Admittedly, I’m not as in-tune with the Mizzou-Kansas football rivalry as I am the basketball one. I didn’t grow up going to Mizzou football games, and many of those games weren’t often on television. I defer to Nate or even Bill C. for those more interpersonal words about growing up with a hatred of KU football. The basketball rivalry is ingrained in me more because I’m a basketball kid from a basketball family. Missouri football was nothing I really participated in until Gary Pinkel came along.
But I know this rivalry pretty well, and I know the history.
Feel free to take this column for whatever you think it’s worth.
When Beau Pribula was asked about the game this week and he said, “I thought it was just a sports rivalry, but I guess it’s not.” Maybe this is me going against the grain a bit… but it IS a sports rivalry. Again, I know the history. Recently Mizzou and Kansas fans have flamed the historical tensions far more than they need to, because everything has to be dramatic. But the Mizzou-Kansas rivalry is one rooted in proximity, repetition, but most of all… sports.
The history side is this: Prior to 1861 the Territory of Kansas was trying to gain statehood. The battle over whether the state would enter the union as a state with slavery or not was hotly contested. I’m going to come out on the side of the union here as slavery is very, very, very bad. Being an abolitionist is a good thing, and even abolitionists did a lot of bad things in the name of being anti-slavery. This isn’t “two wrongs don’t make a right” level of coping, we’re not talking about stealing bread to feed a starving family either. Things during this period of time in our nations history is ugly, and the guerrilla warfare on both sides of the state line was brutal.
The militias in Kansas — called Jayhawkers — were abolitionists. They raided Missouri, which at the time was a slave sate. And to be clear here, they were not particular about who they attacked all the time. So plenty of anti-slavery civilians ended up dead during this time. In retaliation for the raids, in 1863, Lawrence, Kansas was burned to the ground by a band of Guerilla raiders with confederate sympathies. Somewhere between 150-160 were left dead. Led by a name we’re all likely familiar with, William Quantrill.
Many Missouri fans have adopted Quantrill as a bit of a Civil War mascot mostly for his burning down of Lawrence, but he is no hero. For one… Quantrill is not a Missourian. The jerk was born in Ohio, committed murder in Illinois (before the many others murders he would commit), and lived in Kansas, Colorado, Utah… and yes, for a short time, Missouri. He was a violent, malevolent terrorist. He “married” a 13-year-old girl, and once his band of assholes disbanded he continued to raid into Kentucky when he was shot by Union forces and died in Louisville. This is not a hero.
In 1890, the University of Missouri formed a football team. They were dubbed the Tigers. The University is on record as pointing to a ragtag band of local militia calling themselves the Columbia Tigers as the inspiration for the mascot for the football team. This local militia was formed in order to protect the city of Columbia from men like Quantrill. In fact, one of Quantrill’s top lieutenants, William “Bloody Bill” Anderson, was one of the confederate raiders James S. Rollins formed the Columbia Tigers to protect the city against. It’s true by that point that Quantrill and Anderson had a falling out, but they were both villainous murdering confederate raiders. Rollins and Tigers were the men protecting Columbia.
Enough with the history… at least on the Civil War side of things. Both Lawrence and Columbia were under attack by the same people because they opposed slavery. Missouri was a slave state, yes, but the state did not secede from the Union, and it cost the lives of many a Missourian at the hands of confederates.
Mizzou’s first athletic team was their football team, they played three games in their first season in 1890. In 1891 the Fighting Tigers of Columbia faced off with the Jayhawks of the University of Kansas for the first of many many games against each other. They missed 1918 thanks to the flu, and then almost a 100 years later Mizzou left for the SEC.
There have been a myriad of controversies and fights and wild events. Fights, suspensions, illegal players. The two schools have played 120 times. Tomorrow will be the 121st meeting. The reason this rivalry is so heated is because these teams have played 120 times and the results are nearly even. The rivalry is heated because of fights and illegal players. Kansas ruined Missouri’s chance at a National Championship in 1960, so we hate them for that. We hate them for ‘68 and ‘81, of course ‘97. 2008 sucked, but we loved 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2011.
Sod Reesing is an image burned into our brains. If you were alive, chances are you know exactly how many rushing yards Devin West ran for in 1998.
This is the rivalry.
Beau Pribula and Jalon Daniels are about to find out in a big way. It’s one of, if not the best, rivalry in college sports. There’s a weird “Indian Drum” and a Lamar Hunt trophy the winners keep, and a long list of players who wore one jersey and don’t like the other. Justin Britt spent 8 years in the NFL and spent his time this week flipping off the KU stadium. Sophie Cunningham got in on the hate on Twitter, so did Brady Cook, former RM’er Jaden Lewis posted a great thread yesterday, and Corby Jones will return to bang on Big Mo. Mizzou is wearing the block M helmets. The game is back. As it should be. The rivalry matters.
It’s not about the Civil War. It’s not about slavery, or abolition. It’s about two schools with a lot of competitions against each other.
Since leaving for the SEC the two schools have played each other 30 times in other sports with Mizzou winning 15 times, and one tie. None of those games involved were on the gridiron.
Welcome back MU-KU football.
