In what might end up as the final game in the Border War between the Missouri Tigers and the Kansas Jayhawks, the Tigers came away with a 24-10 victory Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
The rivalry between these two teams stretches back to 1891, the second-longest football rivalry in history behind Wisconsin-Minnesota. But with the Tigers officially moving to the Southeastern Conference next season, Saturday’s contest felt like the last time the coveted Indian war drum would be contested over.
The game started out slow with the Jayhawks failing to establish the run against the Missouri defense.
Missouri sophomore quarterback James Franklin appeared to be getting the Tigers offense into a rhythm until he threw an interception with less than two minutes left in the first quarter, his first since the Oklahoma State game.
He would then throw another in the first minute of the second quarter, putting the Jayhawk offense at the Missouri 15-yard line. The defense managed to only allow a field goal, not giving up a single yard on the drive, and Kansas took a 3-0 lead.
On his next series, Franklin would throw yet another interception, this time returned 57 yards for a touchdown by Kansas junior safety Bradley McDougald.
The Tigers would finally get on the board in the final series before the half with a field goal, but many Missouri fans, including Franklin himself, were left scratching their heads as the Tigers were down 10-3 at halftime.
“(My play) was really frustrating to me, but my teammates kept coming over and telling me that I am here for a reason and that I need to stay positive,” Franklin said. “It really helped me build my confidence. Once Coach (David) Yost started calling more passing plays that was my cue to realize that he has confidence in me and that I need to have confidence in myself.”
Franklin wasn’t the only Tiger in need of a new mindset.
“We knew (we) really needed to just settle down,” Moe said. “All of the points they had scored had come from mistakes our offense had made, so we weren’t going to let them drive offensively and points some points on the board.”
The second half for Missouri would be polar opposite to the first, as the turnovers that appeared to plague the Missouri offense had moved over to the Kansas side. Kansas sophomore punter Ron Doherty fumbled a snap that placed the Tigers at the Kansas 14-yard line.
Three plays later junior tailback Kendial Lawrence ran two yards for touchdown, tying the game at 10-10.
Missouri managed to keep the scoring streak alive on its next series with a nine-play, 3-minute-10-second drive that ended with a 25-yard catch from Franklin to wide receiver Wes Kemp for a 17-10 lead. All of the momentum that the Jayhawks had established earlier in the game seemed to have evaporated.
The fourth quarter would start out with a knockout punch as Franklin heaved his longest pass of the day to sophomore wide receiver Marcus Lucas for a 53-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 24-10.
The Jayhawks attempted to rally back with an 18-play drive lasting almost nine minutes but were stopped short after a series of penalties, a sack and a fourth-down interception by senior safety Kenji Jackson. With the interception, the final shot in the 120-year war had been fired.
Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said he hoped the game wasn’t the final installment of the age-old rivalry.
“I hope that doesn’t happen,” he said. “If you look around the country you see a lot of teams that maintain these kind of rivalry games. We are certainly willing to do that, but we’ll see what happens.”
As the drum was carried off the field at the end of the cold Saturday afternoon, a chant could be heard throughout Arrowhead Stadium — a chant echoing the future of MU sports.
“S-E-C!” the crowd chanted. “S-E-C! S-E-C!”
