It's that time of year again to break out some vintage Jeffie Husker posts straight from the DXP archives. We'll start tonight with Parts 1-2 of the history of the Nebraska vs. Colorado rivalry and get through all 7 by Wednesday. These posts are from 2006 but most of the information is timeless. Enjoy.
As a Husker fan growing up in the 80s my heart still tells me that Oklahoma should be NU’s major rival. Unfortunately the creation of the Big 12 conference changed the nature of this matchup and another opponent then slid into the traditional Thanksgiving-week slot. That team is obviously the Colorado Buffaloes. With an extra week to think about this year’s game I thought I would take a closer look at this rivalry.
1. A relatively long history 2. At least some sense of balance between the two teams 3. Strong feelings between the two teams
In my mind these traits do represent the necessary and sufficient qualities of a college football rivalry. The Nebraska – Colorado series does indeed have a fairly long history and the 2006 contest will be the 65th meeting between the two schools. The series began in 1898 when Coach Fielding H. Yost’s Nebraska squad came away with a 23-10 road win.
The series was also as even as one could get early on. Between 1898 and 1961, Colorado held a slight lead in the series history with 10 wins, 9 losses and 1 tie. This balance, however, would not last. In 1962 Nebraska hired the legendary Bob Devaney and the Huskers quickly gained a stranglehold on the CU series. Over the next 24 years Nebraska went 23-1 against the Buffaloes. The lone loss came in 1967 as Nebraska fell 21-16 to CU in Lincoln.
In 1982, Colorado made their own program-altering hire in Bill McCartney, who quickly pointed to the Nebraska game as a key contest on the Buffalos’ schedule. However, given the disparity that existed in the series history, it would take a monumental upset to generate the types of strong emotions necessary in a true rivalry. For this particular Nebraska fan, this unforeseen event occurred 20 years ago in Boulder on October 25, 1986.
Nebraska entered that game 6-0 and ranked 3rd nationally. Colorado on the other hand, had started the year 0-4 with losses to Colorado State, Arizona, Ohio State and Oregon before knocking off Iowa State and Missouri. Assuming a blowout loomed on the horizon, there was little interest in the game nationally and television networks passed on any coverage of the game. But the Colorado faithful must have sensed something. In what might represent the first of the now commonplace home crowd gimmicks prior to facing Nebraska - former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm declared October 25 to be “Colorado Buffalo Gold Rush Saturday,” and asked students and fans to come out wearing yellow shirts.
Once the game started, Colorado got an incredible performance from its defense which held Nebraska to just 123 yards rushing and 246 total yards. The Buffs never trailed in the game and controlled the momentum by successfully carrying out two trick plays. The first was a 39-yard reverse by wideout Jeff Campbell and the second was a 52-yard halfback pass from O.C. Oliver to Lance Carl {which can both be seen below.} When the game ended the scoreboard read Colorado 20 – Nebraska 10. It would stay lit that way through the next day.
In acknowledging the magnitude of the win for his program Bill McCartney stated, “I think we have got a rivalry now.”
The players from both squads responded just as emotionally. The always loquacious Broderick Thomas declared, “I promise as long as I play at Nebraska, Colorado will never ever beat us again. I raise my right hand and promise you, that they will never beat us again as long as I’m with Nebraska.” He later made good on his promise (but we won’t go into his failed promises a year later against OU).
Perhaps the most famous words, however, came from CU running back Mike Marquez: “Nebraska lost twice,” he said. “They lost the game, and they have to go back to Nebraska.”
And, thus, a rivalry was born.
I’ll have more on the history of the Nebraska – Colorado rivalry in the days leading up to the game.
Today we take another look at the rivalry between Nebraska and Colorado. Yesterday we looked at the birth of the rivalry, which began with an upset victory by the Buffs in 1986. Today I want us to back a little farther to 1979. Let’s face it; I was never good at chronology.
So what happened in 1979 that was so central to this rivalry? Well, it’s actually what didn’t happen that year that is so significant to the history of Husker football.
Let’s start this piece in Boulder, Colorado in 1978. Colorado began the 1978 season ranked #19 in the country. After cruising to a 5-0 start the Buffs reached #13 in the polls. CU then hit the skids losing five of its next six games to finish the year with a 6-5 record. Due to this disappointing finish, the Buffalos decided to fire coach Bill Mallory, who ended his five-year career at CU with a 35-21 record.
At this same time in Lincoln, Tom Osborne was in his sixth year as head coach of Nebraska. He had already enjoyed tremendous success at this point in his career. However, he was also 0-5 in his career against Oklahoma. It was during November of 1978, that Nebraska finally managed to beat the #1 ranked Sooners 17-14 in Lincoln.
In his book Faith in the Game, Tom Osborne writes:
“We were so emotionally spent that we lost to Missouri the next week and were told we had to play Oklahoma again in the Orange Bowl. Playing Oklahoma a second time in six weeks after finally beating them was a hard thing to swallow.”
In the Orange Bowl rematch, Nebraska outgained the Sooners in total yardage, but lost, 31-24.
Osborne now found himself feeling “discouraged and frustrated. Some fans had been fairly negative, as we hadn’t been as dominant as they had hoped.”
So, in Nebraska, the coach is disheartened and in Colorado, the coach is gone. Tom Osborne has stated that he never felt he was a particularly hot commodity in the coaching profession. However, Colorado would come calling following the 1978 season.
Again in Faith in the Game, Osborne said:
“The only offer I took seriously was from the University of Colorado…when the Colorado job was offered I talked the situation over with my coaching staff. We agreed that Colorado appeared to be an easier recruiting situation, and the coaches shared some of my disappointment concerning fan reaction.”
Osborne and his wife Nancy eventually visited Boulder and found the location and the facilities to their liking. Eventually the only thing that kept him in Lincoln was the loyalty to his players.
“I thought about how I would break the news to the Nebraska players that I was leaving. The more I tried to construct the speech in my mind, the more I realized I couldn’t make it. I had told these players that Nebraska was the best place for them, and I didn’t know how I could tell them that someplace else was better for me and the coaches. I sat down with the staff and told them I couldn’t leave, and I never took a serious look at another job.”
It is eerie to think just how close we were to losing Osborne. It is eerier still to consider the team we almost lost him to. I cannot even imagine how this would have changed this rivalry, let alone the future of Nebraska football. Who would Nebraska have hired to replace him? Would the Huskers have had to play on Tom Osborne Field in Boulder?
I seriously doubt I would be writing this blog had Osborne headed for the mountains.
Serendipity my friends. Serendipity.
In the two videos below you can watch Parts I and II of Osborne’s appearance on Up Close from 1998.
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