Photo courtesy of KU Athletic Department

The Kansas Jayhawks dropped a 42-31 contest to Missouri in the 121st edition of the StorageMart Border Showdown at Faurot Field on Saturday.

With the setback, Kansas moves to 2-1 on the year while Missouri improves to 2-0.

Jalon Daniels led the Jayhawks with 223 yards and two touchdowns on 18-of-30 passing, while also rushing for a team-high 20 yards on nine attempts. DeShawn Hanika had a career-high six receptions for 74 yards and two touchdowns. Trey Lathan (13) and Lyrik Rawls (10) paced the KU defense with double-digit tackles, and Austin Alexander had six tackles and returned a fumble for a touchdown.

Kansas received the opening kickoff, but the Jayhawks were held without a first down before punting it over to the Tigers. Missouri needed five plays to cover 57 yards for the first score of the game, but KU’s Tommy Dunn Jr. blocked the extra point to keep the score at 6-0. The Jayhawks then answered with a seven-play scoring drive, capped by a 15-yard touchdown pass from Daniels to Hanika. Laith Marjan’s extra point put KU up for the first time at 7-6 with 8:09 to play in the opening quarter.

Three plays later, Kansas added to its advantage as the defense made a game-changing play. As Missouri’s quarterback scrambled, Blake Herold came from behind and forced a fumble, which was recovered by Alexander and returned 28 yards for a score, making it 14-6 at the 6:53 mark of the quarter. After forcing another three-and-out, Kansas added to its lead with a one-yard touchdown run by Daniels, making the score 21-6, which is where it stood at the end of the first quarter.

Missouri scored 15 unanswered points in the second quarter to tie the score at 21-all at halftime. Kansas ran just four offensive plays in the second quarter, while MU scored a touchdown and made two field goals in addition to recording a safety.

Kansas started the second half on defense, and after Missouri drove the ball into KU territory the Jayhawks got a fourth down stop to take possession in the tie game at the 10:17 mark. Daniels engineered a 10-play scoring drive, including first down completions to Carson Bruhn and Hanika, which ended with a 26-yard field goal from Marjan as KU went back on top, 24-21. Missouri responded, however, with a 75-yard touchdown drive and regained the lead, 28-24 with 24 seconds remaining in the third.

That score remained as Kansas took possession at its own 8-yard line with 12:36 to play. Daniels again engineered a go-ahead drive, this time guiding the Jayhawks 92 yards in eight plays. The final play of the drive was the second touchdown pass of the game from Daniels to Hanika, who scored from six yards out and put KU ahead 31-28 with 8:45 to play.

From there, Missouri closed out the game with the final 14 points, scoring the go-ahead touchdown with 4:14 to play before icing the game with a 63-yard touchdown run at the 1:49 mark.

Now with non-conference play ended, Kansas will have its first open week of the season before hosting back-to-back conference games on Sept. 20 against West Virginia and Sept. 27 against Cincinnati at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.