Kansas Football is 2-0. That’s the most important thing that could have happened on Friday when the Wagner Seahawks from the FCS entered David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, in a game where it was a foregone conclusion that KU would run away with it. The Jayhawks did just that, sending Wagner back to Staten Island, NY, with a 46-7 defeat.
KU again was led by sixth-year star quarterback Jalon Daniels, who was spectacular for the second consecutive week. Daniels went 18 for 25 for 280 yards and four touchdowns through the air, with the lone blip being an end of half interception, an athletic catch made by a Seahawk defender in KU’s endzone. Prior to the pick, Daniels had thrown touchdown passes to DeShawn Hanika, Emmanuel Henderson and Cam Pickett. Daniels would hook up with Henderson from 62 yards out on the first (and Daniels’ final) drive of the second half. Henderson accounted for 130 receiving yards in addition to those two touchdowns. Pickett’s touchdown, a post route over the middle which gave Kansas a 20-0 lead at the time, was his third TD in his first two games as a Jayhawk. He became the only Kansas player with 3+ receiving touchdowns through his first two career games with the team since at least 1996.
Kansas led 36 to 7 following Henderson’s 62 yard TD, and the majority of the second half featured a plethora of second, third and fourth-string Jayhawks getting a chance to partake in game action. Third-string quarterback Isaiah Marshall went 3 for 3 for 28 yards passing and ran for an additional 23 yards, while second-year tailback Harry Stewart scored his first career touchdown as a Jayhawk.
All in all, the result was a Kansas victory in what can only be seen now as the final tune-up before Saturday – the renewal of the Border War between Kansas and their sour rival Missouri. It will be the 121st meeting between the two programs, representing states whose history dates back to the Civil War. The Tigers hold the narrowest of margins in the win-loss column on the football side of things, 56-55-9 through 120 affairs. KU and Mizzou met annually from 1919 to 2011, but this meeting at Faurot Field in Columbia will be the first bout in 14 years. Kansas sits at 2-0 in 2025 following their victories over Fresno State and Wagner, while Mizzou is 1-0 after their opening-season win against Central Arkansas last Thursday, 61-6.
There are many great rivalries in college athletics and sports in general, but given the historical context, there’s none more bitter than the Kansas-Missouri rivalry. It’s renewed on the gridiron Saturday. Rock Chalk!
Sean Kellerman