Taylor Poitier Enjoys Victory Number 7 Over the Jayhawks

Senior offensive lineman sets a record that may never be broken.

Kansas State Wildcats offensive lineman Taylor Poitier | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

It was a rainy, emotional afternoon at the newly refurbished Memorial Stadium in Lawrence. However, for Kansas State senior offensive lineman Taylor Poitier, it couldn’t have ended any better. As the Wildcats cruised past Kansas 42-17, Poitier capped off his college career.

Doubts Fueled a Resilient Performance

The veteran lineman became the only player to defeat Kansas seven times in his Wildcat career. After the final whistle, Poitier lifted the Governor’s Cup triumphantly above his head, taking a long sip of water.

Drink up @theman6082 pic.twitter.com/eyiKbhjAcb

— K-State Football (@KStateFB) October 25, 2025

The buildup to the Sunflower Showdown had been dominated by talk of a changing tide. The team was finally ready to end its long losing streak to K-State. That fire was especially strong for Poitier, the 6-foot-3, 302-pound Kansas City native who once grew up surrounded by Jayhawk colors.

Over the years, he’s helped turn Lawrence purple instead. Reflecting on his seven-year journey and his final rivalry win, Poitier summed it up in three words: “This means everything.” Standing near the visitors’ locker room after the game, Poitier celebrated alongside his fellow linemen, the backbone of K-State’s dominant win.

K-State’s 17-game winning streak over Kansas now stands as the longest in Sunflower Showdown history. That's also the longest active streak in an uninterrupted FBS series. Over this stretch, the Wildcats have outscored the Jayhawks 680–279.

Momentum Builds for November

"My final year at K-State, being able to know it’s seven years in a row for me beating KU, I’m really grateful," Poitier said. "Every time I come to this place, I get a little jittery because I love playing here, and I love to beat them here. I’m glad we got this W."

For the first time since the streak began in 2009, Kansas State entered the rivalry as the underdog. "I saw all week KU was favored to win," Poitier recalled. "I was like, 'What makes you guys think that we’re going to let them roll over us?' We talked about it all week that we had to be elite. That’s what we showed out there."

Klieman praised the team’s focus, saying, "There was a different vibe in our building this week about the importance and magnitude of us coming out and playing great football in Lawrence."

With the victory, K-State improved to 4–4 overall and 3–2 in the Big 12. The Wildcats have now won three of their last four games, defeating UCF, TCU, and Kansas in October, with their only loss being a narrow 35–34 setback at Baylor.

Looking ahead, K-State’s November schedule offers no breaks. The Wildcats will host No. 13 Texas Tech (7–1, 4–1) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium before hitting the road for tough matchups against Oklahoma State and No. 24 Utah. They’ll close the regular season back home against Colorado.

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