RYAN LACKEY
Associate Athletics Director for Communications
AMES, Iowa – The latest nail-biting installment of the Kansas State-Iowa State rivalry, called Farmageddon, ended shortly after 9 p.m. But for a third-straight Saturday, it was 9AM for another Big 12 Conference opponent.
Adrian Martinez, adoringly called “9AM,” took a final kneel down, K-State head coach Chris Klieman pumped his fist on the visitor’s sideline, and more than 60,000 at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa, stood in silence as time ticked down on the Wildcats’ fourth-quarter comeback victory.
No. 20 K-State 10, Iowa State 9.
Martinez, who accounted for 669 total yards and nine touchdowns in wins over then-No. 6 Oklahoma (41-34) and Texas Tech (38-27), threw for 246 yards and one touchdown and added 19 carries for 77 yards, and the Wildcats’ defense, called countless times to hold down the Cyclones’ offense, stiffened again and again.
K-State led 7-6 at halftime, then trailed 9-7 on a 43-yard field goal by Jace Gilbert with 5 minutes, 27 seconds left in the third quarter.
K-State responded in handing Iowa State just its fourth home loss in the last 30 games.
Chris Tennant nailed a 30-yard field goal with 7:14 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter for the 10-9 win, the lowest-scoring game in the series since a 7-7 tie in Ames in 1984.
“We knew coming into it that they were physical and big and we knew it was going to be a fist fight,” Martinez said. “That’s exactly what it was. They made us earn every yard. We weren’t frustrated at halftime. We understood we could move the ball on these guys, and we were going to find a way to win.
“We didn’t care how we got it done. We were going to win. We knew we’d find a way.”
The defense stiffened one last time when it mattered most, giving K-State its 12th-straight victory over Iowa State when ranked in the AP Top 25.
K-State’s 10 points marked its fewest in a conference road win since a 9-3 victory at Iowa State in 1982. It marked the first time since 2016 that K-State held a Big 12 opponent to single digits on the road.
“Being behind just two points was the key and not letting them get another field goal,” Klieman said. “I didn’t know if touchdowns were going to happen. It was pretty obvious it was hard to score touchdowns. We talked all week if we could hold these guys to field goals, we thought we could beat them. I didn’t know it’d be 10-9.”
There were an abundance of big moments not necessarily seen upon the scoreboard. That included when the K-State defense forced Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell to go for it on fourth-and-7 at the K-State 49-yard line with 2:29 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The defense forced Hunter Dekkers into an incompletion, the Wildcats took possession, and they ran out of the clock. It put a stamp on the program’s first 5-1 start since 2020, and a 3-0 Big 12 record, which makes the Wildcats the only 3-0 undefeated team in the Big 12 league standings.
“We’re undefeated in Big 12 play and that’s what we want,” Martinez said. “That’s where we are right now. Everything going forward is about how can we solidify that and keep doing that and keep winning in this league. Each week is a fight.”