Eli Drinkwitz Slams Kansas for Pregame Hype Video, Tried to ‘Embarrass’ Jayhawks

The Kansas Jayhawks and Missouri Tigers have no love lost between them. That was made evident over the past week as the teams competed in the Border Showdown.

While the Tigers got the last laugh on the field, the game drew plenty of national attention when KU released a pregame hype video the day before. The two-minute clip narrated the history of the Border War and laid out what it described as the right and wrong side of the deep-rooted rivalry.

It seems that Missouri and head coach Eliah Drinkwitz took exception to that message and didn't forget about it when the two teams met on the field. It's part of the reason why the Tigers attempted to run up the score late in the game, when the outcome was already out of hand, in an effort to, in Drinkwitz's words, "embarrass them."

"I was disappointed in the rivalry, the turn that it took today," Drinkwitz said. "I thought that [video] was uncalled for, and you know, this is about two teams playing football. Especially on 9/11 when we need more unity now than ever before, to be putting some stuff on your screen, celebrating. I mean, everybody's got complicated pasts, and to make that an icon was bizarre to me. So, I'm just glad that this whole right vs. wrong bullcrap that was started just got settled on football field, because it's a football game."

Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz hammers Kansas for social media post before the game..

“…I get there’s a past. But why are we stirring that bullcrap up?…I was embarrassed for them, to be honest, and that’s why I tried to embarrass them at the end.” pic.twitter.com/jkaLmkDDZ1
— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace) September 12, 2026

The video Drinkwitz was referring to was posted on KU's X and Facebook accounts and garnered more than 30 million impressions within 48 hours. It drew engagement from the likes of Dave Portnoy and other prominent media personalities, further boosting the spotlight on the rivalry.

The Christopher Nolan-esque production wasn't out of the ordinary for the Jayhawks, who had Aqib Talib narrate a similar video when the two schools first renewed the rivalry a year ago. However, Drinkwitz and Co. appeared to take offense to this one because of the awareness it received.

Unlike Drinkwitz, head coach Lance Leipold was much more diplomatic during his postgame press conference. He said he had no issue with Missouri trying to run up the score and that it was the Jayhawks' job to stop them.

"That's his prerogative to coach his team the way he wants to coach it," Leipold responded to Drinkwitz's comments. "He wants to keep trying to score, that's his prerogative. It's our job to try to stop it."

The two schools won't meet again until 2031, and it remains to be seen whether any future matchups will be scheduled beyond the 2031-32 home-and-home series. However, it didn't sound like Drinkwitz had much interest in extending the rivalry beyond those two games.

"I don't really care if [the rivalry] continues or not," Drinkwitz proclaimed. I mean, if they're going to be weird about it, then what's the point? They want to have a football game and play a football game and have a great rivalry on the border, then awesome. Let's do it. But if we want to make it deeper than that, man. Like we left Kansas bleeding again, so call it good."

Most college rivalries are rooted in good fun, but the hatred between Kansas and Missouri runs much deeper. If Drinkwitz can't accept that, maybe the Border War is a little too much for him to handle.

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