manage a schedule in a league that large is a massive challenge. The conference relies on what it calls a "scheduling matrix" to get it done.
Collection
[
|
...
]