This Day in History – November 7th
Colorado record on November 7th – 10-7
– 1891 – Colorado Mines – L 6-0;
– 1893 – Colorado Mines – L 24-10;
– 1899 – Colorado College – L 17-5;
– 1903 – Denver – W 10-0;
– 1914 – Utah – W 33-0;
– 1925 – Colorado College – W 23-6;
– 1931 – Denver – W 25-6;
– 1936 – Utah – W 31-7;
– 1942 – Utah – L 13-0;
– 1953 – Utah – W 21-0;
– 1959 – Kansas – W 27-14;
– 1964 – Missouri – L 16-7;
– 1970 – Kansas – W 45-29;
– 1981 – Missouri – L 30-14;
– 1987 – Missouri – W 27-10;
– 1992 – Oklahoma State – W 28-0;
– 1998 – Missouri – L 38-14.
November 7th – Colorado – best game on this date
Colorado v. Oklahoma State November 7, 1992
Pac-12?
The week after the Nebraska game was hard on Buffs’ fans. Nebraska had beaten Colorado for the first time in four years, and had beaten CU badly, 52-7. Even with the Buffs’ recent success, the series record stood at 35-14-2, Nebraska. Perhaps the prospect of leaving the Big Red Menace off of future schedules was the reason why an article in the Dallas Morning News the day after the Colorado/Nebraska game received the attention it did.
In a copyrighted story, the Dallas Morning News quoted two officials from the Pac-10 Conference as saying that league officers had met to discuss expanding the 10-team league to 12 teams, with Colorado and Texas to be the targets of the expansion. “No comment” was the order of the day for athletic directors when questioned, but no one denied that the discussions were taking place.
I thought it was a great idea. The idea of competing in the “Pac-12” to me meant more opportunities to see the Buffs. A weekend in Seattle had already been done (for the CU/Washington game in 1989), and potential trips to Los Angeles and the San Francisco area had much more appeal to them than trips to Stillwater, Oklahoma, or Manhattan, Kansas. CU recruited heavily in California, and the Buffs’ new offense was more suited for the balanced attacks found on the west coast. It seemed a perfect fit.
It was just a fit which never quite seemed to work out.
November 7th – Boulder #16 Colorado 28, Oklahoma State 0
Oklahoma State was a much improved team in 1992. Rebounding from a disastrous 0-10-1 1991 campaign, the Cowboys were a respectable 4-4 coming into Boulder, including conference wins over Missouri and Iowa State. But the Cowboys were the Buffs’ Homecoming opponent for a reason. OSU played its role of sacrificial lamb well, succumbing to the Buffs. 28-0.
Colorado posted a touchdown in each quarter, the first coming on a Lamont Warren two-yard run to cap a 12-play drive on the Buffs’ first possession. Warren scored again in the second stanza as the Buffs provided the Homecoming crowd of 51,559 a 14-0 halftime cushion. With a two score lead, CU was never again threatened. The dominating Buff defense posted its second shutout of the season, forcing a school-record eight turnovers.
In the third quarter, quarterback Kordell Stewart, returning to the starting lineup after sitting out with a broken wrist, connected with Michael Westbrook on a record-setting score. Westbrook’s 12th career touchdown catch surpassed the record of 11 set by Gary Knafelc in 1952-53. The fact that the new record was established by a sophomore was testament in itself of the new direction of the Colorado offense.
“Overall, it was a good, sound victory after a humiliating defeat”, said head coach Bill McCartney. “We did a better job of taking care of the football (in committing a season-low one turnover). I think we made some progress and I think we showed some grit.”
The Buffs were now back on track, if not for the Orange Bowl, at least for a New Year=s Day bowl game. CU was ranked 13th in the nation, 7-1-1 overall, 3-1-1 in Big Eight play. Standing in the way of the Buffs’ bowl aspirations now were the Kansas Jayhawks. Surprising Kansas was 7-2 on the season, and, more importantly, 4-1 in the conference. A loss to the 20th ranked Jayhawks would relegate the Buffs to no better than a third place finish in the Big Eight.
