photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas quarterback Montell Cozart (2) fumbles a snap behind Kansas offensive lineman Keyon Haughton (70) with seven seconds remaining in the game against South Dakota State on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015 at Memorial Stadium. The error cost the Jayhawks an attempt at a game-tying field goal.

They used to say these sorts of things about the annual KU-K-State battles but then Kansas State up and got good and now it’s the Jayhawks holding down the fort for Sunflower State futility.

The Toilet Bowl they called those games. But now it might have gotten worse.

This weekend, when KU plays at Rutgers, two of the worst programs in the so-called Power 5 conferences will be squaring off in a game that both sides have to be looking at as a winnable and welcomed vision.

One problem: The rest of the nation has caught on to just how bad these two programs are at the moment and they’re not afraid to poke a little fun.

Earlier this week, ESPN.com put both KU and Rutgers in the weekly Bottom 10 rankings, with KU coming in at No. 2 (just behind, or is it ahead of, New Mexico) and Rutgers sitting at No. 8. The outcome of this game could easily have a major impact on those standings no matter which way it goes.

And then Thursday, on the front page of ESPN.com, a feature titled, “Kansas vs. Rutgers is the game you have not been waiting for,” ran near the top of the home page, bringing attention to the current struggles facing Kansas football.

Anyone who has followed this program at all during the past five or so years knows exactly what’s going on. And, although it might seem like piling on to some of the KU fans who hold all things Jayhawks near and dear to their hearts, this kind of attention is definitely fair, even though it might not be a whole lot of fun for the Jayhawks.

Heck, even CigarAficianado.com has a Top 10 worst college football teams feature, with the Jayhawks ranking first and Rutgers in the “others receiving votes” category.

The good news about these two teams squaring off this week is that one of them has to win. And whichever one does will likely buy at least a couple of weeks of avoiding such negative publicity. Who knows? Maybe a win will even springboard some confidence and get things going in the right direction a little more quickly.

Again, who knows?

For now, all we do know is that these rankings and this kind of attention, though cruel, is absolutely justified until further notice.

Let the game begin!