Kansas football won its first game under new head coach Lance Leipold on Friday night. But it was what happened after the game that received most of the attention.
After the Jayhawks sealed the victory against South Dakota 17-14, fans rushed the field to celebrate the victory. This is typically a tradition performed after a big upset victory, but it made sense with a team like Kansas that hadn’t won a game since October 16th of 2019.
LANCE LEIPOLD STATUE WHEN pic.twitter.com/GpYHxo45mh
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) September 4, 2021
A plethora of fans took to social media to discuss their disagreement with the storming of the field, though. And it appeared the issue wasn’t so much that fans stormed the field; it was after beating an FCS team, one level below the FBS.
Had the Jayhawks just defeated an FBS foe, one they were projected as underdogs, then it would have been more widely accepted. And had the Jayhawks not been as bad at football as they have been that last ten years, maybe it wouldn’t even have happened at all.
These situations are always hard to dissect because storming the field, depending on the atmosphere and fan attendance, can also be rather dangerous. If 50,000 fans rush the field, it could go from a celebration to an absolute catastrophe.
But in KU’s case, the total fan attendance was closer to 26,000. And it appeared it was mostly KU students who partook in the field storming, which by my estimate couldn’t have been more than 1,000 people.
The aftermath of the field storming is what most KU fans are most likely concerned about. And it’s typically found in the form of memes or jokes about the football program on social media. The same jokes that have been going on for over a decade now.
These same fans often ask themselves, when will the jokes end?
All jokes aside, I think the students deserved to storm the field, and it was more than just celebrating a Kansas football victory. This field storming shows fans’ potential excitement about the football program, especially after its rocky last ten years.
Morning Jayhawks! So many reflections from Friday night but primary feeing is APPRECIATION - for our loyal fans making their presence felt & our awesome students who stayed until the end. You fueled our team & helped bring us a W. Small step toward our best days for @KU_Football!
— Travis Goff (@tgoff11) September 6, 2021
But I also think this field storming was simply excitement from the fans about being allowed at a football game again.
There’s no denying the toll this COVID era has taken on us as a society. Last year didn’t quite feel like football season, especially for Kansas fans that didn’t get a chance to even witness a football victory after the program went 0-9.
This leads me to believe this field storming was more than a football victory by their beloved school; it was a celebration of fans being together again. It was a celebration that maybe civilization is on its way back to some sort of normalcy.
Like many KU fans, I too look forward to the day Kansas football can escape the jokes of memes past. Unfortunately, that day won’t be today, and it won’t be tomorrow, and it may not even be in the near future.
But someday, once all the dust has settled and Kansas football is celebrating its third bowl victory in a row, we can all look back and laugh at what was and appreciate what we have now.