Kansas Football’s Lance Leipold Talks Sunflower Showdown at Big 12 Media Days

Kansas football head coach Lance Leipold was a busy man on Wednesday at Day 2 of Big Media Days inside AT&T Stadium in Frisco, Texas.

Leipold was asked several questions throughout the day by media members as the 2025 college football season approaches in just over a month. One question in particular was about this year’s schedule and his thoughts on having two rivalry games this year playing both Missouri and Kansas State.

“Rivalry games are what makes college football so special,” said Leipold.

When talking about Missouri, Leipold said his team is looking forward to going to Columbia in what will be the first Kansas vs. Missouri football matchup since the two teams faced off at Arrowhead Stadium back in 2011.

However, when it comes to the annual Sunflower Showdown against K-State, Leipold says KU has to make it a more even series than it has been in recent years.

“We’ve got to do a better job making that a balanced one in the in-state rivalry,” said Leipold.

“But now with the two teams in conference, we’ve got to do a better job making that a balanced one in the in-state rivalry …” 2/
— Kevin Flaherty (@KFlahertyKCSN) July 9, 2025

And he’s absolutely right. This in-state rivalry has been too one-sided for far too long.

K-State currently owns a 16-year winning streak against KU dating back to 2009. The last time KU beat K-State in football was on Nov. 1, 2008, when Mark Mangino was head coach of the Jayhawks and George W. Bush was president of the United States.

Simply put, it’s unacceptable.

The losing streak for KU has been a combination of bad coaching, bad players, and bad luck. It’s also likely a reflection of the fact that K-State has dominated KU with in-state recruiting for most of the past 25 years – although that’s finally beginning to change.

Lately, the Sunflower Showdown has just appeared to mean more to KSU and that is evidenced by the current losing streak KU has against them, which includes several blowout losses to the Wildcats over the last 16 years.

Until the losing streak ends, KU needs to treat the Sunflower Showdown the same way as KSU does – as if it’s the biggest game of the regular season.

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