Listening to former Oakland Raiders quarterback and Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders coach Tom Flores in a recent radio interview, it struck me as interesting that he mentioned that he anticipated the Raiders playing well in Miami because a lot of Raiders came from that region of the country and would have a lot of friends and family members in attendance.
It never occurred to me that would be a factor in an NFL game, but it is mentioned often by college players.
Dorance Armstrong and Daniel Wise both brought that up during their interviews this week in preparation for KU’s trip to Austin to play Texas, which the Jayhawks defeated in overtime, the school’s first victory against Texas since 1938.
Plus, being overlooked by Texas and other Texas universities plays a role in their motivation. Armstrong was a unanimous first-team All-Big 12 player in 2016 and Wise surely will earn first-team honors this season, so all of the Texas schools, if they had it to do over again, would have offered scholarships to both players. But so far, they haven’t been able to win a game in their home state.
A second consecutive upset victory against the Longhorns would keep Kansas from breaking the streak for consecutive road losses at football’s highest division. At the moment, KU is tied with Western State (Colorado), which lost 44 in a row from 1926 to 1936.
During that streak 17 of the losses have come in Texas. A look at the Lone Star-state losing streak:
| Opponent | Attendance | Date | Score | Margin | Kansas coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas Tech | 47,291 | Oct. 31, 2009 | 42-21 | 21 | Mark Mangino |
| Texas | 101,357 | Nov. 21, 2009 | 51-20 | 31 | Mark Mangino |
| Baylor | 35,405 | Oct. 2, 2010 | 55-7 | 48 | Turner Gill |
| Texas | 99,211 | Oct. 29, 2011 | 43-0 | 43 | Turner Gill |
| Texas A&M | 86,411 | Nov. 19, 2011 | 61-7 | 54 | Turner Gill |
| Baylor | 39,039 | Nov. 3, 2012 | 41-14 | 27 | Charlie Weis |
| Texas Tech | 55,052 | Nov. 10, 2012 | 41-34, 2OT | Charlie Weis | |
| Rice | 22,974 | Sept. 14, 2013 | 23-14 | 9 | Charlie Weis |
| TCU | 41,894 | Oct. 12, 2013 | 27-17 | 10 | Charlie Weis |
| Texas | 97,105 | Nov. 2, 2013 | 35-13 | 22 | Charlie Weis |
| Texas Tech | 54,071 | Oct. 18, 2014 | 34-21 | 13 | Clint Bowen |
| Baylor | 45,754 | Nov. 1, 2014 | 60-14 | 46 | Clint Bowen |
| Texas | 92,529 | Nov. 7, 2015 | 59-20 | 39 | David Beaty |
| TCU | 44,375 | Nov. 14, 2015 | 23-17 | 6 | David Beaty |
| Texas Tech | 56,494 | Sept. 29, 2016 | 55-19 | 36 | David Beaty |
| Baylor | 47,598 | Oct. 15, 2016 | 49-7 | 42 | David Beaty |
| TCU | 42,969 | Oct. 21, 2017 | 43-0 | 43 | David Beaty |
