SE: “It’s A Big Week” – Sunflower Showdown Always Important to K-State
Nov 05, 2021 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
For Kansas State fans coast to coast and around the globe, Saturday just means a little bit more. From Liberal to Smith Center, and from Horton to Pittsburg, people will leave behind their homes and Powercat man caves and begin their journey. The purple wave will flow through pleasant, small, reduce-speed-ahead towns, then funnel into Interstate-70 and Interstate-35, and make its biannual pilgrimage to Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, site of the 119th Sunflower Showdown.
On the cusp of bowl eligibility, K-State, 5-3 overall and 2-3 in the Big 12 Conference, meets Kansas, 1-7 and 0-5, in Saturday's 11 a.m. kickoff.
This will mark the 111th-straight season K-State and Kansas will meet. It will rank as the third-longest uninterrupted series in the Football Bowl Subdivision at the conclusion of the year. This is the week of houses divided. This is the week of playful banter around the office water cooler. This is the week of small flags flapping wildly above car windows. This is the week of passing water towers, hot coffee at small gas stations, and hellos to fellow Wildcat fans you meet along the way. This is the week unlike any other for those loyal to the purple and white.
"I understand how much this affects people's entire year," says K-State senior wide receiver Landry Weber, whose father and brother previously played in these Sunflower Showdown games. "It's a big week."
For 12-straight years, the Governor's Cup Trophy has resided inside the Vanier Family Football Complex, an unmatched tenure for either program in an in-state rivalry that began in 1902.
There are 51 Kansas natives on the K-State roster; 19 Kansas natives on the KU roster. This week, Kansas natives such as Nick Allen of Overland Park and Ekow Boye-Doe of Lawrence and Josh Rivas of Hutchinson took turns sharing the importance of the Sunflower Showdown with their K-State teammates. Smith Center native Mason Barta, whose father Brooks ranks No. 2 all-time with 436 tackles as a Wildcat, perhaps offered the most powerful testimony of them all.
"It's really cool to have guys on the team speak like Mason Barta, a generational guy," K-State quarterback Skylar Thompson says. "His entire family went to K-State and played here, his dad played here, and just sharing the history of growing up and how much this game has meant to him his whole life really puts into perspective how important this game is not just to Mason, but his entire family, and to K-State people in general."
Amazingly on Saturday the series will touch the careers of nine different head coaches over 13 seasons. Bill Snyder (1989-2005, 2009-18), Ron Prince (2006-08) and Chris Klieman (2019-21) all coached at K-State. Mark Mangino (2002-09), Turner Gill (2010-11), Charlie Weis (2012-14), David Beaty (2015-18), Les Miles (2019-20) were the previous five coaches at Kansas. On Saturday, Lance Leipold will get a taste of his first Sunflower Showdown.
"I think it's so special for our state," Klieman says. "It's so special for both fanbases that it's a short drive for either team to be able to watch their home team play on the road. I know it's really important to the coaches here. It's really important to the players that are from the state."
A stretch of 85 miles separates the two schools. Yet history suggests that for more than a quarter century the two schools have largely been worlds apart on the football field.
Since 1993, K-State has posted a 24-4 record in the series, including an 11-3 mark in Lawrence. Over the stretch, K-State has outscored KU by the average score of 37.8 to 15.1. K-State has scored 124 touchdowns and Kansas has scored 49. K-State has averaged one touchdown on every 15.3 plays from scrimmage, and Kansas has reached the end zone, on average, once in every 37.1 plays. In all, K-State has outgained Kansas 11,395 yards to 7,961 in those games.
K-State has also outscored Kansas 267-82 in the past six meetings in Lawrence.
"Yeah, we treat KU like any other team, but there's some extra juice in the locker room this week going into KU," K-State safety Ross Elder says. "It's always a fun game and we're excited to get down there."
Since losing its first three Big 12 games, K-State has posted back-to-back victories at Texas Tech (25-24) and against TCU (31-12), the latter being its most complete game of the season. Sophomore defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah tied a school record with 4 sacks against the Horned Frogs to go along with 2 forced fumbles, and he swept up virtually all the national defensive player of the week awards this week for his effort.
Anudike-Uzomah, a native of Lee's Summit, Missouri, carries some motivation into the Sunflower Showdown.
"(Kansas) didn't recruit me because I was undersized," he says, "so, that's basically the fuel I'm going to use. I used that last year and got a sack against them. So, hopefully I can get a sack against them in this game, too."
