Monday, as the sun rose over Bill Snyder Family Stadium and shortly after the iron plates in the weight room of the Vanier Family Football Complex had been riveted down, Brendan Motta captain of the Kansas State team, got a big announcement from his brother Chris, who punched three words into his cell phone: “IT’S FINALLY HERE!”


Mott imagined 50,000 fans dressed in purple and the deafening sounds echoing through his helmet.


The play week had arrived.


“On Saturday, there’s smoke, the fans are loud and it’s awesome,” Mott said. “During camp, when they put the seats up in the stadium, you know you’re almost there. I can’t wait to run out of that tunnel.”


As of Saturday, 247 days have passed since the Wildcats defeated NC State 28-19 in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. That seems like an eternity, with winter conditioning, spring training, summer workouts and training camps flowing through the offseason. That puts K-State in Week 1 of the 2024 football season, which has suddenly begun with urgency.


But alas, the time has come, and here we go: When No. 18 K-State opens its season against UT Martin at 6 p.m. kickoff Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, it will be the opening salvo for a Chris Klieman-team that was selected second in the revamped Big 12 Conference and has ambitions to reach the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history.

 

“The off-season is getting faster and faster, and the season is getting faster and faster,” Klieman said. “We all love fall camp because it’s football, football, football, and it’s great, and then school starts, and then you have a bit of a slump.”

And then Week 1 rolls around and the fireworks begin. At least that’s the plan for the Wildcats, who are 30-4 in season openers since 1990 and will face FCS powerhouse UT Martin for the first time in history. K-State, 6-0 all-time against current members of the Ohio Valley/Big South Association, will open the season against an Ohio Valley/Big South opponent for the second straight year after beating SEMO 45-0 in 2023.

UT Martin has won three consecutive conference championships under head coach Jason Simpson, who is entering his 19th season^and season with a record of 115-87.

“These guys want more,” Simpson said. “We know we’ve won three straight conference championships, but we’ve only been rewarded with one playoff appearance. We have a list of things we’re chasing, but we have to focus on everything we have to do every day with a relentless intent to ultimately achieve our goals.”

UT Martin has 27 seniors or graduate students and 25 redshirt juniors. That includes quarterback Kinkead Dent, who completed 192 of 353 passes for 2,295 yards and 25 touchdowns with eight interceptions last season.

“I have so much respect for (Simpson) and for FCS football,” said Klieman, who won four FCS titles as head coach of North Dakota State before coming to K-State for the 2019 season. “This is going to be the best FCS opponent we’ve had to date. This program is a championship program that’s won the last three years, and they have some guys that would play for us.”

Under Klieman, K-State has outscored its four FCS opponents 159-37.

UT Martin doesn’t seem to be a joke.

“What people sometimes forget is that it’s a great opportunity for FCS programs to come to Bill Snyder Family Stadium and play in front of this crowd,” the K-State defensive coordinator said Joe Klanderman said. “That’s something you look forward to since the schedule came out. Sometimes I think FBS programs think about it differently. I don’t think our guys take that lightly. No matter who the opponent is — whether it’s Tennessee-Martin or Tennessee — our guys are going to play the same way.

“Hopefully we can just get started and see who performs the best and who makes the best plays.”

And as for a top player? Well, a 6-foot-1, 192-pound sophomore Avery Johnsonwho will make his first start at quarterback in a game played in Manhattan, was selected by the New York Post. Johnson leads a K-State offense featuring running backs DJ Giddens And Dylan Edwardsand it boasts the largest group of wide receivers in years.

Last season, K-State ranked 23rd in the FBS with an average of 445.2 yards per game, second in school history.

“We’re just excited to get back on the field,” Johnson said. “We’ve been working hard all summer and spring and really since the end of the season last year to get to this point. I think all the guys are just excited to get back to The Bill and be with the fans and watch our first win of the season.”

UT Martin returns five starters, including three linebackers and two safeties, from a unit that ranked sixth in the FCS in rushing defense (96.3 yards) and tackles for loss (7.5).

“They lost a couple guys up front from a year ago, and that was either to graduation or the transfer portal, but the guys they gave up as their starters have built a significant reputation,” K-State’s offensive coordinator said. Conor Riley said. “It was actually really interesting for us that one of the guys that got a lot of reps got beat by a guy that didn’t get that many reps last year. You see a lot of depth. As a coach at that level, that’s one of the things you don’t see a lot of, is a lot of depth. In the new era of college football, that’s going to be more challenging for FCS schools. You look at the physicality of the guys up front, and then you look at the experience and physicality of the guys at the second level, and you’re really impressed. It immediately grabs your attention. You’re looking at linebackers that are graduate transfers, and physical guys that can run.

“It’s definitely been a challenge in game planning. I know our guys are ready for the challenge Saturday night, but we’re not going to beat around the bush: it’s going to be a really good challenge.”

Defensively, the Wildcats have an All-Big 12 linebacker returning Austin Moore and seven other returning starters — it has five of its top six tacklers from a year ago back — from a unit that includes senior safety Brands Sigle and welcomes hard-hitting jack safety Jordan Riley.

Last season, K-State allowed 21.0 points per game, after allowing 21.0 points in 2021 and 21.9 points in 2022. It marks the first time K-State has allowed fewer than 22.0 points in three consecutive seasons since 1991 and 2003.

In addition to returning its starting quarterback, UT Martin also returns three starting wide receivers and the interior offensive line for a unit that ranked seventh in the FCS with an average of 439.8 total yards per game.

“The quarterback is a really good player,” Klanderman said. “He can give you some problems with his mobility. People have a hard time with him in the open field. He really understands what they’re doing offensively. With him, there’s a veteran group of receivers and skill guys and interior linemen. Consistency is what makes a good football team, and they have a lot of that on offense.”

K-State has its own continuity. It is the only returning Big 12 team with at least eight wins in each of the last three seasons and one of 13 Power 4 programs to claim that feat.

That continuity is also evident at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, where the Wildcats have gone 82-9 against non-conference opponents since 1990.

If there’s a moment to watch, it might be before kickoff, when Klieman and his players marvel at the consistency of the K-State fan base.

The match, like many others, is sold out.

“I’m taking it all in, and I’m probably doing a better job of it now than I did in year one, but I’m taking it all in,” Klieman said. “I have so much respect for Dr. (Frank) Tracz and what he’s doing with The Pride, and I love our band and I’m excited to hear it when we come in, and the student section is going to be at full volume an hour before kickoff.

“I never take those things for granted and I always absorb them better now than when I first got here. But just the pageantry and the majesty of college football — to tell our new kids, ‘We’re going to pull up in buses 100 yards from the front of the stadium, and you’re going to see what college football is all about.’ A young guy might say, ‘What?’ And an older guy might say, ‘It’s one of the coolest traditions we started a couple years ago with the walk.’ We get off the buses and the fans are there, and the young kids and the families, it’s awesome. That’s what college football is all about. That’s what excites me. That’s what gets me excited, the pageantry and the majesty of college football.”

For now, the countdown clock keeps ticking.

After 247 days, K-State plays a football game.

The time has finally come.