Colorado football history

After finishing #3 in the country in 1971, Colorado had slipped back to mediocrity by the time head coach Bill Mallory came to Boulder in 1974. After another mediocre year, Mallory got the Buffaloes to 9-2 and a Bluebonnet Bowl invitation in 1975. The 1976 Colorado football team took advantage of a wide-open Big Eight Conference to make it all the way to the Orange Bowl.

Colorado’s best player was All-American, defensive back Mike Davis. The offense relied on 1,200-yard rusher Tony Reed, with Jim Kelleher adding 615 yards of his own. The passing game had issues—Jeff Knapple only completed 44 percent of his passes and got just 6.6 yards per attempt. But they had tight end Emery Moorhead to bail them out. A future pro and eventual starter on the great 1985 Chicago Bears team, Moorhead’s 18 catches (a normal number in this run-oriented era) produced over 20 yards a pop.

Even with the nice season in 1975, Colorado was still unranked to open this ’76 campaign. It started in Lubbock, against what would be a good Texas Tech team, and the result was a 24-7 loss. Anyone that might have had expectations, quickly had reason to temper them.

Washington, Miami, and Drake were non-conference opponents that ranged from mediocre to bad, and the Buffaloes bounced back over the next three weeks. They went to Seattle and beat the Huskies 21-7. The home opener with the Hurricanes was a 33-3 triumph. And the 45-24 victory over the Bulldogs had Colorado 3-1 going into Big Eight play.

The old Big Eight was defined by Nebraska and Oklahoma throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Even in Colorado’s terrific ’71 season, it was the Cornhuskers and Sooners who finished 1-2 in the final polls. In 1976, Oklahoma was the two-time defending national champs. Both teams had early ties on their records so far in 1976. But there was no reason to expect anything else than these two programs continuing to dominate the race for what was then an automatic Orange Bowl ticket.

Thus, when the Buffs opened league play with a 24-12 home loss to Nebraska, it wasn’t a great surprise or a huge letdown. If anything, they had played competitive football. And little did anyone know, this year’s Big Eight was about to open up.

Colorado bounced back with a 20-10 win at Oklahoma State, and then a 33-14 rout of a ranked Iowa State team gained the Buffaloes enough credibility to be placed in the national top 20. Moreover, Oklahoma lost to Oklahoma State, while Nebraska was beaten by Missouri. The race for the Orange Bowl was getting chaotic.

The state was set for October 30, with Oklahoma coming to town. The Buffaloes won a 42-31 shootout. They were up to 3-1 in league play, tied with Nebraska and Oklahoma State. OU and Iowa State were giving chase at 2-2. There were three games left to play.

Missouri was having a strange year—they upset both USC and Ohio State on the road in non-conference play. They beat a good North Carolina team. And they had won on the road at Nebraska. But the Tigers managed to lose the games they were supposed to win and would finish 6-5.

Unfortunately for Colorado, that meant Missouri would play up to their competition and a trip to Columbia ended with a 16-7 loss. The Buffs bounced back by blowing out Kansas 40-17. Coming into the final week, there was a four-way tie at the top.

Colorado, Oklahoma State, OU, and Nebraska were all 4-2 in conference games. The Buffaloes needed to win at Kansas State and get some help.

They upheld their end of the bargain in Manhattan, although it was shakier than Mallory might have liked—Colorado outlasted a terrible team 35-28. They had at least a share of the league championship. Oklahoma State grabbed their share by beating Iowa State.

Now it was time for six days of waiting. Nebraska and Oklahoma would play on Black Friday. The winner would claim their own share of the conference championship, but as far as the Orange Bowl was concerned, the Buffs needed OU to win, so the tiebreakers would fall their way.  

When the Sooners went into Lincoln and pulled out a 20-17 win on a touchdown in the final minute, the celebration could begin in Boulder. Colorado was going to the Orange Bowl.

At 8-3, they were #12 in the polls and facing Ohio State. For the early part of the game, the Buffs looked like they might continue this magical ride a little longer. They jumped out to a 10-0 lead and forced four Buckeye turnovers on the night. But Ohio State’s running game was too punishing, and the absence of Colorado middle guard Carlie Johnson, lost to a sprained ankle, was exposed. The Buckeyes took the game over and won 27-10.

The surprise Orange Bowl run of 1976 did not prove to be part of a new trend. Mallory coached here for two more seasons before Colorado launched what proved to be an ill-fated move to get Chuck Fairbanks, coach of the New England Patriots and former Oklahoma boss. It wasn’t until the latter part of the 1980s, under Bill McCartney, that the Colorado program returned to the Orange Bowl. They won the Big Eight in 1989, and then won a share of the national title in 1990.

The Colorado Buffaloes had a breakthrough season in 1989. They picked the Nebraska-Oklahoma lock on the old Big Eight. The Buffs had an undefeated regular season and played for a national championship before losing to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl. The 1990 Colorado football team was back for more. And in spite of one of the wildest rides a national champion has ever gone on, by season’s end that’s exactly what the ’90 Buffs were—national champions.

