How I Feel About the Colorado Buffaloes

I hate the Colorado Buffaloes. Well, OK. Hate is probably a little strong. But, as far back as I can remember being a fan of Nebraska football, I also remember harboring an extreme disdain for the Buffs. It?s not like the way I feel about the Sooners. Yes, I dislike OU as much as any Husker fan should, but at least I respect (for the most part) their program. The NU-OU rivalry is one that goes back more than three decades, and has always been one of mutual respect. Not so with CU.

The earliest Colorado/Nebraska game I remember was in 1987. I was 8 years old, and Keith ?End Zone? Jones was a senior. Nebraska beat CU 24-7 that year, and Jones had around 250 yds. rushing and all three NU touchdowns. Looking back on it, that might be why he remains on my ?Top 5 Favorite Huskers Ever? list. I remember him running through the back of the end zone after his third touchdown of the day, and up that goofy black ramp that says ?COLORADO? on it. This may just be my memory playing tricks on me, but I seem to remember the CU fans throwing stuff at him that day (can anyone help me out here?). Jones recalls, in an interview at huskerpedia.com,

They were dressed in all black and doing what they could to try and intimidate us but our coaching staff and Coach Osborne would tell us that it doesn't matter how a team is dressed or what they say in the paper the bottom line is when you go out and start playing the game is how you control the game and the plays that you make is going to affect the outcome.

I remember thinking it was pretty funny that a 7-3 team was trying to intimidate the Huskers. I still think it's funny. Doesn't look like it worked back then, either.

I also remember the game in 1990 when Eric Bienemy scored 4 touchdowns in the fourth quarter. I still don't like the name Bienemy. I don't care for the name Hagan much, either. Colorado went on to an 11-1-1 record and a share of the national championship that season. They beat out Georgia Tech in the AP poll, despite having a worse record. GT was the champ in the coaches poll. That happens to be Colorado's only national championship, ever. This would probably be a good time to point out that Nebraska has five, or "a ring for each finger" as is sometimes said.

The next year, 1991, was the snowball game in Boulder. Tied at 19 with 4 seconds to play, Byron Bennett (what a great name for a kicker!) took the field to attempt a 40 yd. field goal to win the game for Nebraska. Colorado used all three of its timeouts to attempt to ?freeze? Bennett. They also used dozens and dozens of snowballs thrown from the stands. These ?classy citizens of Colorado? let loose a multitude of snowy missiles as Bennett attempted the kick. It was blocked. The game ended in a tie.

That was the closest they would come to beating the Huskers until 2001. Nebraska headed west with an 11-0 record and as the #1 team in the nation, only to be undone by Colorado, 62-36. The Huskers played very poorly that day, and CU capitalized on it. The Buffs went on to win the Big XII that season. They had the score of that game added to their championship rings. They had the score of a regular season game added to their rings. I can't even imagine a Nebraska team that would do that. We could beat USC tomorrow (or next September?) and we still wouldn't do something that tacky.

Since that game the series has gone 2-2, including 2005. The all time series stands at 45-17-2, and I?ll let you guess which team has the 45 wins.

This year?s game was a good one. The Huskers were a considerable underdog. Yet, they found a way to embarrass the Buffaloes on their own field, beating them 30-3. The Blackshirt defense gave up just 3 points, and didn?t let Colorado score after 12:55 to play in the first quarter.

This year?s game was also a bad one. Before the game the Buffaloes headed to midfield and tried to pick a fight with the Huskers. At halftime, the time keeper let the clock reach :00 after the ball was spiked by Nebraska with 2 full seconds left, preventing the Huskers from a field goal attempt that would have made it 23-3. Later in the game, CU fans began to throw items on the field. Two entire sections were cleared out and the game was disrupted for more than a few minutes. I wasn?t surprised, just disappointed. I thought maybe they had changed, grown up a little. I was wrong. Their little intimidation trick still didn't work very well, either.

Colorado fans showed the nation what Husker fans have always known; that they are a classless bunch who don?t know how to handle a win or a loss very well. Maybe they just shouldn?t play at all.

The Huskers wore t-shirts under their jerseys during the game with the slogan ?Restore the Order? on them. This was a reference to Nebraska returning to the top of the Big XII and restoring the pecking order to what it has been for about as long as I can remember. I think they are well on their way to doing just that. However, this game proved to me that no matter what the records are, Nebraska will always be among the best programs in the league, and CU will always be among the worst.

A Missouri fan, in an attempt to describe why their fans behaved so badly after they beat NU this year, said that ?losing just does something to you? after you lose for so long. Maybe that?s Colorado?s problem. Whatever it is, I hope they get it fixed. Colorado will never be Nebraska?s rival, mostly because they don?t deserve to be.