Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz called out Kansas for dragging Civil War-era slavery grievance politics into a college football rivalry game, and then his Tigers went out and embarrassed the Jayhawks 38-21 on their own field.
The Border War rivalry between Missouri and Kansas traces back to actual armed conflict over slavery before the Civil War. Kansas apparently decided to lean hard into that history for Friday night's game. Drinkwitz wasn't having it — and he said so plainly after the win.
"I'm just glad the whole right-versus-wrong crap got settled on the football field," Drinkwitz said, according to The Guardian. "I get there's a past to it but why are we stirring that bullcrap up? It's 9/11. We need more unity. I was embarrassed for them. That's why I tried to embarrass them."
That last line wasn't just talk. Missouri threw to the end zone in the final seconds before running out the clock — a clear message that Drinkwitz wanted one more score to rub it in.
The game itself was tied 14-14 at halftime before Missouri's Robert Woodyard Jr. produced back-to-back turnovers — a fumble recovery and an interception on consecutive Kansas possessions — that the Tigers turned into touchdowns. Austin Simmons threw for 292 yards and three touchdowns, and Jamal Roberts ran for 125 yards and a score. The win marked Missouri's fifth straight over its biggest rival.
What's telling is how the media handled Drinkwitz's comments. The Guardian reported his postgame remarks in full. Arkansas Online and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran straight game recaps and buried the coach's criticism of Kansas' slavery-pageant branding entirely. When a coach calls out the left's obsession with historical grievance mongering, the establishment press simply omits it.
Kansas hasn't beaten Missouri since 2008. Maybe instead of relitigating the 1850s, the Jayhawks should focus on the present century.
The open question: how long before Kansas or the NCAA tries to fine or censure Drinkwitz for refusing to play along with the racial guilt ritual?
