LAWRENCE, Kan. (KCTV) - A renewal of the Border War last year in Columbia was competitive throughout before Mizzou put the finishing touches on a 42-31 victory over Kansas in the final minutes.
Friday night, the Jayhawks and Tigers will meet in Lawrence for the first time since Oct. 29, 2005. That meeting over two decades ago saw KU beat Mizzou, 13-3.
Last year, Kansas squandered an early 21-6 lead in Columbia, losing a tight contest in a season that ended with 5 wins, a game short of a bowl appearance.
“Last year’s game, we had some chances and didn’t convert,” Kansas head coach Lance Leipold said. “We didn’t make the stops when we needed to.”
What to expect
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Despite heading on the road for the game at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, Mizzou is the favored team.
Oddsmakers have the No. 23-ranked Tigers as 5.5-point favorites over the Jayhawks, with the over/under set at 50.5. ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) gives Mizzou a 63.2% chance of securing the victory.
What they’re saying
On Tuesday, Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz said the Tigers’ All-American left tackle Cayden Green has made positive progress toward playing Friday after he missed the Week 1 opener with an undisclosed injury.
“Cayden Green practiced (Monday), about three-fourths of practice. Looked good,” Drinkwitz said Tuesday. “Need to see how he responds today to that work he got. Had a good report this morning on his initial (prognosis).”
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Green, a 6-foot-5, 324-pound lineman who attended Lee’s Summit North High School, played all but two games last season at left tackle.
Hurting Mizzou’s chances a bit is the status of All-American running back Ahmad Hardy. After being shot as a bystander at a concert in Laurel, Mississippi, this May, Hardy is continuing his rehab but hasn’t practiced this week.
“We just wanted to get him out to practice and go from there,” Drinkwitz said of Hardy after previously noting that the Tigers needed to see the junior running back practice for multiple weeks before he could play in a game.
“But we’re not there yet,” Drinkwitz said.
Without Hardy, a significant role is in line for Jamal Roberts, who had 47 yards and a touchdown in Mizzou’s 54-14 win over Arkansas Pine-Bluff. In that opener, Mizzou also lost backup running back Malae Fonoti due to a season-ending ACL injury.
“I don’t feel great,” Drinkwitz said of his depth at running back. “But we’ll do the best we can.”
Leipold has acknowledged the Jayhawks know their test this week will be tougher than last Friday’s lashing of Long Island.
“We know it’s going to be a lot different test Friday night,” Leipold said.
After last year’s game in Columbia, Leipold said he thinks this year’s team has a deeper understanding of the rivalry between KU and Mizzou.
“I think our guys learned a lot more about what it is,” Leipold said. “We talked about why this rivalry is beyond football. We’ve talked about the history. I think they’ve seen the intensity of when it’s being played in this and our other sports across the board. I think we all learned a lot more there, myself included.”
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Earlier this week, Kansas Athletic Director Travis Good posted on his personal account an old picture of Jayhawkers.
“These are the original Jayhawkers, after executing a daring jailbreak in the slave state of Missouri,” Goff wrote in his post. “They rescued an Underground Railroad leader who was imprisoned by pro-slavery forces for helping slaves escape to freedom.”
Goff’s post came after the KU Athletics account posted a black-and-white image of John Brown, championed by Kansans as a Civil War-era freedom fighter and by Missourians as a bloody militant.
“It’s different in a sense that this is rooted in American history, right?” Kansas offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki said. “It’s a little deeper than just, ‘Oh, hey, we really don’t like Michigan,’ you know what I’m saying? It’s generations of wrongs that we had to correct as a country that are represented in this game, so this is unlike any rivalry.”
Drinkwitz said Mizzou’s coaching staff has also stressed the history of the rivalry ahead of Friday.
“We’ve highlighted the significance of the rivalry,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said, “where it started and how it came to be.”
While Leipold expressed the added understanding of the rivalry, Mizzou safety Santana Banner downplayed the Border War.
“I wouldn’t say anything stands out in particular,” Banner said Tuesday. “I mean, they’re a college football team. They’re in the way of our goal that we want to make it to the playoff. That’s all I see it as.”
Both quarterbacks are just getting used to the starting roles at their respective schools. Mizzou’s Austin Simmons made his Tiger debut last week, completing 17 of 19 passes for 252 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Isaiah Marshall went 14 for 19 for 246 yards and 2 touchdowns in his KU starting debut as a redshirt sophomore.
“I think their quarterback looks really good, really natural,” Drinkwitz said while also praising Kotelnicki. “Obviously, I think their offensive coordinator does a tremendous job... We’re going to have to be disciplined. We’re going to have to be able to rush the quarterback and play pass coverage and utilize our pass rush lanes and we’ll see how it plays out.”
Know before you go
David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium’s continued construction on the east side remains in progress. As a result, the capacity for Friday’s game will be just above 30,000.
If you’re in downtown Lawrence before the game, Lawrence Transit is still offering fare-free bus service to campus on gamedays. For details, click here.
For a gate access map for ticket entry, click here.
The timeline for events surrounding the stadium and kickoff for Friday is as follows:
- 2 p.m.: Parking lots open
- 4 p.m.: Gameday on the Hill Opens + Gameday on 11th Street + Family Fun Zone Opens
- 4:45 p.m.: Hawk Walk
- 5 p.m.: Gates open for premium area ticket holders
- 5:30 p.m.: All gates open
- 6:30 p.m.: Pregame show begins
- 7 p.m.: Kickoff for Mizzou vs. KU
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