The Border War was just resurrected on Saturday, and it lived up to the hype. Unfortunately for KU, a painful loss was suffered at the hands of bitter rival, Mizzou.
Kansas started the game hot, and it looked like they had a great chance to overwhelm the Tiger defense, but that plan did not come to fruition for the Jayhawks. The Missouri offense eventually settled down and became too much for the KU defense to handle. Eli Drinkwitz was clearly more aggressive than the more passive approach that Lance Leipold took, and was rewarded for it.
Kirby Moore called the offensive game for Missouri phenomenally. He didn’t only have the rushing game working, he also had the completions flowing for the Tigers from the second quarter on. The offense had a pair of rushers and a pair of receivers that produced at a very high volume. The Penn State transfer, Beau Pribula, showed people that he could legitimately throw the ball as a starting QB.
It wasn’t all about the resilience of Missouri, as Kansas did not do itself many favors either. They had an extremely poor rushing performance, allowed fourteen 3rd or 4th down conversions, mishandled several routine passes, endured an unwarranted safety, had less than half as many yards from scrimmage as Mizzou, and once again made some extremely questionable late-game coaching decisions. This is usually not a recipe for success, and that sadly proved true for KU on Saturday.
If there was a silver lining, it’s that parts of the Jayhawk offense looked very promising. Jalon Daniels definitely did not have one of his best games as a Jayhawk, but he showed qualities of a strong leader down the stretch. That’s something that will be invaluable for this Jayhawks team in crunch time, which is something to be excited about. We can’t forget the redshirt senior from Topeka, DeShawn Hanika. He was brilliant in the contest, recording six catches, 74 yards, and two touchdowns. KU couldn’t quite keep up with the SEC offense in a hostile environment, and the Jayhawks now stand at 2-1 on the season.
KU will have a bye next week before welcoming West Virginia to town as the Jayhawks battle the Mountaineers on Saturday, September 20th, back in the Booth. It’s going to be a long two weeks for Jayhawk nation, but if there’s any consolation to the loss at Missouri, it’s that KU has a favorable schedule ahead. Kansas will be hosting back-to-back games against WVU (Sep. 20th) and Cincinnati (Sep. 27th), and will be expected to win both. Will they be 4-1 when they travel to UCF on Oct. 4th?
The future is bright despite the Jayhawks' week 2 loss, and though this one stings, the expectations for the season have not changed for a second. Substantial things are still achievable for this group in a conference that looks wide open.