Thompson comes off one of the best four-game passing stretches of his career against Oklahoma, Iowa State, Texas Tech and TCU, completing 70.4% of his passes for 1,074 yards and 7 touchdowns and just 2 interceptions.
A certain specialness within this rivalry lingers for Thompson, a native of Independence, Missouri, as he passed for 129 yards and rushed for a career-high 127 yards and 4 touchdowns during his last outing in Lawrence in 2019.
"I've told a lot of people one of my favorite memories at K-State is when we played them there in 2019," Thompson says. "It's a fun atmosphere, especially (because) I thought a majority of the crowd was purple. Our fan base cares a lot about this game."
Two weeks ago, Kansas put a scare in No. 4 Oklahoma for three quarters and led 17-14 heading into the fourth quarter. However, Oklahoma roared back for a 35-23 victory. The Jayhawks have lost their other four league games 45-7, 59-7, 41-14 and 55-3.
"The way you watch the game by itself, they dominated the (Oklahoma) football game," Klieman says. "They were focused. They were prepared really well. They had good plans on both sides of the ball. They really shut down OU's offense and had their way with them defensively. That, without question, was a big opportunity for them. They had a chance to win the game."
On Saturday morning, the purple wave will turn off Interstate-70 and Interstate-35 once again, like so many times before, with their Powercat flags madly whipping above their windows, and with plenty of fond memories pouring back, as they find their seats inside a familiar stadium.
It will mark the 11th time a member of the Weber family has taken the field in a rivalry that is one of the oldest among colleges in the United States.
"It's a very important game," Weber says. "We take this game extremely serious. We have a lot of passion for this game. It's one we care a lot about and one we want to win. At this point, no words need to be said in my family. It's unspoken that this job must get done. I've understood my whole entire life the importance of this rivalry. In my household, we care about this rivalry a lot.
"We understand how important it is to take care of business."
For Kansas State fans coast to coast and around the globe, Saturday just means a little bit more. From Liberal to Smith Center, and from Horton to Pittsburg, people will leave behind their homes and Powercat man caves and begin their journey. The purple wave will flow through pleasant, small, reduce-speed-ahead towns, then funnel into Interstate-70 and Interstate-35, and make its biannual pilgrimage to Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, site of the 119th Sunflower Showdown.
On the cusp of bowl eligibility, K-State, 5-3 overall and 2-3 in the Big 12 Conference, meets Kansas, 1-7 and 0-5, in Saturday's 11 a.m. kickoff.
This will mark the 111th-straight season K-State and Kansas will meet. It will rank as the third-longest uninterrupted series in the Football Bowl Subdivision at the conclusion of the year. This is the week of houses divided. This is the week of playful banter around the office water cooler. This is the week of small flags flapping wildly above car windows. This is the week of passing water towers, hot coffee at small gas stations, and hellos to fellow Wildcat fans you meet along the way. This is the week unlike any other for those loyal to the purple and white.
"I understand how much this affects people's entire year," says K-State senior wide receiver Landry Weber, whose father and brother previously played in these Sunflower Showdown games. "It's a big week."
For 12-straight years, the Governor's Cup Trophy has resided inside the Vanier Family Football Complex, an unmatched tenure for either program in an in-state rivalry that began in 1902.
There are 51 Kansas natives on the K-State roster; 19 Kansas natives on the KU roster. This week, Kansas natives such as Nick Allen of Overland Park and Ekow Boye-Doe of Lawrence and Josh Rivas of Hutchinson took turns sharing the importance of the Sunflower Showdown with their K-State teammates. Smith Center native Mason Barta, whose father Brooks ranks No. 2 all-time with 436 tackles as a Wildcat, perhaps offered the most powerful testimony of them all.
"It's really cool to have guys on the team speak like Mason Barta, a generational guy," K-State quarterback Skylar Thompson says. "His entire family went to K-State and played here, his dad played here, and just sharing the history of growing up and how much this game has meant to him his whole life really puts into perspective how important this game is not just to Mason, but his entire family, and to K-State people in general."
