The Kansas football team had closed out an embarrassing 1-9 season in a 69-21 rout by Missouri in KU’s Memorial Stadium. Jayhawk coach Pepper Rodgers said he had flashed the peace sign to MU coach Dan Devine across the field asking for Missouri and that “I got only half of it back.” The season before, KU under Rodgers had been 9-2 with an Orange Bowl appearance and the 1969 collapse was a hot topic among the growing list of critics of Rodgers. Rodgers came back with a 5-6 record in 1970, then left for the UCLA job.