# Drinkwitz refused to kneel, and Kansas heard about it

> Missouri won the Border War 38-21, then turned the final seconds into a reply to Kansas' pregame video.
- Title: Drinkwitz refused to kneel, and Kansas heard about it
- Summary: Missouri won the Border War 38-21, then turned the final seconds into a reply to Kansas' pregame video. Kansas framed the rivalry as right versus wrong, and…
- Keywords: college football, mizzou, kansas, border war, rivalries, sports, Drinkwitz, refused, kneel, heard, Missouri Tigers On SI
- Source: Missouri Tigers On SI — https://si.com/college/missouri/football/why-mizzou-s-eli-drinkwitz-left-kansas-bleeding-again-in-border-war-win
- Published: 2026-09-12T15:23:45+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: college football, mizzou, kansas, border war, rivalries, sports
## Up 17, still swinging
Missouri led Kansas 38-21 in Lawrence with seconds left. A few kneels would have ended it. Eli Drinkwitz did not want a few kneels.
## The kneel he refused
He sent backup quarterback Matt Zollers to throw at the end zone. The pass missed, and Xai'Shaun Edwards ran 6 yards short of the goal line to finish the game.
## A message for Leipold
Drinkwitz said the call was aimed straight at the Kansas head coach, not at the scoreboard.

> I just wanted to let (KU coach Lance Leipold) know, like, 'Dude, what are y'all doing?'
## Older than the football
The Border War goes back to the Civil War era and Bleeding Kansas, when people from both states raided across the line over slavery.
## Kansas sold right versus wrong
Kansas built its promotion around that history, posting a video on social media about 'Right' and 'Wrong' and playing it pregame inside David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
## Unity on a 9/11 Friday
Drinkwitz called the video uncalled for and pointed at the date, saying the country needed the opposite of what Kansas put on the screen.

> This country needs unity now more than ever
## Embarrassed, so he answered
He said the shame he felt watching it is exactly what drove the final play call.

> I was embarrassed for him to be honest. And that's why I tried to embarrass him at the end.
## Chippy now, gone until 2031
Scuffles and small altercations ran through the whole game. The two teams do not meet again until 2031, with 2032 closing out the current contract.

> I don't really care if it continues or not.
## Left Kansas bleeding again
Asked whether the series should continue, Drinkwitz reached for the history Kansas had just invoked and turned it back on them.

> But if we want to make it deeper than that, man, like we left Kansas bleeding again.
## The sideline was in
Tigers players got loud when Drinkwitz went for the extra score. After the whistle, left tackle Cayden Green tried to plant a Missouri flag in front of dozens of Jayhawks.
## Green kept it on the field
The left tackle said slavery was a terrible thing and that it has nothing to do with a football game, and that Missouri was the only side acting like it.

> So we just tried to keep the main thing the main thing, and I don't think they were doing the same.
## A second half that held
The win was not pretty, but Missouri pulled away after the break. The Tigers are 2-0 since the rivalry resumed in 2025, winning on both sides of the state line.
## Then came the posting
Drinkwitz fired off four posts on X right after the game, including one aimed at the Kansas promo video, and signed off with a line built from their own word.

> Y'all are WEIRD….. Winners WIN!!!! And I know that's RIGHT!!!!!
## Key takeaway

Kansas framed the rivalry as right versus wrong, and Drinkwitz decided the scoreboard would answer it.