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Colorado–Nebraska football rivalry
First contestedNovember 17, 1898
Nebraska, 23–10
Number of meetings70
Most recent meetingSeptember 8, 2018
Colorado, 33–28
Next meetingSeptember 7, 2019
All-time seriesNebraska leads, 49–19–2
Largest victoryNebraska, 59–0 (1981)
Longest win streakNebraska, 18 (1968–85)
Current streakColorado, 1 (2018)

The Colorado–Nebraska football series is an American college football series between the Colorado Buffaloes and Nebraska Cornhuskers. They first played in 1898, but the series intensified in the 1980s as Colorado improved under head coach Bill McCartney. It was somewhat consolidated with the formation of the Big 12 Conference in 1996, which placed the two universities in the same six-team division and ended Nebraska's annual game with Oklahoma.[1][2]

After the formation of the Big 12, the game was traditionally played on the Friday afternoon following Thanksgiving, nationally televised on ABC. In the Big 8, this time slot was often used for the Nebraska–Oklahoma game. (Oklahoma now plays in-state rival Oklahoma State at the end of the regular season in the Bedlam Series.)

Series history[]

Colorado and Nebraska met six times from 1898 to 1907, then did not meet again until Colorado joined the Big Seven Conference in 1948. From 1948–61, Colorado went 9–4–1 against Nebraska. After their 7–0 victory in Lincoln in 1961, Colorado gained their only series lead (10–9–1).

With Bob Devaney's arrival in 1962, Nebraska rose from nearly two decades of mediocrity (and seven straight losing seasons) and returned as a national power in the mid-1960s, followed by national titles in 1970 and 1971. He won his first 5 against Colorado and was 10–1; successor Tom Osborne won his first 13, and went 21–3–1. Nebraska went 40–8–1 against Colorado from 1962–2010.

When Colorado hired Bill McCartney in 1982, he almost immediately designated Nebraska as their primary rival, in an attempt to motivate his team.[3] Nebraska and its fans, for the most part, said it was not nor never was a rivalry. ABC's College Football play-by-play announcer the late Keith Jackson said late in the 1994 Nebraska-Colorado matchup even disputes of this series being a rivalry. He states: "There are a lot of questions of this being a rivalry..." Nebraska was a perennial powerhouse at the time and had beaten the Buffs 14 straight times; McCartney wanted to use the eventual defeat of Nebraska as a measure of Colorado's success. Four years later in 1986, CU got their first win over the Cornhuskers since 1967, upsetting No. 3 Nebraska 20–10.[4] It was also the first win over Nebraska at Folsom Field in Boulder since 1960.

Colorado started to repeatedly threaten Nebraska in the late '80s afterwards. In 1989, No. 3 Nebraska met No. 2 Colorado at Folsom Field tied atop the Big 8. Colorado won 27–21 on their way to winning their first Big 8 Championship since 1976.[5][6][7] No. 9 Colorado went to Memorial Stadium in Lincoln to play No. 3 Nebraska for the Big 8 title yet again in 1990.[8][9] The Buffaloes won 27–12 en route to their first national title. McCartney went 3–9–1 against Nebraska; Rick Neuheisel 0–4, Gary Barnett 3–4, and Dan Hawkins 1–4.

Historically, the series was mostly one-sided, with Nebraska winning nearly three out of every four matchups. However, the last two decades had been very competitive with many matchups decided by a touchdown or less. From 1988 to 1996, both teams were ranked going into the matchup, and in 5 of those meetings both teams were in the top 10 (the 19–19 tie in 1991 was the last recorded by Nebraska). In 1989 and 1994, Colorado and Nebraska met ranked No. 2 and No. 3 respectively, and split those games. From 1996 to 2000, Nebraska won all five games by 15 points combined (17–12, 27–24, 16–14, 33–30, 34–32). The 1999 game was decided in overtime, the only such time that has happened in the series to date.

More fire fueled the heated series in 2001 when No. 2 Nebraska went into Boulder undefeated. No. 14 Colorado had one conference loss (41–7 in Austin to then No. 9 Texas; they went from No. 14 to No. 25 afterwards), making this the Big 12 North championship. Colorado shocked the nation by drubbing Nebraska 62–36 and won the Big 12 Championship over No. 3 Texas the week after, 39–37. Nebraska eventually went to the BCS title game despite the loss, but Colorado was only a point behind Nebraska in the BCS poll.

