Stop me if you've heard this before, the New York Giants haven't been a good football team in a long time. Yes, they were able to sneak into the playoffs in 2022, but other than that, it's been a while since this team has won, let alone consistently.
General manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll set out to fix that this offseason with a completely revamped quarterback room and some intriguing defensive upgrades. If the preseason meant anything — and it might — winning could finally be on its way back to East Rutherford. One winning season in eight years in a terrible place to be, but Giants fans can take solace in knowing there's another fanbase enduring a similar plight... in college.
In a fun (depending on who you ask) comparison exercise, FanDuel found a college counterpart for every NFC team for varying reasons. For the Giants, their counterpart was the Kansas Jayhawks, who share the unfortunate situation of only having one winning season in the last eight seasons.
🏈 Bears = Nebraska
— FanDuel (@FanDuel) August 23, 2025
🏈 Cowboys = Tennessee
🏈 Lions = Colorado
EVERY NFC TEAM AS A COLLEGE 👇#CFB | #NFL | #FuturesDay pic.twitter.com/YfhPvD2Zsf
New York Giants and Kansas Jayhawks are twinning for all the wrong reasons
Let's just acknowledge that sharing any sort of narrative with Kansas' football team was never going to be great. In 125 seasons, they've never been known to be a college football powerhouse, as evidenced by their sole winning season in eight years. Before 2023, you'd have to go back to 2008 to find the last time they had another winning season, so yeah... not exactly ideal for Big Blue.
Here is the breakdown of each team's win/loss totals from the past eight seasons (2017-2024):
NY Giants | Kansas Jayhawks | |
|---|---|---|
2017 | 3-13 | 1-11 |
2018 | 5-11 | 3-9 |
2019 | 4-12 | 3-9 |
2020 | 6-10 | 0-9 |
2021 | 4-13 | 2-10 |
2022 | 9-7-1 | 6-6 |
2023 | 6-11 | 8-4 |
2024 | 3-14 | 5-7 |
Totals | 40-91-1 | 28-65 |
It's hard to argue which team has had it worse. The comparison actually feels eerily similar. Over the last eight seasons, the G-Men hold a whopping 30.53% win percentage, while the Jayhawks trail ever so slightly behind with a 30.1% win percentage. That's tough company.
However, if Big Blue truly is moonlighting as the Jayhawks on Saturdays, fans should expect to see the team start out hot. Kansas is 2-0 to start the 2025 season, with wins over Fresno State and Wagner. If New York can go Freaky Friday and do their best KU impression, wins over the Commanders (Week 1) and the Cowboys (Week 2) could be on the way.
The Giants and Jayhawks actually share a bit of 2007 magic. That year, Big Blue turned a 9-7 season into one of the most iconic playoff runs ever, capping it off with a 17-14 Super Bowl win over the undefeated Patriots. Kansas, meanwhile, went 12-1 — still the best record in school history — and took down Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
For what it’s worth, the current Giants roster doesn’t feature a single Jayhawk.
New York probably didn’t ask to be lumped in with Kansas football, but if that’s the deal, they might as well borrow a little of that early-season energy. Both teams are tired of being punchlines, and for once, there’s reason to believe they won’t be.