October 25th – Boulder          No. 9 Nebraska 45, Colorado 7

Just what the Buffs needed.

An 0-6 season record, with once-beaten and 9th-ranked Huskers coming to town.  Nebraska, led by running backs Jarvis Redwine and sophomore sensation Roger Craig, was on its way to leading the nation in rushing and a 10-2 record.  Matching the final 45-7 result of the Missouri game from the week before was not intentional, unless, of course, Nebraska had decided in advance to set the score.  With the way the Buffs were playing, naming the score in the locker room before the game started would have been the most difficult decision Nebraska head coach Tom Osborne would have had to make all day.

Apparently, though, I did not see the game the same way others viewed it.  Most Colorado fans witnessed a game where the Buffs rushing “attack” was led by Lance Olander, who gained 48 of Colorado’s total of rushing 89 yards.  Randy Essington threw two interceptions on the way to 151 passing yards, completing 15 passes on 27 attempts.

Still, according to the newspaper accounts, the 45-7 score was not indicative of what actually occurred.  The Denver Post headline on October 26, 1980:  “More To It Than The Score”.  In a Boulder Daily Camera story entitled “Fairbanks Sees Some Light in NU Romp”, Colorado head coach Chuck Fairbanks was quoted as feeling a “certain sense of satisfaction in the competitiveness of the team”.

Huh?

Coach Osborne of the Cornhuskers, though, must have had some of the same Gatorade.  Osborne’s post-game quotes:  “Boy, am I glad that’s over” and “One problem our offense had is Colorado controlled the ball well and kept it away from us.”

Gosh, Tom, Nebraska had the ball for over half of the game (31:18 to be exact).  Imagine what Coach Tom’s quotes would have been like if he hadn’t been up 31-0 at halftime.

What are our school colors, anyway?

The infamous switch to baby blue uniforms was not to come to Boulder until the 1981 season, but I may have been forgiven in the fall of 1980 for wondering what Colorado’s school colors truly were.  Silver and gold were the official school colors, but the team played in black and gold.  Okay, this I could handle.

But then why were the stands of Folsom Field routinely covered in red?  There were significant imports of crimson-clad fans for the Indiana game, even more for the Oklahoma massacre, and now, in the only sellout of the 1980 season, Folsom looked like (and worse – sounded like) a Cornhusker home game.

My first introduction to Husker-hating came from having to sit through the seemingly non-stop cheering (gloating?) by the Nebraska faithful who came to watch their team roll over my Buffs.

(A distaste which did not dissipate when Nebraska and Colorado went their separate ways to new conferences in 2011).

Game Notes –

– The 1980 Nebraska win represented the Cornhuskers’ 13th straight win in the series.

– After an 18-14 non-conference loss to No. 16 Florida State, No. 3 Nebraska fell to No. 10 in the polls. An undefeated run through the Big Eight got the Cornhuskers back up to No. 4 before a regular season-ending 21-17 loss to No. 9 Oklahoma relegated Nebraska to a Sun Bowl date with Mississippi State. A 31-17 win over the Bulldogs left Nebraska with a 10-2 record in 1980, and a No. 7 final ranking.

One Reply to “No. 9 Nebraska – What are our school colors again?”

  1. I always hated how Tom Osborne and the Nebraska fans were given credit for being such wonderful and respectful fans. When you are beating Vasser Womens College 60-0 it is pretty easy to be a good sport. I also stand up and cheer when a cow is being led to slaughter just thinking about the juicy steak I am going to eat. I noticed in the late eighties as Buffs began to challenge the Cornhuskers the fans and Osborne became much less polite.

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