Getty ImagesJust a handful of years down the road, an old and highly-underrated Big 8/Big 12 rivalry will be renewed.
In a joint press releases, Colorado and Nebraska announced that they have reached an agreement on a pair of future home-and-home series. Two of the games will be played in Lincoln — Sept. 8, 2018, and Sept. 7, 2024 — and the other two in Boulder — Sept. 7, 2019, and Sept. 9, 2023.
The 2018 game will mark the first meeting of the two football programs since the regular-season finale in 2010, a few months before the Cornhuskers and Buffaloes officially left the Big 12 for the Big Ten and Pac-12, respectively.
“There is a lot of great history between Nebraska and Colorado on the football field, so I think this will be an outstanding series for both schools,” Nebraska Head Coach Bo Pelini said. “I think our fans will enjoy the matchups, particularly those in Western Nebraska who can make the short drive out to the games in Colorado.”
That 2010 game was the 63rd consecutive season in which the two teams played. All told, the two schools have met 69 times in football, with the ‘Huskers holding a 49-18-2 advantage. Between 1962 and 1985, Nebraska won 23 of the 24 games played.
Colorado and Nebraska had been a member of the same conference since 1948, when the latter joined what was then the Big 7 and eventually became the Big 8. Both programs were a part of the creation of the original Big 12 in 1996.
According to CU’s release, the contract signed by the two schools calls for $300,000 payments from the home team to the visitor in each of the four designated years of the games, with a buyout clause of $1 million if either team wants to cancel out of a game.
Wait… you mean the Buffs actually intend to field… a FOOTBALL team?
THAT will be a welcomed change!
how about playing Iowa State, Missouri, Kansas and K-State so fans can drive to some Non-conf games
49-18-2 is not a rivalry
A good rivalry is not dependent on both teams being competitive or a balanced head to head record, but on the occasional out of nowhere upsets when the rival has a lot to lose. I remember Colorado being just such a thorn for Nebraska powerhouse teams in the past, and look forward to future games. Two other such rivalry’s I remember with this trait are Texas A&M vs Texas and Washington State vs Washington. Aggies and Longhorns seriously need to make note and renew their rivalry, its just too ingrained in Texas football lore to be abandon. As for Wazzou, they again blindsided the Husky’s last season. And as bad as Colorado was last year, WSU was their only victory. Boulder is a great place, have to think they can pull in enough recruits and get it together enough to compete by 2018.
I think is great for both Nebraska and Colorado to renew their rivalry, and comes on the heels of Nebraska and Oklahoma also signing a four year deal to pick their rivalry back up…..
conference realignment has destroyed some great rivalry games over the years, and even more rivalry games will fall by the wayside with future moves, like Michigan v Notre Dame.
notice that the Buff/Husker game does not start until the 2018 season, and thats because Nebraska has already filled their non-conference schedule from 2013-2017….No one has complained about that…
but, a lot of people are complaining about Texas doing the same thing. I think the Longhorn/Aggie series will resume, possibly in bowl season, and then the regular season games will pick up in the 2019 season, where Texas only has Notre Dame as the only non conference game so far.
Rivalries that conference alignment killed:
OU/Nebraska
Nebraska/Colorado and all old Big12 North rivals
Missouri/Kansas, and all old big 8 rivals
Texas A&M/Texas and all of Big 12 South
Pitt/Penn St
Penn St/Notre Dame
Penn St/Sryacuse
Florida/Miami(will play in 2013 season)
Miami/Sryacuse(will be renewed when Cuse joins the ACC)
Im sure there are others but those are the ones I can think of now
For those who don’t follow CU football, this has always been an interesting rivalry. It was the only game that CU fans consistently got excited about. Nebraska was always the only guaranteed sellout in Boulder. (Unfortunately, a good chunk of those were Nebraska fans and it got so bad towards the end that CU publicly implored their season ticket holders not to sell their tix to Cornhusker fans. )