KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas State football will host new conference rival Arizona on either Sept. 13 or 14 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, but it won’t count as a conference game due to a scheduling quirk.
The Big 12’s existing Wildcats and the conference’s incoming Wildcats, the schools’ first gridiron meeting since 1978, scheduled the game before the Pac-12 imploded with defections last year.
So, K-State and Arizona will meet for the first time as Big 12 teams in Week 3, but it will be considered a non-conference game.
It’s the first of three games against the Big 12’s newcomers next season — including an Oct. 12 visit to Boulder, Colorado, as the coach Deion Sanders’ Buffaloes return to the conference after 13 seasons in the Pac-12.
The Wildcats, who host Arizona State on Nov. 16, open the season Aug. 31 against the University of Tennessee-Martin at home before a road test Sept. 7 at Tulane in New Orleans.
After the Arizona game, K-State plays nine straight conference games to close the regular season, including a home game against rival Kansas on Oct. 26.
The Wildcats also play at BYU (Sept. 21), West Virginia (Oct. 19), Houston (Nov. 2) and Iowa State (Nov. 30) and host Oklahoma State (Sept. 28) and Cincinnati (Nov. 23).
K-State’s first official conference game at BYU marks the 23rd time in 29 Big 12 seasons the team has started on the road.
The Wildcats went 9-4, including a win against North Carolina State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, last season and finished 18th in the final AP poll.
The Big 12 Championship Game will be played Dec. 7 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
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