Lone-star road losing streak stands at 17 for Kansas

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas cornerback Kyle Mayberry (16) watches as TCU wide receiver Taj Williams (2) and TCU wide receiver Ty Slanina (13) celebrate Williams' touchdown catch during the third quarter, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017 at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth.

Listening to former Oakland Raiders quarterback and Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders coach Tom Flores in a recent radio interview, it struck me as interesting that he mentioned that he anticipated the Raiders playing well in Miami because a lot of Raiders came from that region of the country and would have a lot of friends and family members in attendance.

It never occurred to me that would be a factor in an NFL game, but it is mentioned often by college players.

Dorance Armstrong and Daniel Wise both brought that up during their interviews this week in preparation for KU’s trip to Austin to play Texas, which the Jayhawks defeated in overtime, the school’s first victory against Texas since 1938.

Plus, being overlooked by Texas and other Texas universities plays a role in their motivation. Armstrong was a unanimous first-team All-Big 12 player in 2016 and Wise surely will earn first-team honors this season, so all of the Texas schools, if they had it to do over again, would have offered scholarships to both players. But so far, they haven’t been able to win a game in their home state.

A second consecutive upset victory against the Longhorns would keep Kansas from breaking the streak for consecutive road losses at football’s highest division. At the moment, KU is tied with Western State (Colorado), which lost 44 in a row from 1926 to 1936.

During that streak 17 of the losses have come in Texas. A look at the Lone Star-state losing streak:

Opponent Attendance Date Score Margin Kansas coach
Texas Tech 47,291 Oct. 31, 2009 42-21 21 Mark Mangino
Texas 101,357 Nov. 21, 2009 51-20 31 Mark Mangino
Baylor 35,405 Oct. 2, 2010 55-7 48 Turner Gill
Texas 99,211 Oct. 29, 2011 43-0 43 Turner Gill
Texas A&M 86,411 Nov. 19, 2011 61-7 54 Turner Gill
Baylor 39,039 Nov. 3, 2012 41-14 27 Charlie Weis
Texas Tech 55,052 Nov. 10, 2012 41-34, 2OT Charlie Weis
Rice 22,974 Sept. 14, 2013 23-14 9 Charlie Weis
TCU 41,894 Oct. 12, 2013 27-17 10 Charlie Weis
Texas 97,105 Nov. 2, 2013 35-13 22 Charlie Weis
Texas Tech 54,071 Oct. 18, 2014 34-21 13 Clint Bowen
Baylor 45,754 Nov. 1, 2014 60-14 46 Clint Bowen
Texas 92,529 Nov. 7, 2015 59-20 39 David Beaty
TCU 44,375 Nov. 14, 2015 23-17 6 David Beaty
Texas Tech 56,494 Sept. 29, 2016 55-19 36 David Beaty
Baylor 47,598 Oct. 15, 2016 49-7 42 David Beaty
TCU 42,969 Oct. 21, 2017 43-0 43 David Beaty