Kansas and No. 23 Missouri will add to their historic “Border War” rivalry under the Friday night lights in Lawrence, Kan.
The series dates to 1891, although its modern intensity diminished when the schools moved to different conferences in 2012 and stopped playing each other every year.
Kansas coach Lance Leipold said he understands the rivalry a little better now since the Jayhawks and Tigers renewed their series a year ago after a 14-year pause. Missouri won 42-31 in Columbia, Mo., after the Jayhawks squandered an early 15-point lead.
This time, Leipold said his team will be ready, and for reasons that go beyond the rivalry.
“I think what you’re looking for is some ‘Knute Rockne’-type motivational deal that ‘we hate them’ and all this,” Leipold said. “I think our guys learned a lot more about what it is. We talked about why this rivalry is beyond football. We talked about the history, and they’ve seen some of the intensity when it’s being played. I think we all are a little bit more ‘there’ — myself included.”
Leipold added that it’s a long season and Kansas has other goals to accomplish.
“I know it’s not always popular to say this, and you’ve heard me say this before: We’ve still got to play 10 more games after this one,” he said.
The Jayhawks (1-0) opened their season with last week’s 51-6 thumping of Long Island, racking up 613 yards on offense, including 246 through the air by Isaiah Marshall.
Missouri (1-0) handled Arkansas-Pine Bluff 54-14 last week after coming in ranked No. 25 nationally by the Associated Press. Austin Simmons, a transfer from Ole Miss, threw for four touchdowns and completed 17 of 19 passes for 252 yards in the first half before being subbed out.
Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said he wants a more thorough performance from his team, which he said had too many lapses against the Golden Lions.
He liked how Simmons performed but disliked the inconsistent running game and special-teams errors. He called the third quarter “embarrassing” overall and promised to address the shortcomings after his team was outscored 7-0 in the quarter.
Drinkwitz also downplayed the rivalry aspect of this week, an about-face from his comments over the summer, when he said the Jayhawks would be “looking for blood” this time.
“Yeah, I’m really just focused on playing this game on Friday. It’s important for us to get a lot better,” said Drinkwitz, whose team went 8-5 overall and 4-4 in the SEC a year ago. “We need to make a jump from Week 1 to Week 2. I don’t have any big, significant thoughts on it, larger scale, than that.”
Drinkwitz said it’s possible that left tackle Cayden Green, Missouri’s best lineman who missed last week with an undisclosed injury, would be ready to play.
In his sixth season at Kansas, Leipold is coming off consecutive 5-7 records, and he was 3-6 in the Big 12 in 2025. With no bowls since 2023, the Jayhawks have a lot to get in order. Beating the Tigers would be a good place to start, though not necessarily because it’s the 122nd meeting between Kansas and Missouri.
“When you’re in the trenches, I don’t know that you’re thinking about that,” Leipold said. “You’ve still got to block somebody. There’s still a thing about executing what you’ve got to do and getting that done. And the right focus, preparation and training.
“I know this: Our guys will be excited to take the field.”
Kansas and Missouri won’t play again, short of meeting in the College Football Playoff, until the 2031 and ’32 seasons.
