Kansas Jayhawks vs. Missouri Tigers 2025: Keys to the Border War

Kansas vs. Missouri is one of the most hate-filled rivalries, both on and off the field – and it rears its head in Week 2 of the 2025 college football season. This rivalry dates back to the Civil War, where these two states were pivotal in determining the war’s outcome. For the first time since 2011, the on-field rivalry is renewed. In a matchup of two high-powered offenses and dynamic defenses, this has the makings of a great game.

Kansas Jayhawks vs. Missouri Tigers: Matchup History

These two teams have met 120 times, with the first game dating back to 1891. This matchup is 21st on the list of most games played between two teams, but it was even higher before Missouri left for the SEC in 2012.

Until Missouri’s departure from the Big 12, the two teams had played every year since 1891 (except for 1918, thanks to World War I). The Tigers lead the all-time series 56-55-9, and have won each of the past three meetings. That means a Kansas win would break a losing streak and even the series 134 years after it began.

Kansas vs. Missouri 2025: Keys to the Game and Predictions

Key Players for Kansas

Jalon Daniels has gotten off to as good of a start as the Kansas Jayhawks could have asked for. Through about 5.5 quarters of play, he has thrown for 456 yards with seven touchdowns, while also adding 65 yards on the ground.

More importantly, he has just a single turnover. Something that cost the Jayhawks multiple games last season hasn’t been much of an issue thus far, as the starters have turned the ball over just the once in two games. Daniels’ ball security is vital to the team’s success the rest of the season, and especially against a fierce Missouri defense.

The defensive side of the ball continues to be a death by committee approach. More than a dozen players recorded multiple tackles in the win over Wagner last week. However, none of them had more than four. There were also seven players that recorded a tackle for loss. That type of box score just goes to show how well-rounded this Kansas defense is. It is tough to prepare for a defense when 11 guys contribute instead of a couple stars doing most of the work.

This time around, I’ll give the nod to Trey Lathan for a couple reasons. Lathan was one of the players with four tackles last week. He also led the team with 2.5 tackles for loss.

Yet perhaps more importantly, Bangally Kamara won’t be playing against Missouri. His absence will be a significant loss for the linebacker group. Lathan will likely be leaned on more heavily while Kamara is out, and he has a chance to prove his value against on Saturday.

Key Players for Missouri

With Missouri having played just a single game (against an FCS opponent), the numbers may be a little skewed. Regardless, this offense could be a season-long firework show.

Beau Pribula totaled 348 yards and four touchdowns in Missouri’s season-opening win over Central Arkansas last week. The Penn State transfer saw little action during his first two years in college, but he made an immediate statement in his first game as a Tiger. He threw just five incompletions in his three quarters of action and showed how much of a dual threat he can be, with 65 rushing yards and a pair of rushing touchdowns. The Kansas defensive gameplan should have Pribula as priority number one.

Without watching the game, it’s tough to highlight players solely based on the box score. However, any time a player collects eight tackles, it’s worth noting.

Josiah Trotter made his presence known early and often during Missouri’s throttling of Central Arkansas last week. With Daniel Hishaw’s style of running, that could be an interesting matchup to watch. If the Tigers can neutralize the Kansas run game, it could put too much on Jalon Daniels’ plate.

Keys for a Jayhawk Win in Week 2

As mentioned earlier, taking care of the ball will be critical for the Jayhawks. The Missouri defense was tremendous last year and they didn’t show anything last week to make one think it won’t be the same this year. Kansas has to take advantage of as many opportunities as possible, and turning the ball over does the exact opposite.

Turning Pribula into a single-faceted weapon should also be key. If the young cornerbacks and safeties can worry less about his legs and more about his arm, it will make their job significantly easier.

Either way, this game needs to be more of a shootout for Kansas to have any potential advantage. If it turns into a low-scoring slugfest, I worry about the Jayhawks’ ability to take punches for 60 minutes and come out with a win.