The Border War finally swung back Missouri’s way in Lawrence.
For the first time since 2001, the Tigers walked out of Kansas with a win, and they did it in convincing fashion Friday night, beating the Jayhawks 38-21 at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium in the first meeting at that venue between the schools since 2005.
Eli Drinkwitz didn’t bother dressing it up after the final whistle.
“If they want to have a football game and play a football game and have a great rivalry on the border, then awesome, let’s do it,” the Missouri coach said, “But if we want to make it deeper than that, man, we left Kansas bleeding again, so we’ll call it good.”
Missouri needed every bit of Austin Simmons’ sharp second outing to pull away. The transfer quarterback completed 19 of 29 passes for 292 yards and three touchdowns, and he looked far more comfortable than the numbers alone suggest.
Drinkwitz said, “He played unbelievable, didn’t flinch. I thought his third down conversions are as good as I’ve seen,” Drinkwitz said.
“They were doing so many different things on the back end, and normally a quarterback gets frustrated. He didn’t; he just locked in.
I thought he made incredible reads.”
Simmons’ best work came with Cayden Lee and Donovan Olugbode repeatedly tearing open the Kansas secondary. Both receivers topped 100 yards and each found the end zone, with Olugbode reaching triple digits before halftime for the second straight game to open his 2026 season.
“Once you get in a good rhythm there’s nothing really stopping us, in my opinion,” Simmons said, “and honestly, we’ve just got to keep on going no matter what.”
The game started messy for Missouri, though, and Kansas made the Tigers pay for it. The Jayhawks blocked both field goal tries in the first half, then turned the second block into points when Austin Alexander raced 88 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead midway through the second quarter.
Missouri’s running game was stuck in neutral for most of the first half, gaining only 27 yards on its first 14 carries. Then Jamal Roberts finally cracked it open, bursting 64 yards for a score on the Tigers’ 15th run to tie the game at 7-7.
Kansas answered again when Isaiah Marshall escaped pressure and hit Nik McMillan on the move for a big throw after the two-minute timeout. Marshall had his moments, but consistency wasn’t one of them; he finished 13 of 30 through the air.
Simmons, meanwhile, settled in and swung the half back Missouri’s way. He led a two-minute drive that ended with a 27-yard touchdown to Cayden Lee up the middle, sending the teams into the break tied 14-14.
The second half belonged to Robert Woodyard Jr. and the Missouri defense. The SEC transfer linebacker forced a fumble on Marshall’s first snap after halftime, then recovered it himself to set the Tigers up at the Kansas 34. Missouri turned that into a five-play touchdown drive, with Olugbode finishing it off on a slant.
Woodyard struck again on the next Kansas possession, dropping into coverage and picking off Marshall before returning it 27 yards to the Kansas 12. That takeaway led to Xai’Shaun Edwards’ 10-yard touchdown run, and Missouri was suddenly in control at 28-14 less than five minutes into the third quarter.
“We took their best punch in the first half, and now we landed one,” Drinkwitz said, “We talk about as a team, you know, we’ve got to go on runs in order to win games, and that’s what we did.”
Kansas kept hanging around and cut the deficit to one score on a 10-yard touchdown pass to Nahzae Cox late in the third quarter. Blake Craig answered with a field goal early in the fourth, and that was enough breathing room for Missouri to close it out.
Brett Norfleet added the dagger, catching a 13-yard touchdown on fourth down just before the final two-minute timeout to make it 38-21.
Drinkwitz was blunt afterward, too.
“I’m just glad that this whole right versus wrong bullcrap that was started just got settled on a football field because it’s a football game,” Drinkwitz said. “I get there’s a past to it, but why are we stirring that bullcrap up?
You know, it’s 9/11; this country needs unity now more than ever. I was embarrassed for them, to be honest, and that’s why I tried to embarrass them at the end.”
Missouri’s defense put one last stamp on the night when Nicholas Rodriguez sacked Marshall with 34 seconds left to force the turnover and finish off the 17-point win.
It wasn’t a clean performance. Missouri’s pass rush didn’t consistently get home until late, and the offensive line had its own issues, including three false starts. But after a season-opening game with similar problems, the Tigers still found a way to go into their rival’s stadium and leave with a multi-score victory.
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