For the first time since 2005, Missouri is headed back to Lawrence for the Border War.
Kansas and No. 23 Missouri meet Friday night at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, with kickoff set for 8 p.m.
ET on FOX. The rivalry technically resumed last season, but this one carries a different feel: it is Missouri’s first trip to Lawrence in 21 years.
That matters because this series has never been just about football. The Kansas-Missouri feud stretches back to the conflict along the border before and during the Civil War, long before either school played a down. What grew out of that violent era eventually became one of college football’s oldest and nastiest rivalries.
The roots run deep. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 set off a struggle over whether slavery would be allowed in the territories, helping spark the violence known as “Bleeding Kansas.”
Pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups crossed the border to fight for control, and even the schools’ identities tie back to that period. “Jayhawkers” became linked to anti-slavery fighters from Kansas, while Missouri’s Tigers nickname came from a militia created to defend Columbia from attacks during the Civil War.
The teams first took the field against each other on Oct. 31, 1891.
According to the Associated Press, Civil War veterans were on the sidelines for that game, which came just 26 years after the war ended. From there, the matchup became an annual fixture that survived conference shifts, wild finishes and generations of players.
Then realignment broke the chain. Kansas and Missouri played 120 times before the series was interrupted, with their final meeting as conference foes coming on Nov.
26, 2011. Missouri left the Big 12 for the SEC shortly after that 24-10 win at Arrowhead Stadium, a game in which the Tigers erased a 10-point deficit.
For 13 seasons, the teams didn’t meet on the football field. But the bitterness never went away.
Missouri fans kept taking shots at Kansas during unrelated games, and the intensity showed up in other sports too. Eventually, the schools agreed to a four-game football series in 2020, setting up matchups for 2025 and 2026, then another home-and-home in 2031 and 2032.
The rivalry’s return last Sept. 6 delivered immediately. Kansas stormed to a 21-6 first-quarter lead in Columbia and later moved back ahead 31-28 early in the fourth, only for Missouri to finish with two late touchdowns and win 42-31. Brett Norfleet put the Tigers ahead for good with a 27-yard touchdown catch, and Jamal Roberts finished it off with a 63-yard run.
That comeback extended Missouri’s grip on the series. The Tigers have now won four straight over Kansas and six of the last seven, and they lead the official rivalry 58-54-9. Kansas’ last win in the Border War came in 2008, a 40-37 victory at Arrowhead Stadium.
Both teams arrive Friday at 1-0. Missouri opened with a 54-14 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, with quarterback Austin Simmons completing 17 of 19 passes for 252 yards and four touchdowns in his Tigers debut. Kansas started with a 51-6 win over Long Island, as Isaiah Marshall threw for 246 yards and two touchdowns while adding 49 rushing yards.
Missouri brings the ranking and the recent upper hand. Kansas brings the crowd and a shot at its first Border War win in nearly two decades. And for the first time in 21 years, the Tigers have to step into Lawrence and deal with it on the Jayhawks’ field.
In Other News...
Isaiah Marshall Just Sparked A Tough Kansas Offense Debate
Isaiah Marshalls first real test against high-level competition turned into a harsh lesson for Kansas, even as the quarterback found the end zone twice in the loss to Missouri. The Jayhawks were already dealing with a Missouri defense that kept landing punches, from two blocked field goals to enough disruption up front and in the middle of the field to tilt the afternoon toward the Tigers in a 38-21 result.
Marshalls stat line will draw attention, but the bigger concern for Kansas is how quickly the offense went from manageable to shaky when the game tightened. Missouri quarterback Austin Simmons threw for 292 yards and three touchdowns, Jamal Roberts added 125 yards and a score on the ground, and Kansas never found a steady answer once the Tigers began dictating the flow, leaving Lance Leipold and his staff with a tougher offensive conversation than they likely expected. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas Leans Into Border War Tension With Provocative Missouri Message
The Border War is back on the college football calendar, and Kansas is leaning all the way into the old-school bitterness that still comes with Missouri week. With No. 23 Missouri set to face the Jayhawks, the program used a Civil War-themed hype video to stir the pot, tapping into the long memory behind a rivalry whose roots stretch well beyond football and into the conflict between the two states that dates to the Civil War era.
For Kansas fans, the matchup has never been just about the standings. The name alone carries the weight of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Bleeding Kansas and the Lawrence Massacre, and the latest promotional push made clear the school understands exactly what kind of game this is supposed to feel like. The video adds another layer of tension before kickoff, and it only sharpens the sense that this one is about more than a win or loss. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas Faces A Painful Border War Problem That Keeps Getting Worse
The Border War has become a rougher watch for Kansas than anyone around the program would have liked, and Saturdays 38-21 loss in Columbia only added to the frustration. Missouri extended its streak in the rivalry to five straight, leaning on a cleaner, more physical performance while Kansas kept handing away chances in a game that was still there for the taking into the second half.
The Jayhawks had moments to settle in and answer, but the margin quickly widened once Missouri started turning those openings into points. Kansas has spent years trying to climb back into this series, yet the recent pattern is becoming harder to ignore, with each meeting seeming to reinforce how much work remains before the rivalry feels even again. [Read more 🡒]