Missouri, Kansas ready for battle in "Border War"

Nov 23, 2007 By Nick Bailey

Two of the top teams in the nation go head-to-head Saturday when the No. 4 Missouri Tigers and the No. 2 Kansas Jayhawks clash at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, in one of College Football’s oldest and most bitter rivalries.

The winner takes first place in the Big 12 North Division, earns a berth in the conference championship game on Dec. 1 in San Antonio, Texas, and gets a shot at a spot in the BCS Championship game.

Bet the Tigers-Jayhawks game at Sportsbook, which has the Jayhawks as a 2-point favorite and the over/under at 68½. 

Commonly called the Border War or Border Showdown, the rivalry goes back 116 years and has its roots in the Civil War. The all-time series between Missouri and Kansas is tied at 53-53-9.

Missouri (10-1, 6-1 Big 12) is coming off a 49-32 victory over Kansas State last week, marking the first time the school has won 10 games. With a win tomorrow, the Tigers are in line to claim their first seven-win conference season since 1960.

Kansas (11-0, 7-0 Big 12), who have never won the Big 12 North, is one of just two undefeated teams nationally. Last weekend, Kansas was dominant in a 45-7 win over Iowa State.

Last season, the Tigers broke a three-game losing streak against the Jayhawks with a 42-17 win in Columbia.

Missouri is 10-1 SU and 8-2 ATS, and has won five straight games. When playing within the conference, the Tigers are 7-3 SU. The total has gone over in five of Missouri's past five games on the road, and over in five of Missouri's past six overall.

The rivalry started in 1891, when about 3,000 people attended the first Missouri-Kansas football game at Exposition Park in Kansas City.

In 1896, Missouri student John Burnham wrote in the university’s yearbook that “Missouri and Kansas are rivals in so many things that each would rather defeat the other than gain victories over all the rest of the world.”

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