Kickoff: Saturday, September 5 at 6:00 PM CT
Location: Bill Snyder Family Stadium
TV: ESPN+
DraftKings line (Aug. 30): KSU -40.5
Over/under: 55.5

The setup

Nicholls has visited Kansas State once, for Chris Klieman’s first game in 2019. Now it returns for Collin Klein’s first game – the Colonels have accidentally become the Wildcats’ new-coach ribbon-cutting crew.

What I’m watching

Nicholls beat Mississippi Valley State 44-10 in Week 0, with Ean Rodrigue completing 16 of 25 for 264 yards, 3 TD and 1 INT. Nicholls put 347 passing yards on film. Kansas St allowed 222.4 passing yards per game last season, so the same approach gets a different test here.

Personnel snapshot

• A new staff with some carryover: Nicholls’s Tommy Rybacki is in Year 2; Kansas St’s Collin Klein is in Year 1. Kansas St returns 9 starters—6 on offense and 3 on defense.
• The depth advantage has to show: Kansas St should have the deeper roster, but Nicholls’s path is to force the new or lightly used starters into an uncomfortable first half.
• The quarterback matchup: Ean Rodrigue led Nicholls’s passing in Week 0 (16 of 25 for 264 yards, 3 TD and 1 INT); Avery Johnson returns as Kansas St’s starter (2,385 yards, 18 TD and 6 INT in 2025). Neither passer should need to win the game alone; avoiding the first bad turnover is the more important opening-night test.

Three quick analysis points

• Nicholls already put 300 passing yards on film: Nicholls threw for 347 yards in the opener and averaged 8.5 yards per attempt.
• The roster reset: More than half of Kansas State’s roster is new: 58 of 111 players, or 52.3%. The 26 transfers soften the reset with 473 combined games and 176 starts – new name tags, but not new football players.
• The quarterback angle: Avery Johnson is making career start No. 27 and his third straight season-opening start. Since 1990, only three Kansas State quarterbacks have opened three straight seasons; Johnson also ranks tied for second nationally in starts among quarterbacks who never transferred.

Prediction

I make final predictions on my TikTok/YouTube/Instagram/Facebook pages @uthinkuknowsports.

Full disclosure: I use AI tools to format my research into an article encompassing all of the information.