Sunflower Showdown has extra meaning for K-State football players from Lawrence
The year-round emphasis Bill Snyder used to place on winning the Sunflower Showdown is a thing of the past inside Kansas State’s football complex, but you wouldn’t realize that listening to Scott Frantz talk about the rivalry.
“This game means a lot to me,” Frantz said. “We try to treat every game the same, but I would be lying to you if I didn’t say this game meant a little bit more to me. Being born and raised in Lawrence, I have got a lot of buddies on that KU football team. I can’t wait to see them and compete against them one last time.”
Frantz is a senior left tackle for the Wildcats, and he has plenty of reasons to want to beat the Jayhawks at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in KU’s Memorial Stadium.
For starters, he spent most of his life growing up in KU’s backyard and graduated from Free State High School before relocating to Manhattan for college in 2015. He has also never lost to the Jayhawks, and he doesn’t want to lose bragging rights anytime soon.
Especially not right now, as both teams appear to be on the rise. K-State defeated Oklahoma 48-41 last week and vaulted into the national rankings at No. 22. The Jayhawks downed Texas Tech 37-34 for their first Big 12 victory under Les Miles.
“It has been very interesting to see KU evolve over the years, especially for someone who was born and raised in Lawrence,” Frantz said. “Playing against us every year, you see them inching closer and feel the games getting tighter and tighter. Last year they had a chance to beat us. Now, this year, they are piecing together a lot of games and getting good wins. It’s going to be a good matchup.”
Fans have genuine interest in the game for the first time in a decade.
“The rivalry is important every year,” Frantz said. “I think it is going to be a really good game. Last year, at times, both of our teams struggled greatly. Now both teams are coming off big wins. I think it will be a bigger game, for sure. I can’t wait.”
It could be argued that few players have made a bigger impact on the Sunflower Showdown football rivalry than Frantz in recent years.
When he committed to the Wildcats in 2015 his decision turned plenty of heads. Before that, Snyder had never successfully recruited a football player from Lawrence.
As it turned out, Frantz was starting a trend. Three more Lawrence athletes (fullback Jax Dineen, receiver Keenan Garber and defensive back Ekow Boye-Doe) have joined the K-State football roster since then, giving new coach Chris Klieman a rare recruiting pipeline into enemy territory.
They should all be motivated for this game, particularly Dineen. His brother, Jay, is a sophomore linebacker for the Jayhawks.
“It’s been a very unique thing to watch,” Frantz said. “I remember when I first came here I was one of the first guys from Lawrence to come play football at Kansas State. Now we have got a handful of guys from Lawrence on the team.”
Perhaps that is one of the reasons why Klieman doesn’t value the Governor’s Cup the same way Snyder used to. He knows K-State players will be motivated for the Sunflower Showdown no matter what he says about the Jayhawks.
Don’t get Klieman wrong. He wants to beat Kansas. But he wants to win every game on the schedule, too. When he coached at North Dakota State, he didn’t place extra value on its rivalry game with South Dakota State. He tries not to turn any regular season game into the Super Bowl, because “then what are you going to do for the other 11 games of the year?”
“It is important,” Klieman said. “I’m not downplaying that, but you better just attack each day and what is in front of you, which is, for us, to learn the game plan each day.”
K-State players are embracing that philosophy as much as possible. After all, Klieman preached the same thing last week while the Wildcats were preparing for the Sooners.
But it’s hard not to feel extra excitement for this opponent.
“I’m psyched for this week,” said senior defensive tackle Trey Dishon, who grew up in Horton. “More psyched than the Oklahoma game, because it’s a rivalry week and that’s all you have to say.”
Time will tell how a new rivalry philosophy will impact the Sunflower Showdown. You can’t argue with Snyder’s results. K-State owns a 10-game winning streak against KU and has won 22 of the last 26 games in the series.
Frantz has been a part of the last four years of that run. He hopes his young Lawrence teammates experience the same success.
“It always feels good to beat KU,” Frantz said. “But I’m sure they are going to come out ready to give us their all. They are a great team. It will be a tight one on Saturday.”
This story was originally published October 29, 2019 at 5:07 PM with the headline "Sunflower Showdown has extra meaning for K-State football players from Lawrence."