The Jayhawks pounded the Wildcats 52-21 in Lawrence for their third straight victory over K-State, and KU players said things like “I think the tide has finally turned in favor of Kansas.” A few days later, K-State athletic director Bob Krause fired head coach Ron Prince, who was 0-3 against KU. Krause couldn’t deny that the beating at the hands of the Jayhawks was the backbreaker for the Prince regime.

“That certainly was a factor, yeah,” Krause said.

KU owned the state, and there was no reason to believe that would change anytime soon. Sure, the Jayhawks were going to lose their greatest allies in the rivalry — Prince was out, which likely meant that turnover-prone quarterback Josh Freeman would leave early for the NFL — but whoever K-State hired as its new coach would have to totally rebuild the foundation.