Let’s face it, when you think KU vs. Mizzou, it’s the Border War on the hardwood that comes to mind.  Be it Allen Fieldhouse, Rock Chalk Jayhawk, Norm Stewart, The Antlers and so much more, these two universities, alumni, students and fan bases simply don’t see eye-to-eye.  And in football, they . . . wait . . . football? 

On Saturday night in Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, one of this year’s biggest games, arguably the biggest, will unfold in front of a national television audience.  It’s a conference game from the Big 12 but you won’t see Oklahoma on that field.  Nor will you see Texas, Nebraska, Kansas State or Colorado.    The teams you will see are two of the most exciting, electrifying squads you’ve likely paid little attention to this year, much less seen on television: The Kansas Jayhawks and the Missouri Tigers.

There are quite a few great rivalries in college sports that get little national attention.  Rivalries that tend to be far more confined to regional interest.  Oregon-Oregon State, Mississippi-Mississippi State and Arizona-Arizona State are just a few that rank right up there with Auburn-Alabama, Ohio State-Michigan and USC-UCLA for pure venom and loathing among each school’s followings.  And certainly, KU-Mizzou fits right in with the aforementioned rivalries.  But rarely, if ever, have these two universities played a game in any sport that carried such national significance than the one they will play Saturday night in Kansas City.  And the winner is: All of us that will watch the game.

I’ve been to games at more than 60 Division 1 stadiums across the country (wait – what’s the appropriate name now, the Football Subdivision Championship Series for Worthy Members that Believe . . . never mind) with visits to both Memorial Stadium in Lawrence and Faurot Field in Columbia included.    What you realize immediately when sitting in either stadium, though it shouldn’t come as a surprise, is that Jayhawks and Tigers fans are just as passionate, just as knowledgable and just as hungry for big-time football success as any other fan base you can mention.  However, that success has more often than not eluded both programs.  No longer.

Saturday night is The Big Stage.  There won’t be Trojans, Gators, Buckeyes or any other nickname synonymous with college football success.  There will be Jayhawks and there will be Tigers and there will be a national television audience on ABC. 

And speaking of Tigers, with the ones from LSU losing at home in triple overtime to unranked Arkansas today, the winner of Saturday night’s Arrowhead showdown most likely controls its own championship destiny.  Think about that for a moment and try to wrap your arms around it: Either Kansas or Missouri is two wins away from a trip to the Superdome in New Orleans for the BCS Championship Game.  As many times I say it to myself, I still find it hard to believe.  And yet, I am as excited to watch this game, if not more so, as I was some other recent so-called games of the century like Texas-USC in the 2006 Rose Bowl and this year’s Florida-LSU game in Baton Rouge. 

But what makes this game so much more special is not just that it involves two programs without a whole lot of previous success in football, much less being a player on the national stage.  No, it’s that this rivalry is truly no different than Auburn-Alabama, Ohio State-Michigan, USC-UCLA and so many others you’re more familiar with following every fall. 

For those of us unfamiliar with the Border War, we may be late to the party but we’re damn glad we finally got here.