MANHATTAN — Friday Night Lights are not just for high school football anymore.
Kansas State announced Wednesday that its Sept. 13 nonconference game against Arizona at Bill Snyder Family Stadium will kick off at 7 p.m. as the inaugural game of the new national FOX College Football Friday television package.
The game will be K-State’s first weeknight home game since a 2015 Thursday matchup and the first Friday home game since 2013.
While Arizona will join the Big 12 next season, the game will not count in the league standings because it was originally scheduled as part of a nonconference series in 2016 when the other Wildcats were still in the Pac-12. It will be the eighth all-time meeting between two Wildcats, but the first in Manhattan and the first time they have squared off since a 1978 game in Tucson.
College Football Friday is a new primetime offering for Fox.
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K-State begins the 2024 season with a streak of three straight eight-plus win seasons after going 9-4 last year and finishing No. 19 in the final AFCA Coaches poll and No. 25 in the College Football Playoff Top 25.
K-State closed out the 2023 season with a 28-19 victory over North Carolina State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, while Arizona posted a 10-3 record and won the Alamo Bowl.
K-State opens its 2024 against Tennessee-Martin on Aug. 31 and travels to New Orleans to face Tulane on Sept. 7 before wrapping up its nonconference schedule with Arizona.
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
