SMQ: Which undefeated college football teams could end long championship drought?

The last win

Back in 1990, Colorado had developed into a Big Eight powerhouse under Bill McCartney. The Buffaloes had put together a perfect regular season the year before, but a 21-6 loss to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl knocked CU from No. 1 to No. 4 in the final polls.

Coming back to the field the following year, Colorado went just 3-1-1 in non-conference play. The Buffaloes opened the year with a 31-31 tie in Anaheim against No. 8 Tennessee in late August. They then beat unranked Stanford on the first weekend of September before losing the following week 23-22 on the road to No. 21 Illinois. After the loss, Colorado reeled off 10 straight wins — at last by the official records.

After taking down No. 22 Texas and No. 12 Washington, the Buffaloes rolled through Big Eight play thanks in part to the infamous Fifth Down against Missouri. That win came in early October when Colorado was still just No. 12, but they kept winning from there all the way to a second straight conference title. Matched against Notre Dame again, McCartney’s team got revenge for 1989 by holding on for a 10-9 victory. Colorado remained No. 1 in the AP poll, though the UPI Coaches poll put Georgia Tech in their top spot.

Since the last win

McCartney came close to bringing another national title to Boulder in 1994. The venerated but controversial head coach departed the program after that year, and Rick Neuheisel took over the reins. The Buffaloes won 10 games in each of his first two seasons at the helm, but Neuheisel couldn’t get Colorado any higher than No. 4 in the polls. Subsequent coaches have struggled to meet the standard set by McCartney as well.

Gary Barnett took over when Neuheisel left for Washington in 1999, and led Colorado to the Big 12 title in 2001. The Buffaloes went 9-2 in the regular season, suffering losses to Fresno State in the season opener and at Texas in mid-October. Colorado got a rematch against the Longhorns in the Big 12 championship, seizing the opportunity to gain revenge in a 39-37 upset. The Buffaloes were overlooked in the BCS race in favor of a Nebraska team that they beat 62-36 during the regular season.

Once Barnett was forced to resign in the wake of scandals in December 2005, the Buffaloes fell into the cellar first of the Big 12 and then in the Pac-12 after trading one power conference for another. Last year marked a big turnaround for Colorado, which won the Pac-12 South for the first time after switching leagues.