When Nebraska travels to Colorado, it will be the Big 12 rivalry game of the year

Texas vs Oklahoma is big this year. It will always be the biggest rivalry game the conference puts on display. Once you get past that… What is there?

Bedlam? Yawn. Always dominated by Oklahoma. The Border War? Hasn’t been played since 2012 when Missouri left for the SEC. Sunflower Showdown? Meh. Both teams are in full rebuild and will take a couple years before it gains a lot of hype. Lone Star Showdown? Don’t even get me started.

Insert Nebraska and Colorado. A Big 8 rivalry turned into a bigger one once the Big 12 formed, these teams really do not like each other. The hate may be more on the Colorado side, but Nebraska has it’s share too.

For Colorado fans, this game meant everything. Nebraska was the rival that they looked forward to playing and beating every single year. This game was their Super Bowl. Nebraska fans did not exactly feel the same way. When the Big 12 was formed in 1996, Nebraska and Colorado were put into the Big 12 North, while Nebraska’s “real” rival, Oklahoma, was put in the Big 12 South. This meant Nebraska and OU would fall short of playing every single year, something neither sets of fans enjoyed.

The Colorado-Nebraska game from 1996 on was played the Friday after Thanksgiving. In those 15 matchups, Nebraska went 11-4 and continued the tradition of dominating the series. The all time series tally is 49-19-2. That includes a a 24-4 stretch in favor on Nebraska spanning from 1962, all the way until 1990. So why is this even considered a rivalry?

Bill McCartney was named the head coach of Colorado in 1982. He was brought in from the University of Michigan, where he was an assistant head coach. Coming from Michigan, all you can think about is how much you hate Ohio State. He looked around when he got on campus in ‘82 and realized that Colorado had no such hated rival. He took it upon himself to decide that Nebraska was Colorado’s Ohio State.

The game was circled and highlighted in red on the calendar in the locker room, McCartney got the student body and alumni involved, and the hype around the game in Boulder was at an all time high. Then there was Tom Osborne. Before the 1982 game, the head coach of Nebraska said “I’m sure the fans don’t view the Colorado game as all that significant.” Osborne and the Huskers backed up what they were saying and blew out the Buffs 40-14 in Boulder.

The rivalry continued all the way until 2010 the same way it usually had. With Cornhusker victories. Colorado only won seven times from 1982-2010. In the summer of 2010, Colorado announced that they would be joining the then Pac 10, and Nebraska announced they would be jumping ship over to the Big 10. The final Big 12 matchup between the two schools took place on November 26, 2010. You’ll never believe who won. You guessed it, Nebraska, who was en route to a Big 12 championship game, by a score of 45-17.

The current state of the two programs are interesting. Colorado have a new Head Coach in Mel Tucker and are coming in after a 5-7 season where the Buffs started 5-0. Colorado has yet to make a splash in the Pac 12 and are hoping Tucker can do so. Nebraska on the other hand, is at an all time hype level right now. Scott Frost is at the reigns and had the exact opposite season of Colorado. After starting 0-6, the Huskers went 4-2 in their final six games, with losses to Ohio State on the road, and newly forced rival Iowa.

One of those games for both teams came against each other. The Buffs traveled to Lincoln and pulled out a 33-28 victory, thanks to THIS TOUCHDOWN from Montez.

This game may of not meant much to Nebraska when they were playing annually, but it surely should mean something now. If they do not win on the road this year, it will be until 2023 until they can play again. That will be a long time for Colorado fans to constantly remind Husker fans of the two straight defeats.

September 7th is going to be a good one.