The Border War returns: Kansas, Missouri will play again in 2025

College football realignment killed some great rivalries. Fortunately, the Border War between the Kansas Jayhawks and the Missouri Tigers returns in 2025.

A rivalry killed by conference realignment is being brought back to life.

In the early 2010s, realignment massively changed the college athletics landscape. The Big East punted on football, while four major conferences expanded, culminating in the Power 5’s formation.

While the ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC all gained teams, the other Power 5 conference, the Big 12, dwindled down to 10 teams, losing four universities but gaining two new member institutions: Texas Christian University and West Virginia University.

This resulted in many long-standing college football rivalries firmly going to the wayside for good. The Nebraska Cornhuskers no longer play the Oklahoma Sooners with Big Red going to the Big Ten. The Backyard Brawl between the Pittsburgh Panthers and the West Virginia Mountaineers faded with Pitt going to the ACC and WVU joining the Big 12.

And then there’s the Border War…

One rivalry that died back in 2012 was the Border War between the Kansas Jayhawks and the Missouri Tigers. These bitter rivals used to go at it in all things athletically in the Big 12. The Greater Kansas City area was the epicenter of this collegiate animosity. With Mizzou joining the SEC along with Texas A&M in 2012, we thought the Border War was never coming back, until now.

When does The Border War between Kansas and Missouri return?

On Saturday morning, Stadium’s Brett McMurphy reported: “Missouri, Kansas will renew rivalry for first time since Mizzou left Big 12 for SEC; MU-KU will play 2025 & 2031 at Missouri, 2026 & 2032 at Kansas.”

Border War (KU vs. Mizzou) Upcoming Dates

• 2025: Faurot Field (Columbia, MO)
• 2026: David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium (Lawrence, KS)
• 2031: Faurot Field (Columbia, MO)
• 2032: David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium (Lawrence, KS)

Though it will not be held at neutral-site Kansas City, we should be beyond ecstatic this rivalry is returning on the gridiron in the coming years with a pair of home-and-home dates in 2025-26 and 2031-32. Rivalries are why college football is so popular. To not have the Jayhawks and the Tigers play once every fall is so wrong. At least this is a giant leap in the right direction.

Though adding it as a yearly non-conference affair like many of Missouri’s SEC East counterparts have with in-state rivals in the ACC, this will have to do for now. While neither program is where they were in the late 2000s when Gary Pinkel’s Tigers would battle Mark Mangino’s Jayhawks for Big 12 North supremacy, let’s hope Eliah Drinkwitz and/or Les Miles get this thing turned around.

Again, no conference’s rivalries were more negatively affected by realignment than the Big 12. Losing Nebraska to the Big Ten, Colorado to the Pac-12 and Missouri and Texas A&M to the SEC dismantled some tremendous rivalries dating back to the old Big Eight and Southwest Conference days. However, all 10 Big 12 teams playing all nine member institutions annually has helped.

Ultimately, rivalries emerge when two teams are playing well and have to defeat the other to achieve greater success. The Border War may never be what it was, but Saturday was a great day for college sports. One of the greatest rivalries we’ve ever seen will returning, giving college football fans a taste of what made old Big Eight and Big 12 football so very special.

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