STILLWATER, OKLA. ? Ted Juneau and seven of his best friends piled into a 12-seat Ford Econoline van and spent nearly five hours on the road to see Kansas University’s football team qualify for a bowl game.

They aren’t about to stop now.

“This just makes next week more exciting,” said Juneau, still in the bleachers as the final minutes ticked away in KU’s 44-21 loss Saturday at Oklahoma State. “This team deserves it. It would be a big boost to the program. And to see that KU travels well to a bowl would be great.”

Juneau and his cadre of cavorters from Lawrence — Pat Naughton, Frank Dehart, Scott Forkenbrock, David Lund, Dan Lucas, Brian McCaffrey and Gregg Winchester — might have been among only a few hundred KU fans at Boone Pickens Stadium, but they hope to line up with 50,000 Jayhawk faithful for Saturday’s game in Lawrence against Iowa State.

A win would make KU bowl-eligible for the first time in eight years. At 6-6, the Jayhawks would be candidates for one of three bowls: the Houston Bowl, the Fort Worth Bowl or the Tangerine Bowl, in Orlando, Fla.

A win against the Cowboys just might have made all the uncertainty moot.

“It would’ve been terrific,” said Bryan Irish, a Tangerine Bowl representative who traveled to Stillwater to scout the KU team and its fans. “There would’ve been a possibility that an invitation could have been sent even before their next game.

“If they win next week, I couldn’t give a percentage, but it’s a good chance they’d be coming to Orlando.”

Playing in the Tangerine Bowl — against an Atlantic Coast Conference foe, likely Virginia, North Carolina State or Wake Forest — would pose a challenge for the most mobile of KU fans.

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The bowl is Dec. 22, the day after the basketball Jayhawks wrap up a two-games-in-two-days trip to Reno, Nev., for the Wolf Pack Holiday Classic.

The football Jayhawks can count on plenty of backing from Bryan Gurss, Matthew Marietta, Lynn Goldberg and Jeremy Fischer. The four KU students not only made it to Stillwater, but already had pledged to follow the team to a bowl wherever it takes them.

“We were making plans on the way down,” said Fischer, whose baby-blue Chevy Blazer carried the crew to Stillwater. “We haven’t been to a bowl for eight years, and we may not have another chance for a couple of more. We have to see it when we can see it.”

Now all the Jayhawks need to do is win.