On the eve of Saturday’s Border Showdown at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, the second straight season the game will be played off-campus, much discussion has been centered on whether the schools will elect to keep the game in Kansas City, or return it to the respective teams’ home fields.

A final decision on the matter is expected to be reached in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, Kansas University’s players offered their thoughts on making Arrowhead the game’s home for the foreseeable future.

“It’s a good destination, because it allows more fans to come and it’s a neutral site, kind of like the Cotton Bowl with Texas and Oklahoma,” said junior safety Darrell Stuckey of Arrowhead. “It’s one of those things to where it allows it to be seen by more people, and it gives it a stage.”

Missouri coach Gary Pinkel and Kansas coach Mark Mangino have both said that they’re open to the idea of extending the current deal — a two-year arrangement set to expire after Saturday’s game — although Mangino insisted he’d wait until after this year’s game to offer a final analysis on whether he’d be in favor of another stint at Arrowhead.

One of the primary issues with moving the game to Kansas City for the foreseeable future is that every year one team will lose a home game. Last year, for instance, the Jayhawks would have played the Tigers in Lawrence if not for the Arrowhead deal, which, theoretically, would have provided an advantage in their quest for an outright Big 12 North title.

At least one other player isn’t too distraught about the idea of a losing a home game, however.

“I like playing away,” said senior linebacker Joe Mortensen. “I kind of like being the hated person, the underdog. I loved playing at South Florida. So it really doesn’t matter (where it is). I love playing in Kansas City. I thought Arrowhead was awesome last year. It’s an NFL stadium, it fits 80,000.

“I’m just glad the weather’s going to be a little bit better (this year),” he added. “It was, like, sub-zero last year.”

Sharp not practicing

Injured Kansas receiver Kerry Meier is back on the practice field, injured running back Jake Sharp isn’t, and that’s about all Mangino has to say about his team’s injury report heading into the Jayhawks’ final game of the season.

“What I will tell you is that Kerry is out on the practice field (and) Jake has not practiced to this point,” said the coach. “I will not address injury situations the rest of the week. I’ll do it here today, but I won’t answer any questions because it doesn’t matter who’s playing and who’s not, we’ve got to be ready to go to beat Missouri.”