Kansas Jayhawks head coach Lance Leipold. Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

Kansas opens stadium gates to general public during Oklahoma upset bid

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Grey Papke | Last updated 10/23/21

The Kansas Jayhawks made a bid for a stunning upset on Saturday, and the school was desperate to get people to the stadium to witness it.

The Jayhawks were 38.5-point underdogs at home Saturday against unbeaten Oklahoma, but the first half unfolded in surprising fashion. Kansas managed to hold the high-powered Sooner offense scoreless in the first half, taking a 10-0 lead into the locker room. Oklahoma did score a touchdown in the third quarter, but Kansas answered with another score of their own to take a 17-7 lead.

As it became apparent that Kansas was at least going to make a game of this, the school made a rather desperate bid to get some fans into half-empty Kansas Memorial Stadium. At halftime, the university sent out a message to the student body urging anyone with an unused ticket to get down to the game.

Kansas just sent this out to their entire school pic.twitter.com/AbhAAqX6m1

— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) October 23, 2021

Things only escalated from there. In the third quarter, Kansas opened up the stadium to anyone in town, no ticket required.

Wow! They just announced on Kansas radio network that stadium gates are open, no more tickets required. “If you’re in town, come on down!”

Kansas 17, Oklahoma 7. 3Q

— Brian Davis (@BDavisAAS) October 23, 2021

The Jayhawks had good reason to try to get more fans in. As ESPN showed in a series of photos, the crowd started out sparse and didn’t fill in all the way, even by halftime.

Kansas fans, slowly but surely pic.twitter.com/zY8WRAhf4S

— PFF College (@PFF_College) October 23, 2021

It’s a somewhat sad state of affairs that the Jayhawks have to resort to these measures. Still, this is a football program that has generated so little excitement over the years. They might as well try to make the best of it — as long as the power doesn’t go out again, at least.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: