RECAP: Mizzou gets final word in Border War win over Kansas

LAWRENCE, Kan. (KMIZ)

Separated by a state line and connected by more than a century's worth of bad blood, Missouri and Kansas were one of the marquee games of the weekend, as two of college football's oldest rivals met on Friday night.

Although there was a lot of talk leading up to the game...when that final whistle blew, Mizzou had the final word.

The Tigers rallied back in a big second half to pull away from the Jayhawks, out-scoring KU 24-7 in the final two quarters, for a 38-21 win in Lawrence.

It's no secret that there's a lot of history between these two squads – history that the Jayhawks leaned into before the game kicked off. Ahead of Friday night's game KU Athletics released a hype video for the game, which drew more than 23 million views.

Head coach Eli Drinkwitz and his team took issue with the message, but decided to let the scoreboard do the talking.

"I’m just glad that this whole right-versus-wrong bull-crap that was started just got settled on a football field because it’s a football game," Coach Drinkwitz said. "It’s an American football game that people love to come watch and cheer for their teams. It’s not any deeper than that."

Head coach Lance Leipold and his Jayhawks landed the first punch in the first quarter of Friday's game, returning KU's second blocked field goal of the night 88 yards for a touchdown.

"Special teams was not good tonight in any form or facet, and that’s going to get cleaned up," Drinkwitz said.

Despite those difficulties, the Tigers responded.

MU and KU traded punches through the remainder of the second quarter, with Mizzou getting contributions from Jamal Roberts, Austin Simmons and Cayden Lee. Through the ups and downs of the first 30 minutes, the two rivals still entered halftime tied at 14.

But, out of the locker room, Coach Eli's team had a different kind of intensity.

That energy was spearheaded by linebacker Robert Woodyard Jr., who helped force two-straight Kansas turnovers, giving the Tigers favorable field position to capitalize with points.

"No, that was ridiculous," safety Santana Banner said, when asked about his teammate. "It seemed like we already had that switch flipped, but that just amped it up even more."

Simmons made the most of all the opportunities that his defense gave him.

The quarterback continued to pick apart the Jayhawks defense in the second half, as he finished with a total of 292 passing yards and three touchdowns. Simmons' high-level play helped transform a close game into a Mizzou rout.

"He played unbelievable," Drinkwitz said. "He didn’t flinch. I thought his third-down conversions are as good as I’ve seen. He’s putting balls in tight spots, and they were doing so many different things on the back end. Normally, a quarterback gets frustrated. He didn’t. He just locked in."

All-in-all, Mizzou out-scored Kansas 24-7 in the second half, as Simmons continued to make the plays that his teammates knew he was capable of all offseason

"He’s a hell of a quarterback," Lee said. "He’s going to go out there and keep making plays."

Although the win was far from pretty at times, the Tiger locker room believed it showed one of the key ingredients this team has, as it prepares for SEC play: fight.

"I feel like it’s a team that will never back down from anything," Simmons said. "We’re going to face adversity in some other road games in the future, but it feels great to win this game."

Kansas successfully managed to rile up both fan bases with its pregame video, but – for Mizzou – the message was simple...and written on the scoreboard.

"They talked all week, propaganda, all this," Banner said. "I didn’t think—you’ve got to sell it on the football field, and we did that better than them."

The Tigers settled this round of the Border War with 38 points and the last word.

Mizzou and Kansas will now enter a multi-year hiatus rom this rivalry, with the next scheduled meaning coming in 2031. And break in time may be just the cooling off period that each team needs, too.

"I don't really care if it continues or not. I mean, if they're gonna be weird about it, then what's the point, you know? If they want to have a football game and play a football game and have, you know, a great rivalry on the border, then awesome, let's do it. But if we want to make it deeper than that, man," Drinkwitz said.

Next up - Mizzou will host Troy in its final non-conference matchup before SEC play begins on Saturday Sept. 19. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.