A run-heavy option offense was built around the excellence of running back Eric Bienemy. The future offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, Bienemy had a brilliant year in 1990. He ran for over 1,600 yards, made All-American and finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting.

Darian Hagan was the quarterback who ran the option. Hagan only threw 163 passes on the season and only completed 46 percent of his throws. But he did get a healthy 9.4 yards-per-attempt, thanks to a big-play receiver in Mike Pritchard. Pritchard’s 28 catches produced an astonishing 26 yards a pop.

Running was essential for a quarterback in this offense and Hagan’s 442 yards were third on the team, narrowly trailing Pritchard’s 445. George Hemingway added 325 yards to round out the attack.

If you assumed that an offense that could run the ball like this had a good offensive line, you assumed correctly. Joe Garten was an All-American at the guard position. Mark VanderPoel got honorable mention All-American at tackle and Jay Leeuwenberg was the All-Big Eight center.

There were more all-conference performers on the defensive side of the ball, starting with Kanavis McGhee and Gary Howe up front. Tim James was All-Big Eight in the defensive backfield and intercepted six passes. Deon Figures was in the secondary and while he wasn’t decorated with honors in 1990, he had a good NFL future ahead of him.

They had talent and after 1989, they had national respect. Colorado opened the season ranked #5. And would the first six weeks of the season be interesting.

The Buffaloes opened the season against eighth-ranked Tennessee in a neutral site game at Anaheim. The Vols would live up to expectations and end the season in the Top 10. Colorado and Tennessee played to a 31-31 tie (overtime was not used in college football until 1996).

The tie only dropped Colorado to #6, but a narrow 21-17 home escape over Stanford on a Thursday night didn’t impress the pollsters, who moved the Buffs down to #9. The reaction was understandable in the moment and this Cardinal team would finish the season 5-6. But one of those five wins would come at Notre Dame and Stanford coach Dennis Green would go on to a nice NFL career in Minnesota. Had voters known then what we know now, the reaction might not have been as strong.

A year earlier, Colorado’s signature non-conference win had been a home blowout of Illinois, then a contender in the Big Ten. The Illini were ranked #21 coming into this season’s rematch in Champaign and the Buffs suffered a tough 23-22 loss.

Colorado went plummeting to #20 in the polls. A second blemish on a record that now stood at 1-1-1 made it appear that the national championship was already gone as a possibility. But 1990 would prove to be a chaotic year in college football and the Buffaloes had more big games ahead.

They went to Texas, ranked #22 on their way to a 10-1 season. In a game that would loom large in national championship scenarios at the end of the season, Colorado trailed 22-14 in the fourth quarter. Bienemy came through with a couple rushing touchdowns and the Buffs pulled out a 29-22 win.

There was no rest in sight as Washington, on their way to a Pac-10 title and eventual Rose Bowl victory, came to Boulder a week later. Colorado trailed 7-3 at the half and 14-10 in the third quarter. Hagan sprained his shoulder and was forced to the sideline.

Backup Charles Johnson led Colorado to ten unanswered points. The defense came up with two red zone stops in the fourth quarter, the last one an interception by Figures with under a minute to play. The 20-14 win was preserved and Colorado was back up to #12 in the polls.

A road trip to Missouri to open Big Eight play didn’t seem to be a concern. But Hagan would miss this game. Colorado had been playing nationally significant games and would not have a bye week this entire season. Furthermore, even though the Tigers only won four games in 1990, they had the conference’s best passing quarterback in Kent Kiefer and two big-play receivers in Linzy Mays and Damon Collins.

In short, everything was in place for a letdown and that’s what happened. Colorado trailed 31-27 in the fourth quarter when they began a last-ditch drive. Johnson came through with a big completion to tight end Jon Bowman to get inside the five-yard line. There was less than a minute to play and the Buffs had one timeout left. And a series of plays that lives in college football infamy came next.

In short order, Johnson spiked the ball, Bienemy was stopped and Colorado took its final timeout. Bienemy was stopped again. Johnson spiked the ball to stop the clock. Then the quarterback ran it in for the winning touchdown.

Do we see a problem here? That’s five plays. At the point the Buffs took their final timeout, the officials forgot to change the down marker. After the touchdown, officials conferred for twenty minutes. They let the touchdown stand. Colorado had a 33-31 win. And even in an era prior to social media and a 24/7 news cycle, the outrage came pouring out, with calls for head coach Bill McCartney to forfeit the win and pollsters to treat Colorado as though they had lost.

If nothing else, the Buffs had a couple of easier games ahead of them and they easily handled bad teams from Iowa State and Kansas at home. The pollsters did not respond to the calls for punishment and the wins put Colorado back in the Top 10. They went on to knock off 22^nd-ranked Oklahoma 32-23 at home.

