Missouri walked out of Lawrence with a rivalry win, but the clearest takeaway had less to do with the final score than the man wearing No. 6.
Austin Simmons looked like the difference Friday night in Mizzou’s 38-21 win over Kansas, and not in a way that required much interpretation. He finished 19-of-29 for 292 yards and three touchdowns, and half of his incompletions were balls that hit his receivers in the hands before hitting the turf. When Missouri needed a spark, he kept finding one.
That mattered because everything around him was messy.
The Tigers had two field goals blocked. They piled up 10 penalties.
They dropped multiple passes, including one that could have been a touchdown. They even had a stretch where they committed a delay of game and a false start on back-to-back would-be snaps.
For long stretches, Missouri looked like a team creating its own problems.
Simmons kept it from becoming one.
The go-ahead touchdown came in the third quarter on a third-down play at the goal line, and it was the kind of call Eli Drinkwitz would probably rather delete from the playbook. New offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey and quarterbacks coach Garrett Riley installed the route concept known as “mesh,” and Lindsey called it there with Missouri tied against Kansas.
Simmons dropped back, looked right, saw congestion, waited, and then found Donovan Olugbode in a tight window for the touchdown. Missouri never trailed again.
“The coaches did.
“They let me know over the headset that it was mesh,” Drinkwitz said.
The play fit the night. Simmons spent much of the first half working through traffic and surviving the kind of self-inflicted mistakes that usually sink teams on the road. Kansas had its own quarterback issues, but Missouri’s bigger edge was at the most important position on the field.
Drinkwitz’s team also had to deal with Kansas pass rusher Leroy Harris III, who was a problem for both the passing game and the run game. It took Missouri’s offensive line a dozen tries before it finally opened a lane for the running back.
That, too, was part of the story.
Still, the Tigers won anyway, and they did it because Simmons looked like more than just a capable quarterback. Missouri has had competent play there before - Brady Cook started four NFL games last season and helped the Tigers win 21 games in two years - but Simmons has a different feel. He looks like the guy who can lift the rest of the offense instead of waiting for it to catch up.
That was especially clear after halftime. Missouri’s offensive line held up better.
The defense forced turnovers on the first two Kansas snaps of the second half. And the Tigers, for a stretch, started to look like the version of themselves that could make noise when the schedule tightens up.
That’s coming soon enough. Over a five-game stretch, Missouri plays four teams currently ranked inside the top 10.
The second half in Lawrence was only one night, but it offered a preview of the question that now hangs over Mizzou in a bigger way: if Simmons keeps playing like this, how far can the rest of the roster go with him?
For at least one Friday night, the answer looked promising. The next one will depend on whether the Tigers can get enough from everybody else.
In Other News...
Robert Woodyard Just Flipped Mizzous Biggest Game Of The Night
Missouri and Kansas spent the first half trading punches in a tied Border Showdown, but the game turned sharply after halftime when Robert Woodyard started making the kind of plays that swing rivalry nights. The Missouri linebacker forced a fumble in the third quarter, then came back later to pick off a pass, and the Tigers cashed in on both chances with a pair of touchdowns to seize a 28-14 lead.
For a matchup that always carries extra edge, Woodyards sequence was exactly the kind of jolt Missouri needed to separate itself in a game that had been dead even at the break. With Kansas already on the wrong side of that momentum swing, the Tigers now have to carry the same defensive energy forward into next weeks meeting with Troy. [Read more 🡒]
Eli Drinkwitz Just Raised The Stakes In Mizzous Kansas Rivalry
The buildup to Missouris latest meeting with Kansas was already tense, but a pregame video from the Jayhawks added another layer to the rivalry when it referenced the series Civil War roots. Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz pushed back hard on that choice, calling it inappropriate and especially out of place on 9/11, when the tone around the game carried extra weight beyond the usual border bragging rights.
Missouri then answered on the field with a 38-21 win, its second straight in the revived series. Drinkwitz made clear afterward that he was disappointed by the video and left open a bigger question about what comes next, signaling that the future of the rivalry may be just as unsettled as the emotions around this latest chapter. [Read more 🡒]
Missouri Finally Delivered The Border War Road Win Fans Craved
Missouri walked out of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium with more than a rivalry win, finally snapping a nearly 25-year drought in Lawrence with a 38-21 victory over Kansas in the 2026 Border War. Austin Simmons helped set the tone with a strong passing night, throwing for 292 yards and three touchdowns, while Robert Woodyard Jr. made his presence felt on defense with a fumble recovery and an interception.
The Tigers still had to work for it before taking control in the second half, but the payoff was obvious for a program and fan base that had waited a long time for this road result. Beating Kansas on its field does more than add a line to the record book, and Missouri now has a fresh reminder of what it looks like when the rivalry swings its way. [Read more 🡒]