The decade started with Colorado winning 3 of 4, and ended with Nebraska taking 5 of 6. Starting with Bill McCartney's first game in 1982 through 2018, Nebraska went 21–8–1 against Colorado.

The series was disrupted by the 2010–2014 NCAA conference realignment, when both teams left the Big 12 before the 2011 season. Colorado joined the Pac-12 Conference; Nebraska went to the Big Ten Conference. Both now meet division and border rivals in opposite directions. Nebraska now faces Iowa on the Friday after Thanksgiving; Colorado plays Utah the same day.

On February 7, 2013, Colorado and Nebraska announced that they agreed to renew the series.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16] The series was renewed on September 8th 2018 in Lincoln with a 33-28 Colorado victory. The next game will take place on September 7th 2019 at Folsom Field in Boulder.

Bison head trophy[]

From 1951 to 1961, Nebraska's Innocents Society and Colorado's Heart and Dagger Society exchanged a mounted buffalo head, nicknamed Mr. Chip. This occurred similar to the Victory Bell exchanged between the Innocents Society and Missouri's QEBH Society. Colorado lost the trophy after winning it in 1961 and were not able to present for exchange when Nebraska won in 1962.[17]

Game results[]

Colorado victoriesNebraska victoriesTie games
No.DateLocationWinnerScore
1 November 17, 1898 Boulder Nebraska 23–10
2 October 4, 1902 Boulder Nebraska 10–0
3 October 24, 1903 Lincoln Nebraska 31–0
4 October 8, 1904 Boulder Colorado 6–0
5 November 11, 1905 Lincoln Nebraska 18–0
6 October 26, 1907 Lincoln Nebraska 22–8
7 October 9, 1948 Boulder Colorado 16–9
8 November 19, 1949 Lincoln Nebraska 25–14
9 October 14, 1950 Boulder Colorado 28–19
10 November 17, 1951 Lincoln Colorado 36–14
11 October 25, 1952 Boulder Tie16–16
12 November 14, 1953 Lincoln Colorado 14–10
13 October 23, 1954 Boulder Nebraska 20–6
14 November 12, 1955 Lincoln Nebraska 37–20
15 October 27, 1956 Boulder Colorado 16–0
16 November 16, 1957 Lincoln Colorado 27–0
17 October 25, 1958 Boulder No. 12 Colorado 27–16
18 November 14, 1959 Lincoln Nebraska 14–12
19 October 22, 1960 Boulder Colorado 19–6
20 November 18, 1961 Lincoln No. 8 Colorado 7–0
21 October 27, 1962 Boulder Nebraska 31–6
22 October 26, 1963 Lincoln Nebraska 41–6
23 October 24, 1964 Boulder No. 5 Nebraska 21–3
24 October 23, 1965 Lincoln No. 3 Nebraska 38–13
25 October 22, 1966 Boulder No. 7 Nebraska 21–19
26 October 21, 1967 Lincoln No. 4 Colorado 21–16
27 November 16, 1968 Boulder Nebraska 22–6
28 November 1, 1969 Lincoln Nebraska 20–7
29 October 31, 1970 Boulder No. 4 Nebraska 29–13
30 October 30, 1971 Lincoln No. 1 Nebraska 31–7
31 November 4, 1972 Boulder No. 3 Nebraska 33–10
32 October 3, 1973 Lincoln No. 13 Nebraska 28–16
33 November 2, 1974 Boulder No. 9 Nebraska 31–15
34 October 25, 1975 Lincoln No. 4 Nebraska 63–21
35 October 9, 1976 Boulder No. 6 Nebraska 24–12
36 October 22, 1977 Lincoln No. 18 Nebraska 33–15
No.DateLocationWinnerScore
37 October 21, 1978 Boulder No. 5 Nebraska 52–14
38 October 27, 1979 Lincoln No. 2 Nebraska 38–10
39 October 25, 1980 Boulder No. 9 Nebraska 45–7
40 October 10, 1981 Lincoln Nebraska 59–0
41 October 9, 1982 Boulder No. 7 Nebraska 40–14
42 October 22, 1983 Lincoln No. 1 Nebraska 69–19
43 October 20, 1984 Boulder No. 5 Nebraska 24–7
44 October 26, 1985 Lincoln No. 5 Nebraska 17–7
45 October 25, 1986 Boulder Colorado 20–10
46 November 28, 1987 Boulder No. 5 Nebraska 24–7
47 November 12, 1988 Lincoln No. 7 Nebraska 7–0
48 November 4, 1989 Boulder No. 3 Colorado 27–21
49 November 3, 1990 Lincoln No. 9 Colorado 27–12
50 November 2, 1991 Boulder Tie19–19
51 October 31, 1992 Lincoln No. 8 Nebraska 52–7
52 October 30, 1993 Boulder No. 6 Nebraska 21–17
53 October 29, 1994 Lincoln No. 2 Nebraska 24–7
54 October 28, 1995 Boulder No. 2 Nebraska 44–21
55 November 29, 1996 Lincoln No. 4 Nebraska 17–12
56 November 28, 1997 Boulder No. 2 Nebraska 27–24
57 November 27, 1998 Lincoln No. 14 Nebraska 16–14
58 November 26, 1999 Boulder No. 3 Nebraska 33–30OT
59 November 24, 2000 Lincoln No. 10 Nebraska 34–32
60 November 23, 2001 Boulder No. 14 Colorado 62–36
61 November 29, 2002 Lincoln No. 13 Colorado 28–13
62 November 28, 2003 Boulder No. 25 Nebraska 31–22
63 November 26, 2004 Lincoln Colorado 26–20
64 November 25, 2005 Boulder Nebraska 30–3
65 November 24, 2006 Lincoln No. 23 Nebraska 37–14
66 November 23, 2007 Boulder Colorado 65–51
67 November 28, 2008 Lincoln Nebraska 40–31
68 November 27, 2009 Boulder Nebraska 28–20
69 November 26, 2010 Lincoln No. 16 Nebraska 45–17
70 September 8, 2018 Lincoln Colorado 33–28
71 September 7, 2019 Boulder
Series: Nebraska leads 49–19–2

