Iowa State upsets Kansas State, Hawaii Walks-off win over Stanford

August 23, 2025 by CollegeFootballPoll.com staff

Silly 'week zero' is in the books and produced some exciting football on Saturday. Weather also reared its head to produce sloppy conditions in Ireland for the Aer Lingus College Football Classic and a lengthy lightning delay in Montgomery, Alabama for the FCS Kickoff.

Logos on the field began to fade early in Dublin where Iowa State scored a 24-21 upset of Kansas State which was favored by 2.50, but the Cyclones were 10.02-point favorites in the Congrove Computer Rankings at CollegeFootballPoll.com. Iowa State ended the game by kneeling after running the ball inside the 1-yard line or it would've been a 31-21 game.

Stanford at Hawaii would have been the final game of the day had lightning not delayed the UC Davis-Mercer game, but it was still an "instant classic" finish as a hobbling Micah Alejadro led a 9-play, 52-yard drive to set up a 38-yard walk-off field goal by Kansei Matsuzawa. The Cardinal, who are operating under interim head coach Frank Reich and new general manager of football, Andrew Luck, fell 23-20.

The UC Davis-Mercer game was declared a 'no contest' at midnight as lightning was still pervasive in the area and show no signs of ending anytime soon. The Aggies had a 23-17 lead with 7:55 left in the 4th quarter.

Kansas returned to campus and the newly renovated "David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium" for a home football game and christened it with an easier-than-expected 31-7 win over Fresno State. The Bulldogs are now led by Matt Entz, the former North Dakota State head coach ( 2019-2023) who spent 2024 on the USC staff as the assistant head coach of the defense and linebackers coach.

Western Kentucky ruined the debut of new Sam Houston head coach Phil Longo who replaced KC Keeler when the latter took the same job at Temple. The Hilltoppers quickly gave up a 20-10 halftime lead within the first 3:02 of the 3rd quarter but recovered from the new 24-20 deficit and scored the final 21 points of the game for the 41-24 victory.

UNLV averted disaster at home against FCS member Idaho State. The Rebels trailed 31-24 after the Bengals took a 31-24 lead at the 11:40 mark of the final stanza, but scored 14 points over the next 4 minutes and 39 seconds to take a 38-31 lead that would stand as the final. In doing so, Dan Mullen got the victory in his first game as a head coach since being fired from Florida with one game to go in the 2021 regular season. Mullen replaces Barry Odom who left for Purdue.

In the FCS, Nicholls scored a huge 20-6 home upset of Incarnate Word which was favored by 13-1/2, while North Carolina Central won 31-14 over Southern in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge Kickoff in Atlanta, and Tarleton went to Portland State and handed a 42-0 beatdown to the Vikings.

The season continues in a big way over the Labor Day holiday with contests running from Thursday through Monday.