The University of Kansas (KU) Jayhawks have played in twelve bowl games in their football program’s history and during that time the team has six wins and six losses. Interestingly, the University of Kansas, which is known primarily for its basketball prowess, has been playing football longer than basketball. The first football season at KU occurred in 1890 and eight years later, the first basketball season began in 1898.
While twelve bowl appearances in a 120-year history equates to only one bowl appearance every ten years, there is one encouraging aspect to the overall record and that is the fact that the Jayhawks have won five of their last six games. postseason. For many optimists, this statistic alone is enough to show that the football program is moving in the right direction.
The twelve appearances with result are the following:
- 1947: Orange Bowl 21-14 loss to Georgia Tech
- 1961: 33-7 Bluebonnet Bowl victory against Rice University
- 1968: 15-14 Orange Bowl loss to Penn State
- 1973: 31-18 Liberty Bowl loss at North Carolina State
- 1975: 33-19 Sun Bowl loss to the University of Pittsburgh
- 1981: 10-0 Hall of Fame loss to Mississippi State University
- 1992: 23-20 Aloha Bowl victory against Brigham Young University (BYU)
- 1995: 51-30 Aloha Bowl win against the UCLA Bruins
- 2003: 56–26 Tangerine Bowl loss to North Carolina State
- 2005: 42-13 Fort Worth Bowl win against the University of Houston
- 2007: 24-21 Orange Bowl win against Virginia Tech
- 2008: 42-21 Insight Bowl victory against the University of Minnesota
While it was a tremendous honor for Jayhawk fans to be invited to the Orange Bowl of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) in 2007, few fans probably realize that the Orange Bowl is actually the postseason contest in which the University of Kansas football team has competed more. number of times. The Aloha Bowl is the postseason venue in which KU football teams have been most successful with a perfect 2-0 record after victories in 1992 and 1995 against BYU and UCLA.
Exactly what future postseason success awaits the University of Kansas remains to be seen. The only thing that is certain is that former head coach Mark Mangino, who helped the team turn the corner into a national college football fixture, will not be joining the team for the trip. After the 2009 college football season, Coach Mangino was relieved of his duties. The Jayhawks’ newest head coach is a man named Turner Gill, whose most previous job was as the head coach of the University at Buffalo from 2006 to 2009.
