Beau Pribula comments on just how enormous Missouri-Kansas rivalry is
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Beau Pribula is quickly finding out what old-time Missouri and Kansas fans already know — that the football rivalry between the 2 programs is way more than just a football game.
On Saturday at what’s sure to be a rocking Faurot Field in Columbia, the Tigers and Jayhawks will renew a football rivalry that goes all the way back to Halloween 1891. Missouri has a 57-54-9 all-time record against Kansas, so the Tigers claim bragging rights in the series that ended in 2011. So, for about a decade and a half, the Mizzou-Kansas bitter rivalry had been placed on the mantle, so to speak, until now.
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In 2025, the rivalry has returned, and fans are fortunate enough to not have to wait too long for it. It”ll happen in Week 2, and Missouri’s new starting quarterback is getting an education on the rivalry early this week.
Pribula, who had an incredibly successful debut last Thursday in Mizzou’s rout of Central Arkansas, was asked what he’s learned about Missouri vs. Kansas.
“I thought it was just a sports rivalry, but I guess it’s not,” Pribula told reporters, leaving a lot to the imagination with those words.
Pribula’s head coach also got a chance to comment on the rivalry back in July during SEC Media Days in Atlanta.
Yeah, I think rivalries are a great thing for college athletics and college football particularly, especially regional rivalries, said Mizzou head coach Eli Drinkwitz. “This one goes back a long ways. The origins of our football name, the Tigers, is based off the militia that was formed to protect Columbia from people from Kansas, the Kansas area. This is something that goes back a long way. It’s very deep. It’s something that our team is very keenly aware of. We understand the implications, the importance to our state. Look forward to playing that game, especially having it at home.
The showdown this Saturday in Columbia will kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2, as the 2-0 Jayhawks and 1-0 Tigers get it on for the first time since 2011.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
