Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz blasted Kansas for its Civil War–themed hype video ahead of Friday’s “Border War” college football rivalry game.
“I was disappointed in the rivalry—the turn that it took today,” Drinkwitz said after the Tigers beat the Jayhawks 38–21 in Lawrence. “I thought that was uncalled for.”
Kansas released a controversial social media video on Thursday ahead of hosting Missouri for the first time since 2005.
“This rivalry is different, because it’s built on something much deeper than just school pride,” narrator and former Kansas football star Gilbert Brown said. “It’s fueled by hatred, passed down through generations. Our roots reach back to the Civil War, when blood was spilt over what you believed in and which side you stood on. There are heroes and villains, only allegiance decides their legacy. There’s right and wrong. There’s Kansas and Missouri.” The video has more than 35 million views on X/Twitter as of Saturday morning.
“This is about two teams playing football,” Drinkwitz said. “Especially on 9/11, when we need more unity now than ever before, to be putting some stuff on your screen—celebrating—everybody’s got complicated pasts, and to make that an icon was bizarre to me. So, I’m just glad that this whole right-versus-wrong bullcrap that was started just got settled on a football field.”
