A packed house watches the action during the third quarter against Fresno State on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025 at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Photo by Nick Krug

Kansas and West Virginia will meet for their Week 4 football game at 5 p.m. on Sept. 20, the Big 12 Conference announced on Monday.

It will be the first league matchup contested at the newly renovated David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, and the third straight evening game there after KU kicked off its first two home games at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. The game will be televised on FS1.

Following the conclusion of its bye week, KU (2-1) will look to get back on course and start conference play strong, after it fell 42-31 on the road at rival Missouri on Saturday. The Jayhawks had previously won home games against Fresno State and Wagner.

West Virginia (1-1) has become quite a familiar opponent for KU during Lance Leipold’s tenure, as this will be the fourth time the Jayhawks have faced the Mountaineers in his five seasons, the second at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. It will also be the third time KU has opened league play with WVU.

All three previous meetings since Leipold’s arrival have gone down to the wire. In 2021, KU’s matchup with WVU was its season finale, one of the two close losses that came after the Jayhawks’ shock win at Texas and suggested they might take some momentum into the following season. KU tied the game at 21 early in the third quarter after a pick-6 by Gavin Potter, but the Jayhawks stumbled on several successive drives, with Jalon Daniels throwing a pair of interceptions. Daniels ran for a late touchdown to make it 34-28, but the Mountaineers recovered a final onside kick and took the win.

The overtime classic in Morgantown, West Virginia, in 2022 is sometimes known as the “new era” game, because Daniels declared a new era of KU football after the Jayhawks’ victory. Both teams erased multi-score deficits at various points throughout the night, with KU led by Daniels’ 304 all-purpose yards and three passing touchdowns. WVU tied the game at 42 with 35 seconds to go following a touchdown run by CJ Donaldson, and KU settled for overtime. The Jayhawks benefited from a roughing-the-passer penalty on their way to a Daniels-to-Quentin Skinner touchdown, before Cobee Bryant broke on a throw by WVU quarterback JT Daniels for a game-sealing interception (which he took all the way back for good measure, sealing a 55-42 win).

The two schools didn’t see each other in 2023. Their matchup the following year, again in Morgantown, encapsulated the 2024 season in many ways. The Jayhawks allowed a go-ahead touchdown drive shortly before halftime and entered the break trailing 14-7. In the third quarter, though, they struck back to take a 21-17 advantage, one they carried into a two-hour weather delay at Milan Puskar Stadium.

KU came out of the impromptu break strong and looked like it might seal the deal after a late rushing touchdown by receiver Luke Grimm, but instead, the Jayhawks allowed a touchdown drive and two-point conversion, went three-and-out, and then conceded a second touchdown, this one from Garrett Greene to Rodney Gallagher III with 26 seconds remaining. Daniels fumbled on KU’s last-minute desperation drive as the Jayhawks lost 32-28.

Leipold will look to even his record against the Mountaineers, who have a new coach — or an old coach — this time around in Rich Rodriguez. The longtime coaching veteran previously led WVU from 2001 to 2007, a period during which it won four Big East championships and recorded three consecutive seasons with at least 10 wins. Rodriguez went on to coach at Michigan, Arizona and Jacksonville State (with stints as the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss and Louisiana-Monroe along the way) before returning to WVU this past offseason after the firing of Neal Brown.

Rodriguez oversaw a near-complete roster overhaul that brought more than 70 new players to Morgantown. Early in the season, there have been some growing pains. WVU beat FCS foe Robert Morris in its season opener, 41-3, but lost 17-10 in a road game at MAC school Ohio on Saturday. That game saw Rodriguez switch from quarterback Nicco Marchiol to backup Jaylen Henderson and then back to Marchiol; it also included injuries to WVU’s star running back Jahiem White as well as wide receiver Jaden Bray and linebacker Reid Carrico.

On that note, the KU-WVU game on Sept. 20 will be the first game for which either team is required to submit Big 12-mandated injury reports. The reports, which officials from various conferences have characterized as anti-gambling measures that deter attempts to gain insider information, will be published for three days prior to a game and then 90 minutes before kickoff.

First, though, WVU has another game to play; it is not headed for an open date like KU. The Mountaineers will host Pittsburgh for the Backyard Brawl rivalry game at 2:30 p.m. Central Time on Saturday.

photo by: Ron Rittenhouse/The Dominion-Post via AP

West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez talks to quarterback Nicco Marchiol during the first half an NCAA college football game against Robert Morris, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, in Morgantown, W.Va.

photo by: Ron Rittenhouse/The Dominion-Post via AP

West Virginia’s Nicco Marchiol scores a touchdown during the first half an NCAA college football game against Robert Morris, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, in Morgantown, W.Va.

photo by: AP Photo/Colin E. Braley

Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels (6) passes to a receiver during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Fresno State on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025, in Lawrence.