Why Mizzou Tigers are already looking forward to Border War football game vs. KU
Too early to begin thinking about the resumption of the Border War football rivalry between Missouri and Kansas?
Never.
The game on Sept. 6 in Columbia was on the minds of the black and gold who packed the “Zou for You” event at Chicken N Pickle in Overland Park on Tuesday, when Missouri coaches and athletics officials met with fans.
“That’s what makes college football so fun and so special,” Tigers coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “I’ve done my fair share of talking about it. It’s going to be time to back it up.”
The game will be the second on Missouri’s schedule and third on KU’s. Kickoff time hasn’t been announced.
“I think the biggest thing for us is making sure our guys understand the rivalry,” Drinkwitz said. “It hasn’t been played in a long time and we want to be sure our guys understand the significance, the importance and the passion that both sides have toward the game.”
Emotion was never an issue in the rivalry. Even its disruption was a passion play.
The Border War hasn’t been played on a football field since 2011. At the time, the teams had played five of six games scheduled at Arrowhead (now GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium).
The sixth game wasn’t played. Kansas did not want to continue the series as a non-conference game. “At this point, it’s not something we’d be interested in,” then-KU athletic director Sheahon Zenger told The Star.
So, a rivalry that had its roots in the Civil War came to a close. When the 2011 game was played, the Border War was the second-most played game in college football history — at 120 meetings. It also matched Minnesota-Wisconsin as the sport’s longest uninterrupted series at 105 games.
The rivalry peaked in 2007 when the Jayhawks and Tigers met as top-3 teams in the regular-season finale. The winner would become No. 1 because top-ranked LSU had fallen the previous day.
It was the first KU-Mizzou game played at Arrowhead, before 80,537, the second-largest in stadium history. That game drew the largest TV audience of any game during the regular season. Missouri won 36-28 and ascended to the top spot, only to fall to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game the next week.
A series four-game revival was announced by the schools in 2020 and comes in two sections. Lawrence will get the 2026 game, and it picks up again in 2031 in Columbia and Lawrence in 2032.
The schools have already resumed the basketball series that also ended after Missouri entered the SEC. Four of six games have been played, all at campus sites starting in 2021. The next two games will be played at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
Missouri athletic director Laird Veatch has double-motivation to beat the Jayhawks. He played football for the Jayhawks’ other big rival, Kansas State.
“With my background, there’s nothing sweeter than beating the Jayhawks,” Veatch said. “I’m very much looking forward to the game.”