Stanford Athletics announced Monday that the Stanford football team will participate in a home-and-home series with Kansas State in 2016 and 2021. The 2016 game will be played at Stanford Stadium, while the 2021 game will be played in Manhattan, Kansas.
The addition of Kansas State to the 2016 schedule officially completes Stanford’s non-conference slate. The Cardinal will open the 2016 campaign by hosting the Wildcats on The Farm on Sept. 2 before traveling to South Bend for their annual game against Notre Dame on Oct. 15. Stanford will finish the season by hosting Rice on Nov. 26.
Although Kansas State made its official announcement of the series several days ago, Stanford’s announcement was delayed, likely due to scheduling conflicts that arose with Rice, with which Stanford already had a home-and-home scheduled for 2016 and 2017.
The Cardinal were originally supposed to open their season against Rice on Sept. 3, 2016 but rescheduled that game after reaching their agreement with Kansas State.
The matchup between the two teams next year will mark the first time the programs have ever faced each other in football. It will be Stanford’s first matchup against a Big 12 team since the 2011 Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State and its first regular-season meeting against a Big 12 foe since a 2000 loss to Texas.
Although Kansas State is just 3-3 this season, the Wildcats had nine wins a year ago, eight wins in 2013 and had a tremendous 11-2 campaign in 2012 that saw them ranked No. 1 in the country for a week. The Wildcats lost to Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl that year.
Stanford’s home games in 2016 will be against Colorado, Kansas State, Oregon State, Rice, USC and Washington State. The Cardinal will go on the road to face Arizona, Cal, Notre Dame, Oregon, UCLA and Washington.
Stanford’s upcoming non-conference series:
- BYU (2020, 2022, 2023*, 2025*)
- Kansas State (2016, 2021*)
- Northwestern (2019)
- Notre Dame (2016*, 2017, 2018*, 2019, 2020*, 2021, 2022*, 2023, 2024*)
- Rice (2016, 2017*)
- San Diego State (2017*, 2018)
- TCU (2024, 2027*)
- UCF (2019*)
- Vanderbilt (2021*, 2024, 2025*, 2027)
* denotes a road game
Contact Do-Hyoung Park at dpark027 ‘at’ stanford.edu.