As if “The Border War,” ranked by The Athletic as a top-20 all-time college football rivalry, didn’t already have enough venom.
On Thursday afternoon, the Kansas football program posted a pregame hype video ahead of its showdown with bitter rival No. 23-ranked Missouri on Friday night in Lawrence, Kan. The video captured big moments from decades past across the previous 121 meetings between the Jayhawks and Tigers.
The Kansas athletics digital department not only leaned into the historical ramifications of the disdain between the two programs, but also the origin story of how the two states were at the center of the Civil War.
It is that deep. pic.twitter.com/4BEcdbLv7S
— Kansas Football (@KU_Football) September 10, 2026
As of Friday morning, the video had over 16 million views on X and 11,000 views on Instagram.
For the first time in 21 years, Missouri visits David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium on Friday. The two sides rekindled their previously dormant rivalry in 2025 after a 14-year absence. Realignment in college football left this heated matchup in its wake after Missouri left the Big 12 Conference for the SEC.
The video, narrated by former Kansas defensive lineman Gilbert Brown, elaborates on the conflicts that preceded the start of this football rivalry. It’s titled “HEROES AND VILLAINS.”
“Love doesn’t exist here,” Brown said. “Neither does mercy. This rivalry is different. ‘Cause it’s built on something much deeper than just school pride. It’s fueled by hatred, passed down through generations. Our roots reach back to the Civil War, when blood was spilled over what you believed in, and which side you stood on.”
Before the Civil War, Kansas aspired to statehood, but whether it would be a slave state was pivotal. Residents in neighboring Missouri, a slave state at the time, became embroiled in a series of bloody conflicts characterized by guerrilla warfare. Those battles would pave the way for each school’s mascot name.
Those fighting for the free state cause became known as Jayhawkers. A small band of militia that protected Columbia, Mo., was known as the Tigers.
In the video, Brown speaks over timeworn newspaper headlines from the 1850s and photos of the abolitionist John Brown as well as Confederate guerrilla advocate William Quantrill, who spearheaded a raid on Lawrence that left over 150 dead and much of the town ablaze.
“There are heroes and villains,” Brown continued. “Only allegiance decides their legacy. There’s right and wrong. There’s Kansas and Missouri.”
