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EVERYTHING IN THIS NEWSLETTER IS BASED UPON WHAT I AM HEARING FROM PEOPLE I TRUST. PLEASE DO NOT MISTAKE THIS FOR FACT OR FOR ACTUAL JOURNALISM, WHICH HAS VERIFICATION STANDARDS THAT I HAVE NOT ADHERED TO. I DO NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT.

Did Mizzou Avoid Playing Kansas in 2022?

A KUHearings deep dive

Despite the outright denials, tweets, and press conference jabs, the receipts from the 2022 postseason debate point to one thing: Missouri avoided playing Kansas.

I went back through the reporting, tracked down the TV receipts, and talked directly with Brett McMurphy, the reporter who broke the story. Here’s what I came away with:

QUICK CONTEXT

• Brett McMurphy, one of college football’s top reporters, wrote that Kansas and Missouri had an opportunity to renew their rivalry in the Liberty Bowl. The problem, per McMurphy: Missouri didn’t want to play Kansas.

• Missouri directly denied the report from its official Twitter.

• Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz went even further, tweeting a picture of the Liberty Bowl Stadium saying, “Ain’t scared to play here- there- or anywhere.”

For three years, Kansas fans have tried to say Missouri was scared of playing the Jayhawks. And Missouri fans have said it never happened.

The evidence points to saying neither side is exactly right, but it does suggest Missouri didn’t want to play the Jayhawks.

“I know with 1 billion percent certainty they didn’t want to play Kansas,” McMurphy told me. “This is not a one source story.”

MISUNDERSTOOD:

Here’s how bowl selections work: teams provide their bowl preferences to their conference. The following is a key, and often misunderstood, aspect to this story.

McMurphy told me the preferences weren’t about the Liberty Bowl. It was about the teams it would and wouldn’t play:

“Missouri provided the teams they would play if they were going to a Big 12 game and Kansas was not included in those teams.”

“The thing that everybody was trying to call bullshit on this thing. They honed in on the Liberty Bowl. It was not the Liberty Bowl, it was about playing Kansas.

“I talked to multiple bowl officials at that time and they all told me the same thing. I’m not gonna create something out of thin air.”

RECEIPTS

The evidence has trickled out in smaller pieces the last three years, but hasn’t been pulled together in one place.

Despite Drinkwitz’s apparent denial, his story reportedly changed two weeks later.

I spoke to ESPN’s Tom Hart, who said the above quotes and conversation was fair and accurate, as far as he could recall.

And then there’s Liberty Bowl executive director Steve Ehrhart. McMurphy again:

“I talked to him 100 times about it,” McMurphy said. “He was like ‘yea, what you reported is accurate.’ Nobody in a bowl is going to come out and say Missouri asked not to play Kansas. They’re partners with the SEC.”

And then there’s Lance Leipold, who stayed out of the whole thing until appearing on a Wisconsin radio show a year later.

“Well it was supposed to be the Liberty Bowl last year, but that’s another conversation,” Leipold said.

THE BOTTOM LINE

McMurphy added some reasoning that helps explain why Missouri didn’t want to play Kansas, and it adds up.

But first, he didn’t hedge on his report.

“I know with 10000 billion percent certainty they didn’t want to play Kansas,” McMurphy said. “Look at my track record, I don’t speculate. I report facts.”

Scoopmeister’s note: His track record is as good as it gets.

The logic behind it all checks out.

“I want to emphasize this: I never said Missouri is scared of playing Kansas, and I don’t think Missouri was scared of playing Kansas,” McMurphy said. “Missouri had nothing to gain by playing Kansas.”

McMurphy nailed it.

“Missouri didn’t have anything to gain, that’s how it was,” he said. “It’s totally different now.

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🏈 College GameDay did a segment this morning on the KU-Mizzou rivalry. Watch it here.

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