A historic Saturday ended in an epic celebration for Kansas as the Jayhawks became bowl eligible for the first time in nearly 15 years following a major win at home.
Kansas upset No. 18 Oklahoma State, 37–16, to secure a trip to the its first bowl game since 2008, and improve to 6–3 (3–3 Big 12) on the season. The upcoming appearance will also be the program’s first under second-year coach Lance Leipold.
Moments after the final whistle blew, elated Jayhawks fans stormed the field to celebrate the resounding victory, KU’s first over its conference rival in quite some time after dropping the last 12 consecutive meetings dating back to ’07. The hectic scene quickly escalated after fans rallied around the nearest goalpost and brought it down in only a matter of minutes.
Needless to say, the moment made for another memorable field-storming less than a month after Tennessee fans took down one of the goalposts at Neyland Stadium and chucked it into Tennessee River following an epic upset of Alabama on Oct. 15.
The Kansas Football Twitter account later shared a video with an update on the goalpost’s whereabouts. And, in case you were wondering, the goalpost ended up suffering a similar fate as the one from the Vols’ game as fans tossed it into a nearby body of water.
After a challenging decade filled with less-than-stellar campaigns, Kansas has finally given Jayhawks faithful something to go crazy after a strong start to Leipold’s tenure.
Backup quarterback Jason Bean, making his fourth start in place of the injured Jalon Daniels (shoulder), and running back Devin Neal anchored a dynamic Jayhawks attack that saw the team score at least 35 point for a fourth game in a row.
Bean completed 18 of 23 passes for 203 yards and two touchdowns, and added four carries for 93 yards, including an absurd 73-yard score. Neal, meanwhile, added to his impressive year by leading the team in both rushing and receiving yards.
The dynamic sophomore tallied 224 yards and a TD to go with six receptions for another 110 yards to become the eighth FBS player all-time to post 200-plus rushing and 100-plus receiving yards in a game.
