Urban Meyer claims Kansas State, Iowa State opening with a conference game is 'actually awful'

The 2025 College Football season kicks off in a massive way with week zero action on Aug. 23, as No. 17 Kansas State and No. 22 Iowa State will clash in Dublin, Ireland, in the Aer Lingus Classic. Both programs are expected to contend for a Big 12 Championship and clinch an appearance in the 2025 College Football Playoff. At least, that’s what Urban Meyer says.

Kansas State is coming off an 8-4 regular season and a 44-41 win over Rutgers in the Rate Bowl to finish with nine wins last season. Iowa State opened the 2024 season 7-0 and skyrocketed to No. 11 in the AP Poll, but went just 4-3 in its final seven games of the season. It did, however, down a Cam Ward-less (in the second half) Miami team 42-41 to narrowly win the prestigious Pop-Tarts Bowl.

Although many college football fans seem very excited for such a highly anticipated game this early on the schedule, former National Championship-winning coach Urban Meyer revealed that he thinks these two teams meeting this early is ‘actually awful.’

“I’ve done it a couple of times and it’s actually awful,” Meyer said on “The Triple Option” podcast. “The intensity level picks up, whether you’re opening with a conference game or like Ohio State playing Texas. You have to stop pounding on them two weeks before that game. You have to jump in, but here’s the thing that’s different from when I coached.”

“They have OTAs all summer now. You used to show up in late-July/early-August and you’re just lifting weights. The first time you were out ther,e padded up, now they’re out there all summer, so it’s much different from when we played.”

Meyer claims K-State/Iowa State HAS to win to make the Playoff

“However, two weeks prior to that first game the pads either are coming off or are close to coming off because you can’t be beating up those players. If you’re opening up with a three-game easy slate, it’s a much different attitude. But as you get ready for a conference game, between those two teams, that’s must-win already because those are two really good programs. Reality is for them to make the Playoff, they’ve got to win this game.”

Sure, opening the season with such a big matchup may not be fair to both teams as they haven’t had multiple weeks of game action to prepare. However, college football scheduling these massive matchups (such as No. 3 Ohio State/No. 1 Texas and No. 4 Clemson/No. 9 LSU) to kick off the season is massive for the sport as a whole.

Kick-off for the latest edition of the Farmageddon rivalry is scheduled for 12:00 PM ET. The game will be shown on ESPN.