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Colin Klein's first year back at Kansas State could spell turnaround

Kansas State's football schedule release in January has redemption written all over it
ByZander White|
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Kansas State new head football coach Collin Klein smiles as he makes remarks at his introduction ceremony at Morgan Family Arena on Dec. 5, 2025.
Kansas State new head football coach Collin Klein smiles as he makes remarks at his introduction ceremony at Morgan Family Arena on Dec. 5, 2025. | Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Kansas State released its football schedule for the upcoming season back in January, and it features seven home games that could play in favor of first-year head coach Colin Klein and the Wildcats. 

Winnable games against Nicholls, Washington State 

The first three games for the Wildcats are arguably the most winnable of any.

Nicholls, an FCS team out of the Southland Conference, lost six games in a row last season after a Week 1 victory over Incarnate Word. The Colonels ended the year 4-8, missing out on the postseason. 

The next two against Washington State and Tulane, however, are a different story. The Cougars hired Kirby Moore as the program’s 36th head coach after losing former head coach Jimmy Rogers to Iowa State following Matt Campbell’s departure. 

Rogers and Washington State went 6-6 in 2025, ending the season with a win in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl over Utah State. 

Potential flashbacks in Week 3 against Tulane

K-State is no stranger to the Green Wave after what became a 17-10 home loss in 2022 that featured 31 attempts and 150 yards from former starting quarterback Adrian Martinez.

 That was the Wildcats’ only unranked loss of the season, and one held against them by the Committee which put them in the Sugar Bowl against Alabama.

Needless to say the fans who traveled down to New Orleans for that one know exactly how it ended, 45-20 in favor of the Crimson Tide. From the opening kickoff, it was never a competition. 

The Wildcats did, however, scrape out an away victory over Tulane in 2024, taking down the Green Wave 34-27 in New Orleans. 

Sunflower Showdown returns among other conference opponents

Four of the Wildcats’ seven home games this season feature conference opponents, the first of which being back-to-back weekends against Houston and an earlier than usual game against Kansas on Oct. 17. 

Games on Nov. 7 against Oklahoma State and Nov. 21 at home taking on Arizona also hang in the balance deeper into Big 12 play. 

K-State has an opportunity to extend its dominant 17-game streak against the Jayhawks by another game, one of the longest active streak between any two rival in-state rival schools in the country. The Wildcats took the Sunflower Showdown in Lawrence last season 42-17. 

The Wildcats also have the potential to take down one of their own in former running back Dylan Edwards, who announced his commitment to Kansas earlier in the year.

Four road tests hang with Farmageddon returning to Ames

Road trips to Cincinnati, Arizona State and Colorado act as prelims for Kansas State’s long-awaited rematch with another conference rival, the Iowa State Cyclones. K-State dropped last season’s meeting in Dublin 24-21, a year after the Cyclones claimed a program record 10th win of the season over the Wildcats in Ames.

Depending on how the transfer portal treats the Wildcats between now and August, fans could be in for a treat when the season kicks off.

Prediction: 10-2 with losses to Arizona State and Iowa State

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