November 1, 2008. That was the last time the Kansas football team beat Kansas State. 17 years. KU, which somehow still holds a 13-win lead over its Sunflower State rivals, has lost 16 straight games to the Wildcats. In fact, since 1993, the Jayhawks have only beaten K-State four times, and all of those victories occurred within a five-year span, from 2004 to 2008.
Kansas is just 4-27 against Kansas State over the last three-plus decades. It is almost impossible to fathom how two in-state schools in a power conference could have such a lopsided rivalry. It can’t even be called a rivalry at this point.
Things have been even worse for the Jayhawks outside of the record over the past 31 games. K-State has outscored Kansas, 1,144-514, over that stretch. That is an average score of 36.9 to 16.5. KU scored 152 of those 514 points, or 30 percent, in their four wins.
Kansas is slowly closing the gap with Kansas State
Regardless of the history between the two schools, the Jayhawks may be slowly closing the gap between the two programs. KU has scored 27 points in each of its last three losses to K-State. In the last two clashes, the Wildcats won by a total of six points. In 2023, injuries forced the Jayhawks to use their third-string quarterback. It was a competitive game, but a dropped pick-six by KU cost them the game.
Last season, Kansas had the game well in hand at the end, but a late fumble by Jalon Daniels at midfield let Kansas State come back to win by two. Still, moral victories are not the same thing as real ones, and KU can’t be happy until they make this a real rivalry.
As hard as it is to swallow, but 2025 might not be the year KU snaps this ignominious losing streak. Kansas figures to be competitive, but they’ve been picked to finish between fourth (ESPN College Football Power Index) and eighth (Athlon Sports) in the Big 12. Both ESPN and Athlon have K-State winning the conference.
Without a snap being taken, these rankings are meaningless. Still, while KSU is one of the strongest programs in the Big 12, Kansas football is no longer a laughingstock either. Head coach Lance Leipold has done a brilliant job pulling this program from the garbage heap and giving it a degree of respectability it hasn’t had in well over a decade.
The Jayhawks were better in 2024 than their 5-7 record would indicate. Five of their losses, including the one to K-State, came about because of bad turnovers late in games. If KU had played better in the fourth quarter early in the season, they wouldn’t have lost five in a row. The fact they beat three straight top-10 opponents late in the campaign gave the season an empty “what if” feeling.
To be a consistently successful program, however, you can't moan over “what ifs” or celebrate moral victories. You have to win ballgames. Period.
The Kansas football team has undoubtedly closed the gap with Kansas State. Whether that leads to a win for the Jayhawks against the Wildcats this season remains to be seen. K-State will be extremely tough to beat, but KU can make the game competitive, and they may end this painful losing streak against their Sunflower State rivals. It has to end sometime; maybe Oct. 25 will be that day.