K-State up against KU this weekend

Trevor Burns | @burns.visuals

This year the storied rivalry between Kansas and Kansas State takes place back on home soil for the 123rd meeting between the two teams this Saturday. Kansas hopes to break the 16 year losing streak that began in 2009 and set the tone for the remainder of the season. 

Kansas opens as favorites in this season’s match up for the first time since 2008 which bodes well for the Kansas faithful. However, for current students you can say they’ve haven’t seen a KU team take down Kansas State in their memory with the last victory being in November of 2008. This rivalry isn’t one to take lightly and with a losing streak on the line this year could be a battle for the ages 

Even people around the organization agree that this year Kansas wants to put the streak behind them with the voice of the Jayhawks, Brian Hanni.

“I think for Kansas right now they just really want to get this history snapped,” Hanni said.

Lance Leipold also touched on the importance of students and fans showing up and being loud on Saturday saying “We need our students, we need our fans, and again in a state rivalry game like this you know we need it to be special.” 

Kansas looks to break the streak in front of the home crowd this year and set the tone that the university isn’t just known as a basketball school, but they can hang with the big dogs of the conference in football as well. 

This game isn’t just important for the rivalry but also is important for the course of the remainder season for Kansas. If they were to win and break the streak it puts them one game away from becoming bowl eligible for the second time in three years. 

“Clearly the buzz is building and the vibe on campus is powerful about Kansas becoming a regular football school on top of our basketball tradition,” Hanni said. 

This also isn’t just Kansas State week for football, but also volleyball and baseball as they both play the in-state rival throughout the week with volleyball playing inside Allen Field house for the first time since 2013 on Friday and baseball playing right across the street on the same day.