College Football: Top 15 rivalry games we’d like to see return in 2020

9. Colorado vs. Nebraska

Games played: 71
Series record: Nebraska leads 49-20-2
Last played: 2019
Next meeting: 2023

The Colorado-Nebraska rivalry is a long-standing border contest dating back to 1898 when Nebraska beat Colorado 23-10 in Boulder. The game was played sporadically until the 1948 season when the two began to face off for 62 straight years until both programs left the Big 12 following the 2010 season.

Nebraska has historically dominated the rivalry as one of college football’s most successful programs of all time and went on a 18-game winning streak lasting from 1968-1985.

The annual series began after Colorado’s move to the Big Seven Conference which would later be known as the Big Eight and finally the Big 12 after the expansion with the Southwest Conference in 1994, joining the ranks of other current day conferences in attempts to generate larger television contracts.

After the formation of the Big 12, the game was moved from late October, early November, to the Friday after Thanksgiving, coinciding with the most intense period of the rivalry.

Nebraska was a perennial top 10 program during the 1970s and 1980s and winner of two national titles during those decades, owned the Buffaloes until Colorado won their first game in the series over the past 18 games with their 20-10 upset over No. 3 Nebraska. Despite going winless in out of conference play, the Buffaloes went 6-1 that season and finished second in the Big Eight, ahead of the Cornhuskers.

The Buffaloes began to turn the series around after the 1986 streak ending game, going 2-2-1 over the next five games. The No. 3 Buffaloes defeated the No. 2 Cornhuskers, giving Nebraska its only regular season loss and stopping their hopes for another title. After going undefeated that season, the Buffaloes went on to lose to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl with a chance for a national title.

After starting the 1990 season off 1-1-1, the Buffaloes went on to win the remainder of their games, including a 27-12 win as the No. 9 team at No. 2 Nebraska in their path to the 1990 national title where they would then defeat the Fighting Irish in the Orange Bowl.

While the two tied the 1991 game, 19-19 after Colorado blocked a game winning field goal attempt as time expired, the Cornhuskers would go on to win the following nine contests from 1992-2000, ending the Buffaloes attempt for another national title while Nebraska went on to win three more titles during that stretch. That stretch included a 52-7 win in 1992 where both programs met in Lincoln tied at No. 8 in the polls.

As Colorado would later fall as a national power, the series began to lose its intensity, at least on a national stage until the eventual end of the series after the 2010 contest. Colorado would leave the Big 12 for the Pac-10 while Nebraska left for the Big Ten. The two did not play again until 2018 after agreeing to a two year home-home. The Buffaloes spoiled Scott Frost’s return to his alma mater, coming back from an 8 point deficit take a 33-28 lead with 1:06 remaining.

The final matchup this past season, which will be the last between these two programs until the 2023 season was just as dramatic. After going down 17-0 at halftime, the Buffaloes would rally in a back and forth second half. The Buffaloes would then go on to tie the game at 31 with 46 seconds left in regulation on a 26-yard touchdown pass and would follow the score by taking their first and final lead off a 34-yard field goal in overtime.