Amazingly on Saturday the series will touch the careers of nine different head coaches over 13 seasons. Bill Snyder (1989-2005, 2009-18), Ron Prince (2006-08) and Chris Klieman (2019-21) all coached at K-State. Mark Mangino (2002-09), Turner Gill (2010-11), Charlie Weis (2012-14), David Beaty (2015-18), Les Miles (2019-20) were the previous five coaches at Kansas. On Saturday, Lance Leipold will get a taste of his first Sunflower Showdown.
"I think it's so special for our state," Klieman says. "It's so special for both fanbases that it's a short drive for either team to be able to watch their home team play on the road. I know it's really important to the coaches here. It's really important to the players that are from the state."
A stretch of 85 miles separates the two schools. Yet history suggests that for more than a quarter century the two schools have largely been worlds apart on the football field.
Since 1993, K-State has posted a 24-4 record in the series, including an 11-3 mark in Lawrence. Over the stretch, K-State has outscored KU by the average score of 37.8 to 15.1. K-State has scored 124 touchdowns and Kansas has scored 49. K-State has averaged one touchdown on every 15.3 plays from scrimmage, and Kansas has reached the end zone, on average, once in every 37.1 plays. In all, K-State has outgained Kansas 11,395 yards to 7,961 in those games.
K-State has also outscored Kansas 267-82 in the past six meetings in Lawrence.
"Yeah, we treat KU like any other team, but there's some extra juice in the locker room this week going into KU," K-State safety Ross Elder says. "It's always a fun game and we're excited to get down there."
Since losing its first three Big 12 games, K-State has posted back-to-back victories at Texas Tech (25-24) and against TCU (31-12), the latter being its most complete game of the season. Sophomore defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah tied a school record with 4 sacks against the Horned Frogs to go along with 2 forced fumbles, and he swept up virtually all the national defensive player of the week awards this week for his effort.
Anudike-Uzomah, a native of Lee's Summit, Missouri, carries some motivation into the Sunflower Showdown.
"(Kansas) didn't recruit me because I was undersized," he says, "so, that's basically the fuel I'm going to use. I used that last year and got a sack against them. So, hopefully I can get a sack against them in this game, too."
Thompson comes off one of the best four-game passing stretches of his career against Oklahoma, Iowa State, Texas Tech and TCU, completing 70.4% of his passes for 1,074 yards and 7 touchdowns and just 2 interceptions.
A certain specialness within this rivalry lingers for Thompson, a native of Independence, Missouri, as he passed for 129 yards and rushed for a career-high 127 yards and 4 touchdowns during his last outing in Lawrence in 2019.
"I've told a lot of people one of my favorite memories at K-State is when we played them there in 2019," Thompson says. "It's a fun atmosphere, especially (because) I thought a majority of the crowd was purple. Our fan base cares a lot about this game."
Two weeks ago, Kansas put a scare in No. 4 Oklahoma for three quarters and led 17-14 heading into the fourth quarter. However, Oklahoma roared back for a 35-23 victory. The Jayhawks have lost their other four league games 45-7, 59-7, 41-14 and 55-3.
"The way you watch the game by itself, they dominated the (Oklahoma) football game," Klieman says. "They were focused. They were prepared really well. They had good plans on both sides of the ball. They really shut down OU's offense and had their way with them defensively. That, without question, was a big opportunity for them. They had a chance to win the game."
On Saturday morning, the purple wave will turn off Interstate-70 and Interstate-35 once again, like so many times before, with their Powercat flags madly whipping above their windows, and with plenty of fond memories pouring back, as they find their seats inside a familiar stadium.
It will mark the 11th time a member of the Weber family has taken the field in a rivalry that is one of the oldest among colleges in the United States.
"It's a very important game," Weber says. "We take this game extremely serious. We have a lot of passion for this game. It's one we care a lot about and one we want to win. At this point, no words need to be said in my family. It's unspoken that this job must get done. I've understood my whole entire life the importance of this rivalry. In my household, we care about this rivalry a lot.
"We understand how important it is to take care of business."
Players Mentioned
LB
/ Football
DE
/ Football
FB
/ Football
DB
/ Football
DB
/ Football
OL
/ Football
QB
/ Football
WR
/ FootballK-State Athletics | Gene Taylor Press Conference - February 15, 2026
Monday, February 16
K-State Men's Basketball | Postgame Press Conference at Houston
Sunday, February 15
K-State Football | Stanton Weber Press Conference - Feb. 12, 2026
Thursday, February 12
K-State Football | Thad Ward Press Conference - Feb. 12, 2026
Thursday, February 12
