Kansas football: The good and the bad from bringing back the Border War

Kansas football and Missouri are reportedly reigniting the Border War. There are good and bad elements to this, and we’ll take a look at both sides.

Since Missouri bailed on the Big 12 for the SEC, Kansas football has been without its archrival, but now, the Border War series could be back. Missouri AD Jim Sterk told a group of donors that a four-game series is in the works, but there really aren’t any details out there yet.

The only specific that’s known right now is that it’s a four-game series; however, the locations of the games are still unknown. The ideal scenario would be playing two games in Lawrence and two in Columbia, but there’s also the possibility of having games at Arrowhead Stadium. More on that later.

Let’s start with the good things.

By scheduling Missouri, Kansas football has put a game on the schedule that people will care about. Remember last season when the Jayhawks beat Texas Tech at home and were set to take on Kansas State the next week? The buzz throughout the week was incredible, and Kansas football fans showed up in droves to sell Memorial Stadium out.

It was a game that fans cared about, and it was fun until the Jayhawks laid an egg on Saturday. The point is, building excitement around Kansas football is an important step in turning the program around. A rivalry game against one of the Jayhawks’ oldest foes would certainly turn up the heat and get students and other fans interested in coming out to games.

There are some negatives to bringing the Border War back too. Namely, scheduling an SEC team (even a mediocre one) while trying to make a bowl game is an interesting strategy.

Non-conference games are extremely valuable. Teams normally schedule two opponents that are either in the FCS or in a low-level conference, and then one other team from another power-five conference for a grand total of three games.

READ MORE: Breaking down the 2020 non-conference schedule

In other words, power-five teams should start with at least a 2-1 record to begin every season. You may be saying to yourself “so what? Kansas can still play two games against low-level opponents in addition to Missouri.”

Well, the problem is that the Jayhawks have scheduled a power-five team as part of its non-con schedule though 2024 plus in 2027-2030.

That leaves 2025 and 2026 as the only two years that the Jayhawks haven’t already scheduled a power-five opponent. That means that Kansas will likely add another power-five opponent to the schedule for at least two seasons in the 2020s, unless the series gets pushed all the way back to the 2030s.

Another problem that could come from the potential Border War revival would be if Kansas agreed to do a two-for-one series with one game at Arrowhead too. That may sound like something Kansas wouldn’t agree to, but don’t forget that KU agreed to do a two-for-one with Coastal Carolina, a team that isn’t even in the FBS.

There still haven’t been enough details yet to judge whether or not resurrecting the Border War is good for Kansas football. Once the specifics become clearer though, it should paint a picture of what KU football has either gained or lost.