Kansas football: Jayhawks fans aren’t too thrilled about their latest bowl projection

Many Kansas football fans aren’t pleased with their most recent bowl game projections.

Kansas football went bowling for the first time in 14 seasons one year ago and will be doing the same in 2023. The Jayhawks finished the regular season with 8+ wins for the 11th time in school history, with victories over teams like Oklahoma and Iowa State.

With bowl games set to be announced on Sunday, Dec. 3, media outlets are constantly putting in their projections on who will play who in the postseason. Most analysts believe KU will step foot in Phoenix, Arizona, for the Guaranteed Rate Bowl — much to the dismay of the Jayhawk faithful.

“We should all be praying we don’t get this bowl. Would literally be the worst of the possible locations for us. Worst date. Worst venue. Worst location. Phoenix is super cheap to travel to during Christmas,” one X user wrote.

“Not one im hoping for. Travel and timing just sucks,” another person added.

The Guaranteed Rate Bowl has been played annually since 1989, though fans might know it as the Insight Bowl, in which Kansas defeated Minnesota back in 2008. It features a Big 12 and Big Ten team.

Not only is it played one day after Christmas Day, but Phoenix is more than 1,000 miles away from KU’s campus. The ideal game would be the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Dec. 28 in Orlando, Florida, but it appears that in-state rival K-State has that one locked up.

CBS Sports has Kansas football competing vs. Rutgers, 247 Sports has them up against Northwestern, and Brett McMurphy projects them to face Maryland. But no matter where you look, the Guaranteed Rate Bowl is without question the most likely destination for Lance Leipold and Co.

“I’m close to saying I would rather KU not go to a bowl than watch Kansas vs. Northwestern or Kansas vs. Rutgers. Those games are going to be boring asf,” a disgruntled Jayhawk fan tweeted.

“Which would be the Guaranteed Low Attendance Bowl. This bums me out,” joked a user.

Some had a more positive outlook on the situation but still weren’t happy about it.

“Grateful to see Kansas football playing in back to back bowls, but I would be disappointed to see us land in the [Guaranteed Rate] Bowl. Based on our body of work, KU should be in the Texas or Liberty Bowl. Since we played in the [Liberty Bowl] last year & are unlikely to get picked ahead of KSU, GR Bowl it is.”

Ultimately, Kansas football doesn’t have the pick of the litter, with teams such as Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Kansas State clearly ahead of them for a more prestigious bowl game. The program might need to win a few “boring” bowl games like these in order to climb the ranks.

Click here for more information on when the NCAA picks this season’s bowl games.

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