Everything you wanted to know about the Kansas-Missouri football rivalry, but were too traumatized by FOX World Series promos to ask Â

Q. When was the last time the Kansas-Missouri game was played on the final week of the regular season?

A. In 1996, not coincidentally the year the Big Eight Conference died and was reborn in 1997 as the Big 12 Conference with the addition of bad road trips to Texas cities like Waco, College Station and Lubbock. By the way, the 1892 KU-MU game was the first scheduled as a season finale. That was 110 years ago, so not even Max Falkenstien remembers it.

Q. Somebody told me Kansas and Missouri have met in football every year since 1891 with the exception of 1918. Why didn’t they play in 1918? Was it the war?

A. Actually, the game was called off because of a terrible nationwide outbreak of influenza that caused many, many deaths. No antibiotics then, of course. All they had was snake oil and chicken soup.

Q. Former Kansas University football coach Don Fambrough has never made a secret of his dislike for Missouri. What was Fambrough’s record against the Tigers during the eight years he was the Jayhawks’ head coach?

A. Fambrough went 4-4 against Mizzou  3-1 during his first stint (1971-74) and 1-3 during his second (1979-82). After a 27-3 loss to MU in 1974, Fam was told his contract would not be extended, so he resigned. In 1982, following a 16-10 loss to the Tigers, he was fired.

Q. How bad was Kansas the year Missouri flogged the Jayhawks, 69-21?

A. That was in 1969 and the Jayhawks were indeed woeful  they finished 1-9  but not as woeful as the final score. Missouri coach Dan Devine, who was known to throw a hissy from time to time, left his starters in until the Tigers had scored 63 points. Afterward, KU coach Pepper Rodgers uttered his famous quip: “I held up the peace sign and coach Devine gave half of it back.”

Q. In 1989, Kansas defeated Missouri, 46-44. That’s an awfully high score. Was it an overtime game?

A. Nope. The NCAA didn’t legislate the tie-breaker system until 1996. All in all, the ’89 clash was probably the wildest in the long history of the series. The outcome wasn’t decided until Kent Kiefer’s two-point conversion pass failed with 29 seconds remaining as dusk descended on lightless Faurot Field. Kiefer threw for 444 yards that day, an all-time best against a KU team until Utah’s Mike Fouts threw for 476 yards against Glen Mason’s 1996 club. KU sophomore running back Tony Sands rushed for 215 yards and scored three touchdowns that day.

Q. What year did Tony Sands have that NCAA record-setting game against Missouri?

A. It was 1991. Tuxedo Tony carried 58 times for 396 yards, an NCAA mark that stood until TCU’s LaDainian Tomlinson broke it with a 406-yard outing in 1999. Sands’ 58 carries, however, remain in the NCAA record book.

Q. What was the significance of KU’s 38-17 triumph over Missouri two years ago in Columbia?

A. It was the only non-overtime road victory Terry Allen posted during his five years as the Jayhawks’ head coach. Allen’s only other road wins were at Alabama-Birmingham in 1998 (4 OTs) and Texas Tech in 2001 (2 OTs). Allen’s road record at KU was 3-21.

Q. I seem to recall there is a symbolic trophy that goes to the winner of the Kansas-Missouri football game. Is there?

A. There is. It’s called the Indian War Drum  at least by Missouri officials. Kansas administrators say the name was changed to Marching Band Drum in 1998, but MU apparently didn’t get the memo. Anyway, it’s a drum.

Q. What do they throw out the window when Kansas and Missouri play football?

A. The record book and the engineer who designed the woefully inadequate Interstate 70 interchanges into Columbia.