Well, howdy, Wildcat neighbors. Hattie Brandvold here, writing from the porch with a cup of coffee, a soil probe and a view of the Flint Hills going gold for fall. I studied agronomy at K-State, so I see football the way I see a field: you prepare the ground, you rotate your crops, you trust the weather, and you never, ever rush a harvest.
Last Saturday we brought in the 18th straight harvest against Kansas. This week we load up the truck and head to Tempe, Arizona, where I'm told the soil is mostly sun.
Part 1: The Eighteenth Harvest
Kansas State beat Kansas 35-24 on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. That's 18 straight wins over the Jayhawks. AP pointed out that the last time we lost to them was 2008, the year Collin Klein arrived on campus to play quarterback. Now he's our head coach, and the streak he started as a player is still growing. That's a perennial, friends. It comes back every year.
But I'll be honest, because farmers don't lie about the weather. The first quarter was a hailstorm. Rodney Fields Jr. scored on a 4-yard run to open the game, and then Bryson Hayes took the kickoff back 95 yards for Kansas. The Jayhawks drove 88 yards for another touchdown, a tight end fumble gave them a field goal, and we were down 17-7. My coffee went cold.
Then we did what Kansas State does. We planted. Luis Rodriguez made field goals of 22, 51 and 28 yards before halftime, and along the way, Kansas fumbled the snap on a punt for a safety. We led 18-17 at the break. Rodriguez went 4 for 4 on the day. That young man doesn't kick a football; he sows it.
Joe Jackson ran 27 times for 159 yards and an 8-yard touchdown. Avery Johnson threw for 209 yards and ran for 132 more, and Fields added 66. We ran for 359 yards and held the ball for 36:13. That's a sorghum drive, a wheat drive and a soybean drive, one after another.
I won't hide the weeds. We lost a fumble, failed on two fourth downs inside the Kansas 12, and couldn't punch it in on four straight runs from the Kansas 5. But Logan Bartley intercepted Isaiah Marshall in the end zone in the fourth quarter. On the very next play, Jackson ran for 64 yards. Then Johnson threw a 9-yard touchdown to Jaron Tibbs, our bumper harvest of the day. Rodriguez's 34-yarder with 1:56 left closed the barn door.
Part 2: Into the Desert
Saturday, 3:45 p.m. Eastern, ESPN2, at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe. Kansas State (4-2) at Arizona State (3-3). Both teams are 1-2 in Big 12 play. I'll tell you straight: Arizona State leads the series 6-1, and it beat us 24-14 in Manhattan in 2024. Our only win in the series came the last time we visited Tempe, in 2002, 34-27. So history says we know the way to that field. We just have to find it again.
Our Crop Rotation
Kansas State runs for 239.8 yards a game, sixth in FBS. We convert 59.3% of our third downs, second in the nation. Johnson has 1,301 passing yards, 10 touchdowns and only three interceptions, and he leads us with 462 rushing yards. Tibbs leads the receivers with 25 catches for 268 yards and three scores.
And the defense? Our pass defense allows 136.3 yards a game, third in FBS. Bartley leads us with 34 tackles, and Wendell Gregory has 2.5 sacks. We hold the ball for 32:44 a game, 23rd in the country. We like long drives the way a farmer likes long rows: straight, steady, and finished by sundown.
Their Field Conditions
Now, I'm a guest, so I'll be kind first. Arizona State won the Big 12 in 2024, and Reed Harris leads the league with eight touchdown catches. Their passing game ranks 23rd in FBS. Those are good seeds.
But let's look at the soil report. The Sun Devils allow 32 points a game, 120th in FBS. Two weeks ago, Baylor came to Tempe and won 55-19. AP said the Sun Devils gave up 564 yards that day. Then last Saturday, Texas Tech led them 43-10 at halftime and won 53-25. J'Koby Williams ran for 165 yards on 11 carries. Friends, if Texas Tech can grow 165 yards on 11 carries out there, imagine what a real farm team can do with 50.
Arizona State's run defense allows 156.8 yards a game, 93rd. Our running game is sixth. In agronomy we call that "favorable growing conditions."
And they don't know who's starting at quarterback. Cutter Boley started last week, and Mikey Keene came in after halftime and played well. Coach Kenny Dillingham said he'd assess all personnel after watching the tape. In Kansas we call that "deciding which field to plant in October." Usually you've figured that out by spring.
Field Notes: A Tale of Two Towns
Manhattan. We're the Little Apple, and we wear the name proudly. Our town has 54,100 people and a big heart. South of town is the Konza Prairie, 8,616 acres of native tallgrass prairie in the Flint Hills, the largest remaining unplowed stretch of tallgrass prairie in North America. Some of that grass grows taller than me. Not hard, but still. Five miles north is Tuttle Creek Reservoir. And Aggieville, six square blocks of restaurants and shops, has been the heart of student life for generations.
Bill Snyder Family Stadium opened as KSU Stadium in 1968. Its first game was a 21-0 shutout of Colorado State. That's how you break ground on a stadium. And our Powercat logo has been on the helmets since 1989.
Tempe. Tempe is a perfectly nice place. But I did some reading. Arizona State's stadium was built in 1958, and according to its own history, the designers failed to waterproof it because they assumed a stadium in the desert wouldn't need it. Friends, I am a farmer. I can tell you that it rains in the desert. Not much. But it does. Ask any cactus.
Tempe also has a lake, and they're very proud of it. Tempe Town Lake was made by damming the Salt River in two places. So their lake is a river that got held up. In Kansas we call that "a pond with a press release."
And Sparky? He was drawn by a Disney illustrator. Rumor has it his face was based on Walt Disney himself. Our Willie the Wildcat was not drawn by anyone in Hollywood. He was raised in Manhattan, like a good crop.
Also, the city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece, near Mount Olympus. Bless their hearts. We named our town after the Big Apple, I admit. But at least we stayed on the same continent.
The Harvest Report
Here's how I see it. Kansas State runs the ball like a combine through ripe wheat, defends the pass as well as almost anybody in the country and controls the clock. Arizona State can throw it, but it has struggled to stop the run and hasn't decided on a quarterback. If we keep the ball, stay patient and finish drives in the end zone this time instead of near it, we'll come home with a full truck.
You can't rush a harvest. But you can bring one home from the desert.
My call: Kansas State Wildcats 32, Arizona State Sun Devils 27.