No. 12 Oregon – The “Forgotten” Cotton Bowl


1995 Season Archive

— Colorado v. Oregon – Cotton Bowl – January 1, 1996 — The “Forgotten Bowl” Colorado had its wish come true.  After losing two conference games early, the best Colorado could hope for was nine wins and a New Year’s Day game.  The win over Kansas State in the regular season finale allowed the Buffs to achieve both goals. The only problem was, no one seemed to notice. Dubbed the “Forgotten Bowl”, the Colorado/Oregon match-up represented the first time in 55 years that the Cotton Bowl would be played without …

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—  November 18th – at Kansas State          No. 9 Colorado 27, No. 7 Kansas State 17 — The series between Colorado and Kansas State dates back to 1912.  The teams had faced each other 50 times previous to the 1995 meeting. The 51st contest, though, would be special. The 1995 match-up represented the first time in the long history of the rivalry in which the Buffs had faced a Kansas State squad ranked in the top ten. An overflow crowd of 42,454 crammed into the 42,000 seats of Kansas State Stadium …

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— November 11th – Boulder          No. 9 Colorado 21, Missouri 0 — In one of its latest Homecoming dates in school history, Colorado played its final home game of 1995 against a struggling 2-7 Missouri squad which was winless in Big Eight play.  A crowd of 50,645 endured some wind gusts of up to 60 mph, but generally enjoyed balmy November temperature readings of over 50-degrees, leaving Folsom Field satisfied with a methodical 21-0 win for the home team. Quarterback John Hessler, who against Oklahoma State had broken the school record …

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— November 4th – at Oklahoma State          No. 10 Colorado 45, Oklahoma State 32 — Each week of the 1995 season, first year Colorado head coach Rick Neuheisel faced a new and dramatic challenge. The calendar said November 4th was the date scheduled for the 6-2 Colorado Buffaloes to face the 2-7 Oklahoma State Cowboys.  Reality and the media, however, knew it was time for Rick Neuheisel v. Bob Simmons, Round One. Bob Simmons had been Bill McCartney’s choice to succeed him as head coach.  Mike Hankwitz, who had also been passed …

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— October 28th – Boulder          No. 2 Nebraska 44, No. 7 Colorado 21 — The largest crowd to ever witness a college football game at Folsom Field, 54,063, watched as the Buffs’ pre-game antics failed to fluster the undefeated Cornhuskers, with 2nd-ranked Nebraska taking out 7th-ranked Colorado, 44-21. Colorado head coach Rick Neuheisel had the Buffs enter through the student section in the southeast corner of the stadium to the beat of a Samoan war drum.  But it was Nebraska which played to the beat of a National Championship cadence, …

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—  October 21st – at Iowa State           No. 9 Colorado 50, Iowa State 28 — Offer college football teams a 22-point win on the road against a conference opponent, and a 50-point total on the scoreboard, and most of those teams would walk away quite content. Not the Buffs. Against a 2-5 Iowa State team heading nowhere, Colorado fell asleep at the switch, allowing a 27-10 halftime lead become a 28-27 deficit before rallying for the 50-28 win.  If ever there was a “lucky” three-touchdown win, this was it. On a …

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— October 7th – Boulder           No. 24 Kansas 40, No. 4 Colorado 24 — A funny thing happened on the way to Colorado’s battle with Nebraska for the Big Eight title and the right to play in the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship. The schedule called for a game against Kansas. The Jayhawks, the No. 24 team in the nation, came into Boulder and defeated the Buffs for the first time since 1984, taking down No. 4 Colorado, 40-24. The Jayhawks served notice early that they were not intimidated …

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— Koy Detmer Under the Microscope — Everyone knew shortly after the Texas A&M game was over that quarterback Koy Detmer, whose efforts over the first three games of the season had merited a “Colorado’s Detmer throws his hat into ring” Heisman-watch headline from USA Today (9/18/95), was seriously injured. What happened? Detmer:  “It was weird the way it happened.  I went to spin out of the pocket and take off running, but my foot was hung up in the turf and when I pushed, my knee kind of dug way in …

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— “Fightin’ Words” The lopsided win over Northeast Louisiana raised the 3-0 Buffs to No. 7 in the nation.  The next two opponents, though, would show if Colorado’s rise in the polls was merited. The Aggies of Texas A&M were coming to Boulder for a top ten showdown, the first of Neuheisel’s coaching career.  Undefeated on the young season, Texas A&M featured Heisman-trophy candidates Leeland McElroy at halfback and Corey Pullig at quarterback.  In dominating Tulsa, 52-9, the week before the Colorado game, McElroy accounted for 285 yards of total offense …

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— September 16th – Boulder          No.9 Colorado 66, Northeast Louisiana 14 — Class: Get out a fresh piece of paper. It’s time to start noting all of the new school records set by the Buffs in mauling the Indians of Northeast Louisiana (now Louisiana-Monroe), 66-14.  The point total for the game set a modern record, besting by one the 65 points put up against Arizona back in 1958. Prior to the Northeast Louisiana “contest”, the highest total offensive output ever by a Buff team in CU football history was 676 …

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— Walter Mitty and Me In the Buffalo Sports News the week after the Wisconsin game, there was a photo of Rick Neuheisel being carried off of the field by his players after the opening game rout of Wisconsin.  The scoreboard, with the final of 43-7 well-illuminated, is in the background.  In the photo, Neuheisel eyeing someone in the stands with his arm and index finger raised – No. 1.  Perhaps it was for the first win of his coaching career, or where the brash young coach felt the Buffs …

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— Camp Rick For his part, Rick Neuheisel, who at 34 was the second youngest head coach in Division 1-A college football (Louisville’s Ron Cooper was all of four days younger), entered Fall Camp, 1995, with optimism and confidence. “I’m prepared for whatever comes along,” said Neuheisel in a pre-season interview with Sports Illustrated. “But I’m not going to over prepare for failure.” The safe road would have been to maintain as much continuity in the program as possible. After all, the players in Boulder were talented; the program in …

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