After a solid 38-27 home win against Texas Tech, K-State (4-1, 2-0) will go on the road to take on Iowa State (3-2, 0-2) who come off a head-scratching loss on the road to Kansas.

The 106th edition of “Farmageddon” is very significant for both teams. The Wildcats have a chance to become 3-0 in conference play before going into their bye. Having a 3-0 conference record gives them a great chance of getting to the Big 12 Championship. For Iowa State, they are trying to stay in the hunt and avoid going 0-3 in conference play, which would pretty much eliminate their chances of making it to Arlington.

Last week, Heisman-contending super senior quarterback Adrian Martinez ran for a career-high 171 yards and three rushing touchdowns. Junior running back Deuce Vaughn also ran for 170 yards. It’s the first time in school history that two ball carriers both got 100+ rushing yards in consecutive games.

K-State will need to be more efficient offensively this week against the Big 12’s best defense and avoid relying on the big play like they did last week. They averaged 8.8 yards per carry, but if their three 50+ yard runs are subtracted, they averaged just 4.1 yards per carry.

Iowa State’s defense is only allowing 83 yards per game on the ground which ranks first in the conference. However, Texas Tech had only allowed 99 yards per game before K-State posted 343 yards against them. If K-State can get close to their average of 267.2 rushing yards per game which ranks fourth in the nation and first in the Big 12, then K-State will certainly have a great chance to win.

Martinez has the most rushing yards among all FBS quarterbacks with 469 which ranks him 22nd among all rushers. Vaughn has 638 rushing yards which ranks third in the country. They rank first in rushing yards combined among all QB-RB rushing duos by a substantial margin.

The Cyclones’ defense will likely stack the box to try to stop the two-headed running monster. Head coach Chris Klieman said in his mid-week press conference that he knows Martinez must make some plays with his arm.

If offensive coordinator Collin Klein can put in a good mix of passing and running with Martinez executing well, there’s hardly any defense that can stop them. However, if the play calling is poor and Martinez is missing his marks, we have seen how bad this offense can be.

In the last 15 years, Martinez is one of just three quarterbacks to run for 300 yards and seven touchdowns in a two-game stretch with the other two being first round pick and Heisman winners Cam Newton (2010) and Lamar Jackson (2015).

Iowa State will try to get the rancid taste out of their mouth after having many opportunities to defeat KU last weekend in their 14-11 loss.

True freshman kicker Jace Gilbert went just 1-for-4 on field goal attempts including a 37-yarder with just :27 left in the game.

The loss wasn’t purely his fault, though, as redshirt sophomore quarterback Hunter Dekkers didn’t bring his A-game. Dekkers was unable to produce points when they got deep into Jayhawk territory against a KU defense that has been in the bottom half in the nation coming into the game.

Dekkers has made some boneheaded interceptions this season and has six of them so far. He will need to avoid those mistakes against a K-State defense that already has nine interceptions which is fourth in the country.

Dekkers also must worry about K-State’s defensive front which has 14 sacks, led by Big 12 Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Felix Anudike-Uzomah who has 5.5, which is fourth in the nation. He and junior linebacker Khalid Duke each got three sacks last week which was the first time in school history that a duo accomplished that feat. Iowa State’s offensive line has given up 12 sacks so far this season which is tied for the 25th-most in the nation.

He does have one of the best pass-catchers in the country, though, with redshirt senior Xavier Hutchinson shredding any coverage he faces. He leads the conference with 504 receiving yards which is 20th in the nation. His 49 receptions are the most among all FBS receivers. Hutchinson has also found the endzone five times so far which is first in the Big 12.

It’s been a rough first year post-Breece Hall for Iowa State’s running game. Iowa State comes into this matchup averaging just 112 yards per game with their leading rusher Jirehl Brock getting 72.2 per game and no other ball carrier averaging more than 30 rushing yards per game.

Brock has been ruled out for this game so they will rely on sophomore Deon Silas and redshirt freshman Eli Sanders. Silas is averaging 3.8 yards per carry and Sanders is averaging just 3.2 yards per carry.

Iowa State’s defensive ends are among the best duo in the entire country with redshirt senior Will McDonald IV leading the way with redshirt junior MJ Anderson also having a great season.

McDonald was a third team Associated Press All-American and was first team All-Big 12 a year ago. He was also the Big 12 co-defensive lineman of the year as well.

This year, McDonald has 2.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, three quarterback hurries and a fumble recovery. He has been viewed as a possible first-round pick, according to many NFL draft experts.

On the other side of the line, Anderson has been almost as dominant. He also has 2.5 tackles for loss with one sack so far.

However, neither of those two have been the best player on their defense. Redshirt senior linebacker O’Rien Vance leads the team with 28 tackles and 4.5 tackles for loss.

He and his fellow redshirt senior linebacker Colby Reeder have been terrorizing the middle of the field all season long. Reeder leads the team with two interceptions and five quarterback hurries.

K-State has struggled against Iowa State in recent years. After the game-winning touchdown throw from then freshman quarterback Skylar Thompson to Isaiah Zuber in the back of the endzone with no time left on the clock in 2017 for their tenth straight win in the series, K-State is just 1-3 against Iowa State.

The Cyclones have outscored the Cats 137-85 during that span including a 45-0 win in 2020. Klieman is 1-2 against Iowa State.

Call it a “gut-call”, but in my opinion I think the Cats’ woes in Ames will sadly continue. For whatever reason Iowa State has been their kryptonite and as Klieman alluded to in his presser, they are going to get the best version of Iowa State.

I think Iowa State’s defense will show up and shut down the Wildcats’ rushing attack and Martinez will have no answers in the passing game. The Cyclones will do anything and everything they can to avoid an 0-3 start, and I am guessing the Wildcats will be riding high after their 2-0 start. I really hope I am wrong on this, though.

Prediction: Iowa State 20, K-State 17.