MANHATTAN — Jonathan Truman has seen just about everything during his five years at Kansas State.

The senior from Kechi has climbed from walk-on to team captain. He’s won a Big 12 championship, competed in major bowls and tasted victory against some of college football’s most iconic programs. He’s played in no fewer than 41 games, starting his last 15.

Yes, by almost any measure, Truman has had a full Wildcat career. But when the former Kapaun standout steps onto the field Thursday night under the bright glare of a national spotlight, he hopes to experience yet another first.

"I’m really excited for it," Truman said. "I think Bill Snyder Family Stadium is going to be rockin’. I’m hoping it’s the loudest it’s ever been here."

Chances are good Truman will get his wish.

Not that anyone needs reminding, but Thursday is the day Wildcat fans have had circled for months. No. 5 Auburn visits No. 19 K-State for a 6:30 p.m. showdown that will be televised on ESPN.

It’s the SEC vs. Big 12. It’s Gus Malzahn vs. Bill Snyder. It’s Nick Marshall and last year’s national runners-up vs. Jake Waters, Tyler Lockett and Co. It’s physical against physical, tough against tough.

Need we say more? This is an ESPN producer’s dream, not to mention a special treat for K-State fans. Even Snyder himself recognizes as much.

"I think (our fans) enjoy whoever we play," Snyder said, "but quite obviously with someone like an Auburn they’re anxious to see them play. They’re probably more anxious to see them than us."

A wry smile crept across Snyder’s face as he delivered that line because he knows better than anyone what Wildcat fans really want.

In reality, though, this truly is a unique viewing experience for K-State supporters — and not simply because of the Thursday night kick.

Auburn represents the highest-ranked nonconference opponent in K-State history. The Wildcats have played a handful of notable nonleague foes in recent years — games against Southern Cal in 2001 and 2002, No. 8 Louisville in 2006, No. 14 Auburn in 2007, and Miami in 2011 and 2012 immediately come to mind — but this year’s Auburn team stands above all of them.

"They’re a great team, but at the same time we look at them as another football team we have to prepare for," said junior cornerback Morgan Burns. "I don’t want my guys to look at them like, ‘Oh, man, they’re this big, bad, scary team and we’re kind of underdogs.’ We’re both football teams. We’re both tough football teams.

"I think if we view them any differently, that could hinder us. I think we see them as another team, another week of preparation and (we’ll) continue to worry about us and what we’re going to do and how we’re going to prepare."

Dennis Dodd, senior college football columnist for CBSSports.com, isn’t convinced the Wildcats are the underdogs many believe them to be. Dodd considers this game the second-best nonconference matchup of the year behind the Sept. 6 clash that pitted Michigan State and Oregon, and he fully expects it to live up to the hype.

"Thursday night at K-State? I’m almost tempted to pick the Cats," Dodd said. "By the end of the season Auburn may be just as good as last year. The key to that is ‘by the end of the season.’

"Bill Snyder has prepared all offseason for this moment. I suppose Auburn’s brawn up front with two great running backs, Cameron Artis-Payne and Corey Grant, will carry the day. But the Tigers will have to pass to win. This game is almost a pick ’em to me."

Auburn’s offense — especially its running attack — is every bit as powerful as Dodd indicated. Malzahn is considered one of the brightest offensive minds in the country after guiding the Tigers to last year’s national championship game in his first season, and the Tigers have only improved on the 39.5-point average they registered a year ago.

With Marshall again directing the attack, Auburn has averaged 330 rushing yards and 544 total yards while outscoring Arkansas and San Jose State by a combined count of 104-34. Artis-Payne has averaged 144.5 rushing yards and scored four touchdowns in the two games, and Grant has chipped in an 88.0-yard average and another TD.

K-State’s defense will face other stiff tests this season — notably against Oklahoma and Baylor — but Auburn could be as challenging as any.

"We’re going to take every game to showcase what we can do — not just Auburn, but Auburn is the next opponent," senior defensive tackle Valentino Coleman said. "I know everybody talks about their offense, so this is going to be a test to see what our D-line and our defense as a whole is all about.

"We’re accepting the challenge and ready for the challenge. They’ve got to come to Manhattan, so it’s not easy to come in and just dominate us. It’s going to be a fun game."

It’s going to be a raucous one, too. The attendance record at Snyder Family Stadium was set back on Nov. 11, 2000, when 53,811 fans showed up to watch the No. 16 Wildcats beat No. 4 Nebraska, 29-28.

K-State officials expect that record to be eclipsed Thursday, in part because they expect the largest student attendance in stadium history. K-State’s players seem to expect the same.

"Every game day we get out there and start warming up and I smell the popcorn and you hear the band playing and all the fans yelling the chants," Burns said. "I just picture that times 10 as far as the crowd (Thursday night). They’re going to be excited.

"People on campus have been talking about Auburn: ‘Man, this game’s going to be crazy.’ So I’m just going to enjoy the opportunity."

The opportunity is significant, too, as college football enters a new era. While no team can punch its ticket to the inaugural four-team playoff in Week 3, teams at least can enter the early conversation by winning marquee nonconference games like the one Thursday.

CBSSports.com’s Dodd considers Oklahoma and Baylor the favorites in the Big 12 and says it is "way too early" for a team like K-State to start thinking about the playoffs, especially considering the Wildcats must meet both league heavyweights on the road.

But Dodd also is quick to recognize that a win against a top-five team from the nation’s most ballyhooed conference — a team that played for a national championship as recently as nine months ago, no less — would put K-State "on the fringes of the top 10 with five weeks to go until the first poll."

Such a win could carry even more weight at season’s end.

"The selection committee has basically challenged teams to play up in the noncon," Dodd said. "In essence, a bunch of one-loss teams at the end of the season will be evaluated by how they did in the noncon.

"K-State will have nothing to be ashamed of playing nine Big 12 games and Auburn. This issue will be NOT playing that extra game in a conference championship contest."

That can’t be the Wildcats concern, however. Not now, anyway. Their focus solely is the showdown with the Tigers — a game that means so much to so many and potentially could mean even more to K-State.

"It is a statement game for us," Coleman said. "If we come out and do what we’re supposed to do, it can be a memorable moment for us and for K-State."