No. 2 Nebraska – “Phil! Pitch the Ball!! Phil!”


Posts Tagged ‘Randy Essington’

  — CU/Nebraska Pregame – Worth the Trip? — When the Big 12 was formulated, Nebraska was left with a dilemma. Gone from the schedule was the traditional Thanksgiving weekend game against Oklahoma, now of the Southern Division. Rather than give up the money and exposure of the high-profile game, Nebraska agreed to make Colorado its new season-ending competition. The first game, the 1996 17-12 Husker victory in Lincoln, proved worthy of the special time slot. The first such contest in Boulder did not seem to merit any hype. Nebraska …

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— November 21st – Boulder          No. 11 Colorado 31, Iowa State 10 — Kordell Stewart threw for three touchdowns and 279 yards as the Buffs raced out to a 28-3 halftime lead before cruising to a 31-10 win over Iowa State. The Buffs put the Cyclones on notice early that Colorado would not fall victim to the complacency which had cost the Cornhuskers in a 19-10 upset in Ames the week before.  Linebacker Chad Brown recovered a fumble by Iowa State fullback Chris Ulrich on the Cyclones’ first possession.  On …

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— October 17th – Boulder            No. 7 Colorado 24, Oklahoma 24 — In 1952, the Colorado Buffaloes tied mighty Oklahoma 21-21 to mar an otherwise perfect conference run of the Bud Wilkinson Sooners of 1948-57 (a 57-0-1 streak). Forty years later, the Buffs salvaged a 24-24 tie against a 3-2 Sooner squad led by 4th-year head coach Gary Gibbs.  Colorado managed to pull out the tie only by scoring 10 points in the final 4:27 of the game. Freshman quarterback Koy Detmer, making his debut as a starter, made quite …

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— September 5th –Boulder          No. 12 Colorado 37, Colorado State 17 — The 1992 season-opener had all the makings of a disaster. The Colorado/Colorado State game was the renewal of an intra-state rivalry, which always meant a hard-fought game.  In addition, the Buffs were risking state and national embarrassment if their new offense failed to produce against a Colorado State squad which had stumbled to a 3-8 record in 1991. To the relief of many Buff fans, though, the Colorado offense did not disappoint.  Head Coach …

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  — November 6 –  at Missouri          Missouri 35, Colorado 14 — Colorado head coach Bill McCartney marked his own homecoming of sorts in traveling to Columbia to face the Tigers for the first time as the Buffs head coach. Missouri did not exactly make Coach Mac feel welcome, however, running over the Buffs in a 35-14 rout that was worse than the final score indicated. The defense that had kept Colorado in earlier contests did not come to play against a Missouri squad that had won only one of …

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— October 30th – Boulder           No. 17 Oklahoma 45, Colorado 10 — At 1-5-1, the Buffs were not likely to pose much of a threat to the 5-2 Sooners. As the game unfolded, the Oklahoma game became a representation of the 1982 season in a nutshell: a great deal of heart; a stubborn defense; and an eventual submission to a more talented foe. Considering that the last two games with Oklahoma had left Colorado on the short end of 82-42 and 49-0 scores, the fact that the score at halftime …

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— October 23rd – Boulder          Iowa State 31, Colorado 14 — The Iowa State Cyclones came to Boulder with a better overall record than the Buffs (3-2-1 to Colorado’s 1-4-1), but both teams sported identical 0-1-1 conference records. In fact, the Big Eight Conference standings heading into the third weekend of the season were somewhat bizarre. Nebraska and Oklahoma were both 2-0, and this was to be expected. After that, third place in the league was shared by Oklahoma State and Missouri, with 0-0-2 marks. The remaining four teams in …

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— October 16 – at Oklahoma State           Colorado 25, Oklahoma State 25 — It is hard to imagine that anyone would have a revenge factor in playing the Buffs in the early 1980’s, but that is what the Oklahoma State Cowboys were playing for in 1982. Colorado had come from behind for an improbable, last second 11-10 win in 1981 in Boulder. Now it was Oklahoma State’s turn to right the wrong. Everyone else was getting healthy playing the powder-blue Buffs, and the homecoming crowd …

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  — October 9th – Boulder           No. 7 Nebraska 40, Colorado 14 — Many times, the numbers say it all. 1980: Nebraska 45; Colorado 7. 1981: Nebraska 59; Colorado 0. The last two lopsided losses to the Cornhuskers were only the most recent. In the series, the totals were intimidating. Fourteen straight Nebraska wins overall vs. Colorado. No wins for the Buffs against the Cornhuskers in Boulder since 1960. Nebraska’s record coming into the 1982 game: 3-1, ranked seventh in the nation. Colorado’s record: 1-3 and going …

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  — October 2nd – Boulder           No. 9 UCLA 34, Colorado 6 — For Bruin fans, there was little reason to believe that UCLA’s first-ever visit to Boulder would be anything but a pleasant one. Colorado did little to discredit its role as compliant host, falling 34-6 to the 9th-ranked Bruins. UCLA came into the game 3-0, fresh off of two road wins against Big 10 teams. In the weeks leading up to UCLA’s trip to Boulder, UCLA had beaten back a red sea of Wisconsin fans at Madison, going …

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  — September 18th – at Spokane           Colorado 12, Washington State 0 — Colorado shut out an opponent for the first time since 1977, and won on the road for the first time in two years, defeating Washington State 12-0 in Spokane. It did not make up for the 14-10 “loss snatched from the jaws of victory” that the Buffs had endured the year before against Washington State, but it did give head coach Bill McCartney his first victory as a collegiate head coach, and squared his record as the …

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  — September 11th – Boulder           California 31, Colorado 17 — There was renewed optimism as the Colorado football program opened the 1982 season with a new head coach. Gone was Chuck Fairbanks, who, with his 7-26 record, had left for the USFL. In his place was the unknown Bill McCartney. While there was renewed optimism, it would take wins to put fans back in the stands. Only 35,103 showed up for the opener in the rain against the California Golden Bears, coached by former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Joe Kapp. Kapp …

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