The Big 12 has a remarkable 80 percent of its members heading to a bowl game. Baylor (1-11 overall, 1-8 in Big 12 play) and Kansas (1-11, 0-9) are the lone exceptions.
A disappointing season extended KU’s bowl drought to nine years. No other school from a power-five conference has a drought of longer than four years and Oregon State and Syracuse are the lone schools to go that long without the extra game and practices that go with it.
KU’s attendance dropped for the ninth consecutive year, to 25,165, despite Kansas State and Oklahoma drawing a large number of fans to Memorial Stadium.
At what point does the school’s conference affiliation become jeopardized by the football program’s inability to compete?
“That’s not something that’s ever been (a concern),” KU athletic director Sheahon Zenger told me in an interview in his office last week. “We’re a strong institution in many, many, many ways, and strong in this athletic department. Granted, we don’t have the wins in football right now, but all else is going well.”
Kansas last participated in the postseason on New Year’s Eve 2008, when the Jayhawks defeated Minnesota, 42-21, in the Insight Bowl in Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. That improved Mark Mangino’s bowl record to 3-1. His 2006 team also was bowl eligible but was not invited to a game.
A look at the bottom 20 power-five schools in terms participation in bowl games during the length of KU’s drought:
School | Bowls since 2009 season | Drought |
---|---|---|
1 – Kansas | None | Nine years |
2 – Colorado | 2016 | One year |
3 (tie) – Virginia | 2011, 2017 | Zero |
3 (tie) – Indiana | 2015, 2016 | One year |
5 (tie) – Purdue | 2011, 2012, 2017 | Zero |
5 (tie) – Wake Forest | 2011, 2016, 2017 | Zero |
5 (tie) – Cal | 2009, 2011, 2015 | Two years |
5 (tie) – Illinois | 2010, 2011, 2014 | Three years |
5 (tie) – Oregon State | 2009, 2012, 2013 | Four years |
5 (tie) – Syracuse | 2010, 2012, 2013 | Four years |
11 (tie) – Iowa State | 2009, 2011, 2012, 2017 | Zero |
11 (tie) – Kentucky | 2009, 2010, 2016, 2017 | Zero |
11 (tie) – Maryland | 2010, 2013, 2014, 2016 | One year |
11 (tie) – Vanderbilt | 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016 | One year |
11 (tie) – Washington State | 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 | Zero |
16 (tie) – Duke | 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 | Zero |
16 (tie) – Texas Tech | 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017 | Zero |
16 (tie) – Ole Miss | 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 | Two years |
16 (tie) – Rutgers | 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 | Three years |
16 (tie) – Tennessee | 2009, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016 | One year |