See also[]

References[]

  1. "ESPN.com - Page2 - Ohio State/Michigan vs. Colorado/Nebraska". go.com. http://espn.go.com/page2/s/rivalries/osumich_colneb.html.
  2. "CU-Nebraska: Rivalry that just is". Colorado Springs Gazette. http://www.gazette.com/articles/lincoln-89788-neb-nebraska.html.
  3. "Nebraska vs. Colorado 1982 -- HuskerMax". huskermax.com. http://www.huskermax.com/games/1982/05colorado.html.
  4. "Nebraska vs. Colorado 1986 -- HuskerMax". huskermax.com. http://www.huskermax.com/games/1986/07colorado.html.
  5. "Nebraska vs. Colorado 1989 -- HuskerMax". huskermax.com. http://www.huskermax.com/games/1989/09colorado.html.
  6. "Inspired Colorado Keeps Vow". articles.chicagotribune.com. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1989-11-05/sports/8901280741_1_sal-aunese-colorado-defense-okland-salavea.
  7. "Colorado Edges Nebraska to Reach 9-0 Mark". nytimes.com. https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/05/sports/college-football-colorado-edges-nebraska-to-reach-9-0-mark.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm.
  8. "Nebraska vs. Colorado 1990 -- HuskerMax". huskermax.com. http://www.huskermax.com/games/1990/09colorado.html.
  9. "Buffaloes Slam Door On Huskers". nytimes.com. https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/04/sports/college-football-buffaloes-slam-door-on-huskers.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm.
  10. "Colorado Buffaloes renew football rivalry with Nebraska Cornhuskers". denverpost.com. http://www.denverpost.com/cu/ci_22541994/colorado-buffaloes-football-rivalry-nebraska-cornhuskers.
  11. "Colorado and Nebraska schedule 4-Game Football Series". FBSchedules.com. http://www.fbschedules.com/2013/02/colorado-nebraska-schedule-4-game-football-series/.
  12. "Nebraska Cornhuskers, Colorado Buffaloes to renew rivalry in 2018". ESPN.com. http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8926735/nebraska-cornhuskers-colorado-buffaloes-renew-rivalry-2018.
  13. "Colorado & Nebraska To Renew Football Rivalry". CUBuffs.com. http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=206312564.
  14. "Huskers and Colorado Agree to Four-Game Series". Huskers.com. http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=206312560.
  15. "Agreement reached on resuming Colorado-Nebraska rivalry". nbcsports.com. http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/02/07/agreement-reached-on-resuming-colorado-nebraska-rivalry/.
  16. "Rivalry reborn: CU Buffs, Nebraska to play 4 times between 2018 and 2024". Daily Camera. February 7, 2013. http://www.dailycamera.com/sports/ci_22541246/rivalry-reborn-cu-buffs-nebraska-cornhuskers-play-4. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  17. "History - Innocents Society - Nebraska". http://innocents.unl.edu/history.

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