# SEC Evening Report: Missouri Chases a 25-Year Drought in Lawrence as Ohio State-Texas Looms

**Published:** 2026-09-10 — **By:** Stacy Stanfield
**Category:** daily-roundup — **Type:** daily-roundup
**Source:** https://secscouts.com/news/sec-evening-report-missouri-kansas-border-war-25-year-drought

**Teams:** [Alabama](https://secscouts.com/alabama/), [Arkansas](https://secscouts.com/arkansas/), [Auburn](https://secscouts.com/auburn/), [Kentucky](https://secscouts.com/kentucky/), [LSU](https://secscouts.com/lsu/), [Miss State](https://secscouts.com/mississippi-state/), [Ole Miss](https://secscouts.com/ole-miss/), [Texas](https://secscouts.com/texas/), [Texas A&M](https://secscouts.com/texas-am/), [Vanderbilt](https://secscouts.com/vanderbilt/)


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## LEAD STORY: No. 23 Missouri Heads to Lawrence Looking to End a 25-Year Wait

The Border War returns Friday night at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, and Missouri arrives with more than a rivalry trophy on the line. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. CT on FOX, with the Tigers listed as a 4.5-point favorite over Kansas per FanDuel as of Wednesday evening — a number that had moved to 5.5 on RockMNation's weekend slate, with the total at 51.5.

The history is the story. Missouri has not won in Lawrence since Oct. 20, 2001, when Kirk Farmer threw for 246 yards and three touchdowns, Zack Abron ran for 100 yards and a pair of scores, and the Tigers took the lead for good with 7:20 remaining. Both teams entered that game 2-3. A quarter century later, Missouri leads the all-time series 58-54-9 and has taken the last four meetings, including last season's win in Columbia, but the recent editions have been closer than the Tigers' standing suggests. Since 2000, Missouri holds only an 8-5 edge.

RockMNation framed Friday as a litmus test: a team with legitimate College Football Playoff hopes should not be sweating a trip to Lawrence, and the argument is that Missouri's roster investment, talent and infrastructure all point one direction. The counterpoint is on the scoreboard of last year's meeting — a shaky first quarter in Columbia that nobody in the fan base has forgotten. A loss Friday does not end Missouri's at-large case, but it makes the math considerably harder.

## QUICK HITS

- **Texas DT Hero Kanu faces Ohio State.** The fifth-year defensive tackle, who transferred to Austin after logging 230 snaps across three seasons in Columbus, started 12 of 13 games for the Longhorns in 2025 — 476 snaps, 30 tackles, four tackles for loss, two sacks, 21 defensive stops and 20 total pressures with one missed tackle. Kanu, who grew up playing soccer outside Munich and didn't take up football until he was 15, passed on the 2026 NFL Draft to return. On the friends across the line Saturday: "They're not friends this week."
- **No. 1 Vanderbilt soccer opens SEC play at Georgia tonight.** The Commodores are 7-0-0 and hold the first No. 1 ranking in program history after TopDrawerSoccer's bump this week (United Soccer Coaches still has them No. 2). Sydney Watts set the program record for consecutive matches with a goal, scoring her eighth in seven games in Sunday's 4-1 win over Xavier. Vanderbilt has outscored opponents 28-7 and put 56.2 percent of its shots on target; Georgia (3-2-2) is at 34.2 percent. Kickoff is 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
- **SEC releases 2027 softball schedule.** D1Softball has the six conference series worth circling. Teams currently in the SEC have won 12 of the last 14 national championships, including back-to-back reigning champion Texas.
- **Ole Miss men's tennis opens fall play** Friday at the Milwaukee Classic, running Sept. 11-13 in Milwaukee.
- **Mississippi State volleyball hits the road** for the Carrie Yerty Classic in Memphis, riding three straight wins into Friday's match with Alcorn State and Saturday's meeting with Memphis.
- **Texas baseball sets its lone fall game**, an exhibition against Houston on Oct. 3 at Dell Diamond. Missouri, meanwhile, hosts a North End Zone open house at Memorial Stadium on Sept. 15.

## PORTAL WATCH

No transfer portal activity to report across the SEC in the last 12 hours.

## RECRUITING BUZZ

No new SEC commitments crossed the wire. The night's headline pledge went elsewhere: five-star guard NaVorro Bowman Jr., son of the former NFL linebacker, committed to UConn, per ESPN's Adam Schefter. He is the highest-ranked committed player in the 2027 class.

## GAMES TO WATCH

No SEC football games are scheduled today, but the Vanderbilt-Georgia soccer match at 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network is the league's marquee event of the evening. Friday brings Missouri at Kansas (7 p.m. CT, FOX).

Saturday's slate is loaded. Ohio State visits Texas at 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC in a game lined at just 1.5 points. Mississippi State plays at Minnesota (2:30 p.m., CBS) with the Golden Gophers favored by only 1.5. Alabama is a 10.5-point favorite at Kentucky (2:30 p.m., ABC), No. 18 Tennessee is favored by 12.5 at Georgia Tech (6 p.m., ESPN), No. 10 Texas A&M meets Arizona State (11 a.m., ABC), and Arkansas closes the night at No. 20 Utah (9:15 p.m., ESPN) as a 12.5-point underdog. Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Florida, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Auburn all draw double-digit home favorites' roles.

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*Original article: [SEC Evening Report: Missouri Chases a 25-Year Drought in Lawrence as Ohio State-Texas Looms](https://secscouts.com/news/sec-evening-report-missouri-kansas-border-war-25-year-drought) — SEC Scouts*