[The Buffs would go on to defeat the Jayhawks, and would finish the 1992 regular season with a 9-1-1 record. The 10th-ranked Buffs earned a spot in the Fiesta Bowl against 6th-ranked Syracuse. A bitter 26-22 loss to the Orangemen on New Year=s Day relegated the Buffs to a 13th-place final ranking.]
Best Games in College Football History – November 7th
1964 – Penn State 27, Ohio State 0 – In one of the worst efforts ever by a 2nd-ranked team, the Buckeyes were shut out at home by the Nittany Lions. In suffering through its first shut out loss in 46 games, Ohio State had negative yardage and no first downs in the first half against Penn State. “That was the soundest trouncing we’ve ever had,” said OSU head coach Woody Hayes. It wouldn’t get much better for Ohio State a few weeks later, as Michigan also shut out the Buckeyes, 10-0, leaving OSU at 7-2 and home for the holidays.
1970 – Oregon 46, #9 Air Force 35 – Though only a sophomore, Oregon quarterback Dan Fouts gave the Falcons – and the rest of the nation – a glimpse of what was to come. Fouts passed for 396 yards and four touchdowns as Oregon knocked off an Air Force team led by the nation’s leading scorer, tailback Brian Bream. The win moved Oregon, now 6-3, into the national rankings, dropping Air Force out of the top ten. Air Force did earn its first – and only – Sugar Bowl invitation, falling to Tennessee, 34-13, to finish 16th. Oregon, meanwhile, could not sustain the magic, tying Army and falling to rival Oregon State to finish the 1970 season with a 6-4-1 record.
1981 – #4 Georgia 26, Florida 21 (Jacksonville) – Georgia tailback Herschel Walker would not win his Heisman trophy for another year (Marcus Allen won it in 1981, with Walker finishing second), but Walker did take care of business in the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party”. The sophomore scored all four of Georgia’s touchdown, and, with Georgia trailing 21-20 in the fourth quarter, took over the game. Walker ran 11 times (out of his SEC-record 47 carries) as the Bulldogs embarked on a 17-play, 95-yard drive to win the game. Georgia would go on to a #2 ranking before a Sugar Bowl loss relegated the Bulldogs to a #6 ranking. Florida limped home to a 7-5 record after a Peach Bowl loss to West Virginia.
1987 – Colorado 27, Missouri 10 – J.J. Flannigan only carried the ball once, but it went for 53 yards late in the first quarter, setting up the Buffs’ first score. Up 17-3 just before halftime, Colorado used some trickery to put the game away. Lance Carl, who was on the receiving end of halfback pass for a score in the 1986 Nebraska game, threw a halfback pass to Eric Bieniemy for a 34-yard touchdown and an insurmountable 24-3 halftime lead. The second half produced little fireworks. “I felt when we were ahead 24-3,” said Bill McCartney, “if we didn’t do anything foolish, we wouldn’t lose.” While the win over Missouri all-but secured a fourth place Big Eight finish for Colorado, it didn’t impress the bowl scouts. A win over Kansas State and a season-ending loss to Nebraska left the Buffs with a 7-4 record – and uninvited to the bowl party.
1998 – Michigan State 28, #1 Ohio State 24 – Ohio State had it all going for it – 8-0, #1 in the polls, a 4-4 Michigan State opponent, and a 17-3 1st quarter lead at home. Down 24-9 in the third quarter, the Spartans scored the final 19 points of the contest, The loss denied Ohio State the national championship, as the Buckeyes capped an 11-1 season with a 24-14 win over Texas A&M to finish second to Tennessee in the final poll. Michigan State, meanwhile, would lose two of its final three to finish 6-6 and out of the bowls. 1998 would be the only season in five in East Lansing that head coach Nick Saban did not lead the Spartans to a bowl (Saban would leave for LSU after the 1999 season).