College Football SMQ: The greatest forfeit games in college football history

1960: Kansas Jayhawks (forfeit) win in Border War over No. 1 Missouri

With Missouri’s move to the SEC, the Border War rivalry between the Tigers and Kansas has been put on hiatus. But for decades, the rivalry was one of the most heated battles in all of college football. One of the greatest games in the series, though, is a game that never officially happened.

In 1960, Missouri entered the Border War game as the top-ranked team in the nation. The Tigers were 9-0, with wins on the road at Penn State, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. They had moved up the polls over the course of the year, steadily gaining ground until reaching the pinnacle. All they needed to do was defeat their biggest rival and a national title was in play.

Kansas, meanwhile, had lost to then-No. 2 Syracuse and then-No. 1 Iowa as well as playing Oklahoma to a 13-13 tie. The Jayhawks were 6-2-1 entering the showdown in Columbia after taking down Nebraska and Colorado in conference play. Missouri was the favorite, but Kansas had an ace up its sleeve.

That ace was Bert Coan, who originally started his college career at TCU. The speedy halfback transferred to Kansas and featured in the backfield for the Jayhawks. He was an instrumental part of a 23-7 victory over Missouri on the road, as Coan and the Jayhawks ruined Missouri’s shot at a perfect season and a national championship.

But Coan’s eligibility was already in question before the Border War. The victory over Missouri gave the Jayhawks an ephemeral Big Eight title. Once the league ruled that Coan was ineligible, the Kansas victory became forfeit. The Jayhawks and the NCAA still recognize the win, but Missouri and the Big Eight marked the contested result as a Missouri victory by forfeit.