For years, avid fans from Missouri and Kansas marched their corresponding parades down Interstate 70 to Arrowhead Stadium. For years, these fans bickered about everything — which team was going to win, which athletics program holds more national relevance and even which football team led the all-time series.
With a final shot into the wind of sweeping conference change, it all came to an end Saturday.
The war is over. The battle is won — for the Missouri Tigers, at least.
It wasn’t the fifth victory in six meetings over the Jayhawks that delivered the Tigers a solace worth the volume of 120 years. It was the magnitude and reward of winning that final game — a contest that is set to stand as the finale, undisputedly tilted the series and even cost KU coach Turner Gill his job.
As the Tigers prepare for a move from the Big 12 Conference to the Southeastern Conference, they can take pride in winning a series in a way even Jayhawk fans can no longer argue.
The long debate centered on a Kansas forfeited victory in 1960. Prior to Saturday’s finale, the legitimacy of that win decided for fans on both sides the difference between a 55-55-9 tie and a 56-54-9 Missouri lead.
The Tigers don’t have to contribute to the arguing anymore. Whether the lead is 56-55-9 or 57-54-9, it’s a Tiger victory any way it’s sliced.
The real story is that Saturday shouldn’t have ultimately decided the series because the series doesn’t have a legitimate reason to close its doors. The Border Showdown is the second-oldest rivalry in college football behind the Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe between Wisconsin and Minnesota. It’s a rivalry that defines the Kansas-Missouri border, ignites the midpoint of Kansas City and sparks the bitterness to hold a debate over whether 55 is really 56.
Change becomes inevitable when one member decides to sever conference ties. But two programs begging for non-conference boosts should embellish the opportunity of emulating the late-season fun of Florida-Florida State, South Carolina-Clemson and any one of Notre Dame’s rivalries.
Missouri gets it. Kansas wants none of it.
KU’s message — “This is a Big 12 rivalry” — is a hogwash way of saying, “Man, I wish it were us leaving this sinking ship.” The school is set to lose out on a strong Kansas City connection and relative non-conference revenue boost through maintaining one of the strongest rivalries nationally. But a school defined solely by pigskin feels it can afford to toss aside yet another opportunity for expansion.
The Kansas retort seems to be, “We don’t need Missouri.” And the statement is brilliantly accurate.
The craze that is Kansas basketball doesn’t need a fun rivalry to maintain its relevance. Kansas football, meanwhile, needs so much more than what a renowned rivalry can offer. It needs a level of care the hardwood-fixated school doesn’t seem to care about providing.
Missouri’s final message to Kansas has switched from “Will you keep it going?” to “Call us when interested.” For a program reaching new heights in both sports with a move to a more stable and financially successful league, Missouri’s “no regrets” approach could not be more appropriate.
And so it ends – the Kansas City trips, the merchandise, the fluid bickering and even the debate over the number 56. It’s an omission Kansas can no longer fight after laying down its guns and calling a more dramatic forfeit.
The Jayhawks dug this grave. They can now spend the next 120 years resting in it.