Thirty-eight years ago—in 1986—University of Colorado football coach Bill McCartney declared that, henceforth, the Buffs’ arch-rival would be the then-powerful Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Coach Mac was building his program, and he wanted his players to have a lofty goal to aim for. The Huskers had beaten CU 18 straight years and 23 of the past 24.
Between 1975 and 1985, the final scores were nightmarish. Among the worst: 69-19, 40-14, 59-0, 45-7, 52-14, and 63-21.
Most fans chuckled at McCartney’s delusional proclamation.
But his Buffs upset Nebraska 20-10 in Boulder that year, prompting a memorable Drew Litton cartoon in the Rocky Mountain News that depicted husband-and-wife Husker fans at an open front door, exclaiming “The doormat’s alive!” as a Buffalo welcome mat reared up.
The rivalry was on.
Through the remainder of McCartney’s career, Colorado won two more, tied one and lost five. From ’89 through ’91, his Buffs were 2-0-1 against Nebraska, while winning three straight conference titles and the 1990 Associated Press national championship.
Since Coach Mac’s proclamation, CU is 10-17-1 versus Nebraska—not exactly domination but a whole lot better than 1-23.
Having dispatched North Dakota State 31-26 in a tough season opener a week ago, the current iteration of the Buffs, now coached by Coach Prime, Neon Deion Sanders, will renew the Nebraska rivalry Saturday in Lincoln. (The annual clashing ended when CU joined the PAC 12 and Nebraska bolted to the Big Ten.)
The Buffs have won the last three meetings, but this one won’t be as easy as last season’s 36-14 romp.
The Huskers have sky-high hopes that five-star freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola, the second-highest-rated recruit in the history of Nebraska football, will return the Cornhuskers to college football’s top echelon, beginning with a victory over CU.
Raiola is the son of former Nebraska All-America Dominic Raiola, winner of the inaugural Rimington Trophy as the nation’s top collegiate center in 2000. He passed for 88 touchdowns and 8,595 yards—with only 11 interceptions—in 878 pass attempts during three high school seasons.
Colorado should benefit from being tested to the limit in the battle of Buffaloes vs. Bison.
North Dakota State played like the nine-time Football Championship Series national champ it is, gaining 449 yards; possessing the ball for 13 ½ minutes more than CU (36:45 to 23:15); leading at halftime, 20-17; and reaching CU’s four-yard line on the last play of the game, a 49-yard Hail Mary pass.
But, whatever CU’s Game One imperfections—and there were several, to be sure—one hard reality for opponents was crystal clear: Any team facing the Buffs this fall will have to contend with what can legitimately be called a dual Heisman Trophy threat.
Shedeur Sanders completed 26 of 34 yards for 445 yards, including gains of 41, 69, 31, 40 and 41 yards, and threw for four touchdowns, making several precise throws just as he was about to be creamed by an onrushing defender.
Best of them was taking a snap one second before the play clock expired and firing a three-yard strike to Travis Hunter for a touchdown halfway through the fourth quarter that ultimately represented the difference in the game.
A remarkable, one-handed grab with a defender draped on him, that play was one of Hunter’s seven catches for 132 yards and the third of his three receptions for scores. Another of the TDs was an acrobatic catch in the back of the end zone on which he had enough body control to keep his feet in play as he came down with the ball.
Without that catch, Colorado would have faced a fourth-and-three at the NDSU 13, and Prime would have had to decide between a field goal that would have left the Bison leading by one and a last-chance try for a first down—at risk, a turnover on downs.
Clutch catches aside, what makes Hunter a Heisman candidate in his own right is that he played virtually every snap—on defense as well as offense, more than 130 in all.
Film review will show vulnerabilities on defense, weaknesses in the running game (59 yards on 23 carries), and inconsistencies in the performance of the rebuilt offensive line.
But better to identify them BEFORE traveling to Lincoln, than there, on the field of battle.
After all, the “arch-rival” of the McCartney years lies in wait.Denny Dressman is a veteran of 43 years in the newspaper business, including 25 at the Rocky Mountain News, where he began as executive sports editor. He is the author of 16 books, nine of them sports-related. You can write to Denny at dennydressman@comcast.net.