KSU died when Missouri and Kansas started taking football seriously? Are you really that stupid? Missouri has been the exact same program for the past 15 years. The difference is, Iowa State and Colorado are not winning 7-9 games, and KSU and Nebraska aren't winning 10-11 games. The Tigers finished 8-4, 5-3 in 1998 with a top 25 ranked team, compared to finishing 10-4, 5-3 again ranked, in 2008. Missouri has simply sustained their level of mediocrity. One difference, the rest of the division sucks. Apply the same logic, and you might be able to understand ku's "rise".
BTW, we have seen this before, lets be honest. Glen Mason took ku to a couple of bowls and had ku ranked in the 90's, and the dumbass fanbase was talking trash back then too, but of course it is more convenient to claim ku didn't "take football seriously" rather than admit KSU was kicking your ass. Easy argument to make, but the bottom line is ku hired Terry Allen proclaiming he was 1-0 v. KSU and then fired him for his failures against KSU. Then, ku hires a former KSU assistant who modeled his entire program after KSU, down to the coach speak and uniforms. GMAFB BM, you know who your daddy is...