A new documentary revisits one of the biggest nights in the Border War and brings it back to North Kansas City this Thursday.
“Armageddon at Arrowhead” premieres at 7 p.m. at Screenland Armour and centers on the November 2007 clash between No. 2 Kansas and No.
3 Missouri at Arrowhead Stadium. With top-ranked LSU losing earlier that day, the stakes were clear: the winner would leave as the No. 1 team in the country.
Missouri did exactly that, outlasting Kansas 36-28 after surviving a furious fourth-quarter push from the Jayhawks.
“We knew going into that game that whoever won at the end of the night was going to be No. 1 after that game,” former Mizzou tight end Martin Rucker said.
The game still stands out for what it meant to both programs. Kansas has never been ranked No.
- Missouri, meanwhile, had only been No. 1 one other time, in 1960, before or since that night.
Director Carrington Harrison said the film isn’t just about the final score. It widens the lens to show what 2007 meant for both teams.
“The doc tells more than just that one individual game,” he said. “It's really a story of how Missouri potentially had their best team in 2007, Kansas had their best team in 2007, and these two teams just met up to play this incredible game at Arrowhead.”
The story is told through four former players: Kansas wide receiver Dexton Fields and running back Brandon McAnderson, plus Missouri tight ends Chase Coffman and Rucker, who scored the game’s first touchdown.
Rucker admitted he had barely watched the game before the documentary, aside from film study the next day.
“Much easier to watch knowing the outcome,” Rucker said with a laugh.
He viewed it alongside Harrison, who also hosts the afternoon show on 96-5 The Fan. Harrison stepped into documentary work five years ago with “From Paseo to Pembroke: Kansas City's Golden Era,” a project on a celebrated stretch of Kansas City high school basketball.
“I just like telling stories,” Harrison said. “I feel like our stories are really important.
We all watch movies and documentaries, and people are telling New York stories or Chicago stories, but nobody is telling Kansas City stories. So if I can play a part in that, I certainly want to.”
The aftermath of that 2007 game still hangs over the rivalry. Missouri beat Kansas, then lost to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game and missed out on a national title shot before finishing the season by hammering Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl.
“Should have been the Orange Bowl,” Rucker said.
“No bitterness there, right?” I replied.
“Not at all,” he said, roaring with laughter. “Forgot all about it.”
Kansas, meanwhile, wound up in a BCS game and beat Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl after then-Jayhawks Athletic Director Lew Perkins outfoxed Missouri’s administration to land the spot.
For Harrison, that unresolved tension is exactly why the story still works, especially with the rivalry renewed last season and set to continue Sept. 11 when Missouri visits Kansas in Lawrence.
“That's what I think makes this story so interesting is - even though it was resolved, it's still very unresolved,” Harrison said. “Both teams still have great bragging rights over the other. Missouri has the bragging rights of winning the individual game, and Kansas has the bragging rights of 'We went to a BCS bowl.’”
Missouri finished 12-2 in 2007, while Kansas ended 12-1. That lone Jayhawks loss came after Missouri defensive tackle Lorenzo Williams drove Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing into the end-zone turf at Arrowhead, creating one of the rivalry’s most memorable images as Reesing picked clumps of grass from his helmet.
Tickets for the premiere are $15 and available at the theater’s website. The event includes appearances by Harrison and the players featured in the documentary.
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