Kansas ‘Was Supposed’ to Play Mizzou in Liberty Bowl
Kansas Jayhawks football coach Lance Leipold confirmed something that Jayhawks fans have suspected since last year’s bowl season.
Leipold appeared on the Inside Wisconsin Show on Thursday, getting back to his roots from his days as a national championship-winning coach at Division III Wisconsin-Whitewater.
The hosts of the show asked Leipold when Kansas and Missouri might meet again on the football field. After all, the Tigers are wrapping up a two-game agreement with Kansas State this weekend in Columbia, Mo.
Well, as it turns out Kansas and Missouri have an agreement to start a series in 2025.
Before the Tigers moved on to the SEC, the Tigers and Jayhawks were Big 8 rivals and their “Border War” football and basketball games were among the most anticipated of each season. This season Kansas and Missouri will play each other in basketball for the second straight year as part of a non-conference series.
So Kansas and Missouri getting back on the football field is a big deal. But Leipold couldn’t resist taking a bit of a dig at the Tigers, given that the two teams have not met on the football field since the Big 12 days.
Turns out, the two teams were supposed to play last year?
“Well it was supposed to be the Liberty Bowl last year, but that’s another conversation,” Leipold said as an aside to the host talking about the number of days until the two teams meet on the field again.
As Heartland College Sports wrote last year, off a report from Action Network’s Brett McMurphy, there was a chance the two schools could have played each other in the Liberty Bowl, which is tied to both the Big 12 and the SEC. Both schools were 6-6.
Well, according to McMurphy’s report, the Tigers didn’t want to play the Jayhawks, even though the Jayhawks were bowl-eligible for the first time since 2008 and they were not opposed to playing Mizzou.
But Kansas never seemed to confirm it — until now.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
