The 2026 football season still feels like a million miles away, and for the most part, it is. But as the ice around Lawrence, Kan, begins to thaw and spring football slowly comes closer, all of a sudden, the Jayhawks will be thrust into the regular season from out of nowhere.
A regular season that sees Kansas take on Arizona State all the way across the world in London, England, at the historic Wembley Stadium.
It is also the same brutal season that sees the Jayhawks end with nine-straight games, as just one bye week was awarded in between the Sun Devils and Middle Tennessee State.
The 2026 campaign gives Kansas a great chance to right the perceptions that back-to-back 5-7 seasons can present, as Lance Leipold and his team have not reached a bowl game since the 2023 season, when KU reached a 9-4 mark under the former Buffalo coach.
IT’S HERE. 🏈🗓️
— Kansas Football (@KU_Football) January 21, 2026
🔗→ https://t.co/8TWXlpyoXo pic.twitter.com/iNW0j4QClu
The Border Showdown has been touted as the Jayhawks’ most important game of the 2026 season
The 2025 edition of the showdown between Missouri and Kansas was a gunslinging “whoever gets the ball last wins” kind of game, where Kansas blinked in the final five minutes and gave up a late touchdown to make the 42-31 double-digit loss look worse than it really was.
“It's odd to put so much weight on a Week 2 matchup. But the Jayhawks are staring down a daunting slate in 2026 as they work to replace previous mainstays such as Jalon Daniels, Daniel Hishaw Jr. and Bryce Foster,” quotes Eli Lederman.
“If Kansas is going to improve on its 5-7 finish last fall, it's going to have to get rolling with its new core early. What better time to start than with the program's first visit from Border War rivals Missouri since 2005?”
A revamped Kansas team
Over the offseason, Leipold’s team lost 25 players to the portal, while bringing in 31, in what was a pretty massive overhaul for a team that finished just short of its third bowl game in four years under Leipold.
Kansas was able to replace the likes of Hishaw with former Kansas State running back Dylan Edwards and Jalon Daniels with former Rice quarterback Chase Jenkins, in what will be an interesting QB1 battle next season.
247Sports ranks Kansas portal haul as the nation’s 52nd-best, and 12th-best in the Big 12.
While there are several position battles soon to get underway across the whole team, there is also room for excitement as Andy Kotelnicki will be back with Leipold and calling the offensive plays, following his two seasons at Penn State.