One man’s bold prediction for Kansas football. Kind of…

By Matt Tait     Nov 3, 2017

The two covers: The one on the left, from Sports Illustrated about the Houston Astros. And the one on the right from Bryce Wood about Kansas football.

Now that it worked for Sports Illustrated and the Houston Astros, it seems like everybody is at least considering taking a shot at predicting the future.

The Astros, in case you don’t know, made good on a 2014 SI cover story that proclaimed them the 2017 World Series champs by knocking off the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7 of this year’s World Series on Wednesday night in L.A.

The win marked the first world championship for the Astros franchise, but, perhaps more notably, sent the rest of the sports world into absolute pandemonium over that 2014 Sports Illustrated cover.

Ebay and other such sites are currently selling that magazine for nearly $300 or more and its legend only figures to grow from here.

So how does this all relate to anything to do with KU Sports?

This mock Sports Illustrated cover was designed by Bryce Wood and pays homage to SI's incredible call of the Houston Astros' 2017 World Series title.

Well, thanks to Bryce Wood, a Washburn University graduate and Topeka native, we now know. Wood, a talented graphic designer who actually has done some freelance cover work for Sports Illustrated — including designing all four of this year’s NFL preview covers featuring Tom Brady, David Johnson, Aaron Rodgers and J.J. Watt — took to Twitter (@woodymlb4) to release his own mock SI cover featuring none other than the Kansas football team.

Themed exactly like that Astros cover from 2014, with KU quarterback Carter Stanley in the center, it reads, “An unprecedented look at how a dynasty is forming to build the game’s next big thing…. Your 2018 National Champs. P.30”

On the other side of the magazine, below his name and behind Stanley, who has the ball cocked high and ready to throw, reads, “Haha Just Kidding.”

So, obviously, Wood, who considers himself a fan of KU sports, is not actually predicting this accomplishment, nor is he going out on the same kind of limb that Sports Illustrated did three years ago with that Astros prediction.

But it’s pretty funny nonetheless and it shows two things — 1. How some KU fans currently are dealing with the football team’s struggles. And 2. Just how big that SI cover has become.

With KU sitting at 1-7 in David Beaty’s third season, it’s hard to imagine things turning around so drastically for this cover prediction to become true. Then again, the Astros were coming off of three consecutive seasons with at least 105 losses (in 162 games) and were 36-48 at the time the cover hit newsstands.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.