Joel Klatt makes compelling argument for Kansas vs. Missouri being yearly matchup

College football has been facing major changes in recent seasons. One of those is conference realignment and changes in the scheduling. Classic rivalries like the ones between the Kansas Jayhawks and Missouri Tigers have, as a result, been lost.

Now, on The Joel Klatt Show, college football analyst Joel Klatt advocated for several games to be played yearly. That included making the Kansas and Missouri game an annual matchup again.

“How about one of the most historic,” Joel Klatt said. “And before they actually ended their annual matchup because of conference realignment was the game that had been played more than any other game in the country, and that’s Kansas-Missouri. Give me Kansas-Missouri.”

Kansas and Missouri first played in 1891 to a 22-10 Jayhawks win. It quickly became known as the Border War, with references reportedly being made early in its history to regional tensions. From there, they would play in every season, except 1918, through the 2011 season. That 1918 game was canceled by the Spanish flu pandemic.

“You might be thinking to yourself like that’s kind of weird,” Klatt said. “But, again, you’re talking about the fabric of the sport. This is one of the oldest, if not, the oldest rivalry in college football. I want to see Kansas-Missouri every single year.”

While Missouri is the agreed-upon leader of the series all-time, the two sides also disagree on the exact record. The Tigers claim to have a record of 57–54–9, while the Jayhawks claim that Missouri leads 56–55–9. That stems from a dispute in 1960 when Kansas won the game but the Big Eight retroactively forced a forfeit on the Jayhawks for using a player voted ineligible following the season.

2011 ended the series when Missouri left the Big 12 to join the SEC. It was the first time the two weren’t in the same conference since they were both Independent programs from 1898-1906. In the meantime, the two have chosen not to schedule any non-conference games and haven’t met in the postseason. Notably, Kansas has also made the claim that Missouri was supposed to play them in the 2022 Liberty Bowl but the Tigers were reluctant to do so.

Luckily, the Border War is set to return in 2025. The Kansas Jayhawks are traveling to Faurot Field to take on the Missouri Tigers in early September next season. That’s the front end of a home-and-home before another scheduled break before meeting again in 2031 and 2032.