Kansas does not win many football games. Since the end of September 2014, KU’s won at home six times. And Jayhawk fans have stormed the field after four of those games.
Kansas football fans have stormed the field after 66 percent of home wins since 2014
They don’t have very many chances!
Let’s trace this back to the start. (A Week 2 win at Central Michigan was the program’s first away from home since 2009.)
Week 10, 2014: Kansas beats Iowa State, 34-14
The Jayhawks snapped a five-game losing streak and moved to a gentlemanly 3-6 on the season. Their fans ripped these goalposts out of the ground, as people might do:
Subsequently, Kansas lost 15 games in a row, a streak that didn’t end until ...
Week 1, 2016: Kansas beats Rhode Island, 55-6
Again, this was right off an 0-12 season. Kansas was playing an FCS team, and not even a good FCS team. The Rams had just gone 1-10 in Division I’s lower level.
The field storm was feeble, with fans apparently unsure what they should do:
Like, really, it barely covered any of the turf:
The PA announcer tried hard to fight it, to no avail:
But a new tradition had begun.
Week 12, 2016: Kansas beats Texas, 24-21
Never forget that Kansas beat Texas in football in 2016. Reflecting the historic nature of that win — it had been since 1938 — these goalposts came down:
As they paraded that big pair of yellow poles around the field, the students who’d rushed the field did a slightly better job covering up the green turf:
This was what progress in action looked like.
Then the tradition lapsed for a little while:
Week 1, 2017: Kansas beats Southeast Missouri State, 38-16
There was no field storm after this game, regrettably.
Week 3, 2018: Kansas beats Rutgers, 55-14
The GAME OF THE CENTURY demanded an extravagant response, but didn’t get one.
Week 9, 2018: Kansas beats TCU, 27-26
The Jayhawks won thanks to a TCU butt fumble, and you had better believe the Jayhawks faithful were going to run onto that field after their team’s first TCU win since 1997.
Look at this exuberance:
And look at how fulsomely these people are filling out that field:
That is how you execute.
Kansas students have been steadily drizzling water on the seeds of a great modern tradition.
Clemson fans get a lot of attention for meeting up on the field after every win. People often make fun of that tradition, not realizing it isn’t tied to the magnitude or impressiveness of any one win. And of course it’s not! Clemson wins all the time.
Kansas, though, loses all the time. The Jayhawks don’t even need to make it a formal tradition to have fans rush the field after most wins. It just happens organically.
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