1980 Season Archive

Kansas State – 17,750 on hand for battle for last place

//posted 11.21.1980

— November 21st – at Kansas State Kansas State 17, Colorado 14 — Aside from Iowa State, Kansas State was the only team from which Colorado could find no sympathy in 1980. The Wildcats were the “Mildcats”, representing little mention in the annals of Big Eight history. In 1954, Kansas State went 7-3 overall, 3-3 in the then Big Seven. Not worthy of mention? Don’t tell that to Wildcat fans. The 1954 record represented Kansas State’s moment in the sun in the school’s Big Seven/Eight conference history. Kansas State was in …

Kansas – “We’re just a very poor football team right now”

//posted 11.15.1980

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— November 15th – Boulder Kansas 42, Colorado 3 — One week after the Oklahoma State Cowboys posted 42 points against the hapless Buffs, Kansas also scored 42 points against the paper-thin Colorado defense, taking down the Buffs, 42-3. The Jayhawks set a series record in running over, around and through the Colorado defense, amassing 586 yards of total offense. A crowd of only 24,187 braved the November chill (36 degrees at kickoff) to watch the Buffs close out the home schedule with a 1-5 record, falling to 1-9 overall. With …

Oklahoma State – Buffs “Healers to the Sick”

//posted 11.8.1980

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— November 8th – at Stillwater Oklahoma State 42, Colorado 7 — The early November match-up against Oklahoma State in Stillwater represented perhaps the Buffs’ last best chance at a victory in 1980. Colorado was 1-7 on the season, but the Cowboys had not fared much better. Oklahoma State was 1-5-1 on the year, with the only win a 15-6 win over San Diego State (an Aztec team which had come to Stillwater 1-6). The Cowboys had fallen to West Texas State in the season opener, and had not played very well …

Iowa State – First win (only win) of a record-setting season

//posted 11.1.1980

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— November 1st – Boulder Colorado 17, Iowa State 9 — In its history, Colorado has had as much success against the Cyclones from Ames as it had against any team in the Big Eight. Coming into the 1980 season, the Buffs had played Iowa State 35 times, losing only eight of those contests. Still, this was not unique. Notwithstanding some moderate success in the 1970’s (all four of the school’s bowl appearances up to 1980 had taken place between 1971 and 1978 – all losses), Iowa State consistently battled …

Tags: Scott Kingdom
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No. 9 Nebraska – What are our school colors again?

//posted 10.25.1980

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— October 25th – Boulder No. 9 Nebraska 45, Colorado 7 — Just what the Buffs needed. An 0-6 season record, with once-beaten and 9th-ranked Huskers coming to town. Nebraska, led by running backs Jarvis Redwine and sophomore sensation Roger Craig, was on its way to leading the nation in rushing and a 10-2 record. Matching the final 45-7 result of the Missouri game from the week before was not intentional, unless, of course, Nebraska had decided in advance to set the score. With the way the Buffs were playing, …

No. 16 Missouri – The Origins of Homecoming

//posted 10.18.1980

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— October 18th – at Missouri No.16 Missouri 45, Colorado 7 — When the Buffs made their way to Columbia, Missouri, for their first game after the Drake debacle, the Missouri Tigers were well on their way to their third of four straight bowl appearances in the 1978-81 era. Missouri came into the game with a 4-1 mark, and played with the confidence of a winning program, easily taking out the Buffs, 45-7. Missouri was led by senior quarterback Phil Bradley and future NFL Hall of Fame tight end Kellen …

Tags: Lance Olander
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Drake … Beneath Nadir, or, “Who the Hell is Drake?”

//posted 10.11.1980

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— October 11th – Boulder Drake 41, Colorado 22 — Colorado bounced back from the 82-42 Oklahoma debacle by out-gaining the supposedly out-manned Drake Bulldogs, 379 yards to 347. This was not sufficient, however, to prevent a 41-22 loss to a Drake team the Buffs had surely scheduled as a breather game between games against ranked Big Eight opponents. Colorado certainly had no reason to be overconfident against any team, but they played as if they only needed to put on their pads in order to record their first win of 1980. …

No. 12 Oklahoma – 82-42 – Open up the record books

//posted 10.4.1980

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— October 4th – Boulder No. 12 Oklahoma 82, Colorado 42 — The score says it all. 82-42. If you have never seen these numbers before, consider yourself fortunate. The headline in the October 5, 1980, Rocky Mountain News was: “Buffs humiliated by Sooners 82-42”. The statistics border on the unbelievable. The total number of points scored by two teams, 124, set a modern day NCAA record, as did the total number of touchdowns by both teams (18). In all, at least 51 NCAA, Big Eight Conference, Colorado/Oklahoma team, or Folsom …

Indiana – My first home game / Sports Illustrated & Chuck Fairbanks’ desk

//posted 9.27.1980

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— September 27th – Boulder Indiana 49, Colorado 7 — Fresh off the near comeback at Baton Rouge, there was at least some cause for hope against visiting Indiana. After all, the Buffs had beaten the Hoosiers the previous year in Bloomington, 17-16. In the 1979 game, Colorado had given Chuck Fairbanks his first win as the Buffs’ head coach. On that day, an 0-3 CU squad had beaten a 3-0 Indiana team, and had done so on the road. With that backdrop of cautious optimism, a crowd of 40,219 …

Tags: Chuck Fairbanks, Doug Looney, Douglas Looney, Rocky Mountain News, Sports Illustrated, Tim Clifford
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LSU – “Buffs Gain Pride But Not Win”

//posted 9.20.1980

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— September 20th – at LSU LSU 23, Colorado 20 — Playing at Louisiana State the second week of the season, Colorado faced an LSU team that had been to bowls the previous three seasons, but was still looking to improve. After consecutive 8-4 seasons, the Tigers had managed a 7-5 record in 1979. Still, the 1979 Tiger squad had been good enough to embarrass the Buffs in Boulder, 44-0. LSU came into the 1980 game 1-1 on the new season, having been shut out by Florida State (16-0), and returning …

Tags: Bob Niziolek, Charlie Davis
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UCLA – Buffs down 56-0 … at halftime!

//posted 9.13.1980

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— National and Big Eight recap – 1980 — In college football in 1980 it was the Year of the Dog – as in the Bulldogs from the University of Georgia. Georgia went 12-0, earning its 2nd-ever national championship by defeating Notre Dame, 17-10, in the Sugar Bowl. The Bulldogs were led by running back Herschel Walker. Notre Dame finished the season on a two game losing streak, falling to 9-2-1 in Dan Devine’s last season as head coach. In the Big Eight, Oklahoma continued its domination of the league. …

The Book Which Became a Website – An Introduction to CU at the Game

//posted 9.1.1980

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— CU AT THE GAME – An Introduction — Beginning in the fall of 1980, my freshman year at the University of Colorado in Boulder, I began to accumulate large quantities of CU memorabilia. Programs, newspaper clippings, ticket stubs, pennants, hats, and clothing were acquired and stored. Each year, the stack of memories pertaining to the CU football team grew. I never had any inkling, however, that these boxes of “stuff” would ever amount to anything, much less a “book”. Still, over the next fifteen years, through several moves, I …

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