Author
Christopher Boan is a lead writer at BetKansas.com specializing in covering state issues. He covered sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years.
Kansas Football Bowl Projections: Odds For Jayhawks’ 2025-26 Bowl Game
The drive to end the losing streak against the Kansas Jayhawks’ rivals from Manhattan fell flat Saturday, with the visiting Kansas State Wildcats shellacking Lance Leipold’s team, 42-17, dropping KU to 4-4 for the year. The latest loss to the Wildcats marked the 17th straight defeat at the hands of K-State, while handing KU the team’s second straight loss. That leaves them two victories shy of bowl eligibility with four contests left in the regular season, starting with Saturday’s home game against Oklahoma State at 3 p.m. Central time.
For now, the team at BetKansas.com still has our collective sights on this year’s bowl season, with the latest batch of KU bowl projections showing potential stops in Shreveport, Fort Worth, Phoenix, Memphis and Dallas through eight weeks of play in Lawrence.
Stick with BetKansas.com for all of our Kansas sports betting insight throughout the college football season.
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Kansas Football Bowl Projections: Odds For Jayhawks’ 2025-26 Bowl Game
Bowl, Location | Conference Opponent | Odds | Percentage Chance |
Independence, Shreveport, LA | vs. American | +100 | 50% |
Armed Forces, Fort Worth | vs. AAC/MWC/Sun Belt | +600 | 14.3% |
Rate, Phoenix | vs. AAC/American | +900 | 10% |
Liberty, Memphis | vs. SEC | +1250 | 7.4% |
First Responder, Dallas | vs. AAC/American | +1550 | 6.1% |
The Field |
| +900 | 10% |
BetKansas.com has the best Kansas sports betting promo codes as fans await that rivalry clash.
Where Might Kansas Go This Bowl Season?
As KU looks to recover after the team’s latest one-sided loss to Kansas State, it’s looking more and more like the Jayhawks will wind up playing in one of three Big 12 bowl season hotspots, those being Shreveport’s Independence Bowl, the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth or the Rate Bowl in Phoenix.
For now, we’re giving Shreveport’s stalwart postseason contest the nod when it comes to hosting KU, with +100 odds of Leipold’s bunch playing in the 2025 Independence Bowl, compared with +600 odds of winding up in the Armed Forces Bowl, +900 odds of venturing to the Valley to play in Phoenix’s Rate Bowl, +1250 odds of returning to the Liberty Bowl in Memphis and +1550 odds of playing in Dallas’ First Responder Bowl.
Looking back, KU’s last Independence Bowl berth was way back in 1973 as a member of the Big 8, while Jayhawks’ last bowl game in Fort Worth was in 2005, when head coach Mark Mangino capped off a 7-5 season in Lawrence with a 42-13 romp over Houston. Kansas’ last Liberty Bowl appearance came in 2022 against Arkansas, ending in a 55-53 shootout loss, while KU’s last Rate Bowl trip to the Valley was in 2023, which saw KU roll up UNLV, 49-36.
While KU has never played in Dallas’ First Responder Bowl, the program has made two postseason trips to the Lone Star State, in the 2005 Fort Worth Bowl and the 1961 Bluebonnet Bowl, which KU won over Rice, 33-7, in Houston.
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Kansas Bowl Game History Since 2005
Year | Bowl | Result |
2023 | Guaranteed Rate Bowl | Win, 49-36 vs. UNLV |
2022 | Liberty Bowl | Loss, 55-53 vs. Arkansas |
2008 | Insight Bowl | Win, 42-21 vs. Minnesota |
2007 | Orange Bowl | Win, 24-21 vs. Virginia Tech |
2005 | Fort Worth Bowl | Win, 24-13 vs. Houston |
All in all, KU’s recent bowl game history is thin, with five postseason trips since 2005. But the Jayhawks went 4-1 in those games, with victories over UNLV (49-36 in the 2023 Guaranteed Rate Bowl), Minnesota (42-21 in the 2008 Insight Bowl), Virginia Tech (24-21 in the 2007 Orange Bowl) and Houston (in the 2005 Fort Worth Bowl).
USA Today photo by Evert Nelson.
Q&As
For the current 2025-26 CFB season, we have the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana, as our favorite with +100 odds (or 50%) of hosting the Kansas Jayhawks in 2025.
As we’re only through eight weeks of the regular season, nobody knows where KU will play this bowl season. They are not yet bowl eligible. The most recent postseason appearance for KU was in the 2023 Guaranteed Rate Bowl, a 49-36 win over UNLV.
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