This weekend, Iowa State and Kansas State will meet on the gridiron for the 108th annual Farmageddon football game. The battle between the Big 12 rivals has happened every year since 1917.
The rivalry has seen both world wars, 19 different presidents and entire generations of people be born, live and die. It has been uninterrupted for longer than the Iron Bowl, the Red River Rivalry and the Cy-Hawk series. This battle has raged every year for over a century, and conference realignment is going to break that streak in 2027.
Last fall, the Big 12 conference matchups came out for the next few years. The most notable element of the Iowa State schedule was the omission of the matchup with Kansas State in 2027.
With the conference increasing to 16 teams, it is hard to protect some of these rivalries and maintain balanced schedules, but it is not impossible. Rivalries such as Kansas vs. Kansas State, Arizona vs. Arizona State and BYU vs. Utah were all protected on this schedule, but Farmaggedon was not.
While it may not be the most glamorous of all of the yearly rivalries, the showdown holds great significance to the schools. Apart from the intrastate rivalries, the Cy-Hawk game and the Sunflower Showdown, Farmageddon is each team’s biggest rivalry game.
After Missouri and Nebraska left the Big 12, it is the Cyclones’ only historic conference rivalry left. It is far and away the oldest, and with the Red River Rivalry now in the SEC, it’s possibly the conference’s most prestigious rivalry.
The series is certainly not without consequences. When the teams take the field this week, they will both have a shot at making the Big 12 Championship.
This is not an uncommon occurrence, as the game has often held a spot in Rivalry Week, the last week of the college football regular season. For Rivalry Week 2027, with the break, Iowa State will likely play a random conference opponent, which will hold much less significance than Farmageddon.
It is also not without close competition. Historically, they’ve both been great at times and terrible at others. Throughout the roller coaster of performances, the series has remained tight, with Iowa State holding a 53-50-4 record all-time. The matchup remains close to this day, as in the last 10 meetings, Kansas State has held a 6-4 lead.
The rivalry has had amazing moments recently and appears to be trending upward. In 2022, the Wildcats won the contest 10-9 to clinch a trip to the Big 12 Championship game and then went on to beat TCU to win the title.
Last year was the legendary “Snowmageddon” game. Iowa State running back Abu Sama III descended on a winter wonderland in Manhattan with 276 yards on 16 carries for four total touchdowns en route to a Cyclones upset victory.
This year will have massive Big 12 Championship and College Football Playoff implications, and next year the series will go abroad to Dublin for the Aer Lingus Classic.
While the matrix likely will not be changed, and the streak will be broken in 2027, the series can still be saved. The people of Manhattan and Ames, from students to alumni, have made it clear that they want Farmageddon to stick around.
A change.org petition titled “Save Farmageddon” has over 600 signatures, and will continue to grow. If we want this rivalry to continue to rage on and be protected every year, the people must make their voices heard.
Whether you prefer corn or wheat, Cyclones and Wildcats everywhere must make it clear we want to continue this century-long rivalry into the next one.