Now it was time for the game everyone in the Big Eight was waiting for. A visit to third-ranked Nebraska with the winner all but locking up the Orange Bowl bid that always awaited the winner of this league up until 1995.

On a windy and rainy day, Nebraska seemed in control for three quarters. Colorado had an early mishap when Bienemy fumbled on the Cornhusker 3-yard line. The Cornhuskers led 12-0 late in the third quarter. Bienemy had been held to 62 yards. Not a bad showing with a quarter-plus to play, but not what the Buffalo offense needed to win a game like this.

Then the stunning turnabout came. Colorado simply whipped Nebraska up front. Bienemy added 75 more rushing yards to his total. He scored four touchdowns in the final quarter alone. Colorado won 27-12.

With upsets knocking off top teams left and right, Colorado was now ranked #4 nationally. Notre Dame was at the top of the polls, so the stars were aligned for an Orange Bowl rematch. And the final two weeks saw the Buffs position get even stronger.

They took care of business against Oklahoma State 41-22 to move to #2. Now Colorado controlled their national championship destiny. And in the November 17 finale, they hammered mediocre Kansas State 64-3, while Notre Dame was upset at home by Penn State.

Unbelievably, after the 1-1-1 start, Colorado not only had a chance at the national title going into New Year’s Day, they were ranked #1 in the country. Notre Dame’s loss had dropped the Irish to #5. Texas was #3, but a Cotton Bowl humiliation at the hands of Miami ended the Longhorn bid. By the time the Orange Bowl kicked off in prime-time on January 1, the national championship picture was narrowed to Colorado and second-ranked Georgia Tech, the nation’s only unbeaten team at 11-0-1.

The Buffalo offense struggled. Hagen went out just before halftime with a ruptured tendon and the hopes for a title were on the shoulders of Johnson. He was mistake-free and in a game like this that would loom very large. Colorado’s defense was playing well and they were only down 9-3 in the third quarter when the Irish made the game’s key mistake. They fumbled on their own 40. The Buffs recovered. Johnson led a grinding eight-play drive that ended in a touchdown putting Colorado ahead 10-9.

Late in the game Colorado still held that lead when they had to punt it away. Going back to return was Notre Dame’s explosive Raghib “Rocket” Ismail, who’d finished second in the Heisman voting due primarily to his special teams’ prowess. Most observers assumed the ball would be punted away from him and out of bounds.

It wasn’t. Rocket fielded it on his own 9-yard line, made a quick move to the right and got the sideline. 91 yards later he was in the end zone, the biggest punt return in the history of bowl competition. Or so it seemed. A flag was on the ground. Clipping. The play was called back. Colorado hung on and won.

More controversy seemed a fitting end to this Buffalo season, as fans debated whether or not the block by Notre Dame’s Greg Davis was really a clip. There were reminders to the pollsters about the fifth-down. Georgia Tech certainly had public opinion on their side as the writers and coaches went to the polls.

When the final ballots came out, it was a split poll. Colorado won the AP writers’ poll, but the coaches had nudged Georgia Tech into the top spot by a single vote.

There are so many areas to unpack in this vote, so I’ll try and keep it brief…

*I’m a Notre Dame fan and the block by Davis—while very close—was a clip, and it was consequential enough to be called. The Colorado victory in the Orange Bowl was “legitimate” so to speak.

*Even had it been a bad call, how far do you go in letting pollsters take matters into their own hands. This is a good segway into my feelings about the officiating debacle in Missouri. It was a massive screwup, but it happened. Once you decide to have pollsters (or in our own day, College Football Playoff committee members) start effectively overturning results, you have chaos. How far do you go in reviewing officiating mistakes after the fact.

So for anyone who used those reasons to punish Colorado, I would have to strongly disagree. But…I would have still voted for Georgia Tech. The reason being simple—they were a full game better than Colorado in the final record. While the Buffs’ schedule was clearly stronger, the Yellow Jackets did blow out Nebraska in the Citrus Bowl and did win at then-#1 Virginia in November. The schedule strength issue wasn’t enough, in my view, to overturn the record differential.

But whatever your view on the final vote, this much is clear—Colorado had arrived as a national power. Back-to-back trips to the Orange Bowl, consecutive top 5 finishes and now, at long last, a national championship.

The 1989 Colorado football team opened the season with the cloud of tragedy hanging over them off the field and an inferiority complex within their conference on it. They ended the season coming within one half of a national championship and providing inspiration to the country.

GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS
Start reading today. 

It had been 1976 since Colorado had represented the old Big Eight Conference in the Orange Bowl, where the league had an automatic bid. That in of itself wasn’t the source of the problem, but the Buffs had mostly fallen off the map. Bill Mallory, the coach of that ‘76 team had left for Indiana. A high-profile hire of Chuck Fairbanks away from the New England Patriots was a colossal bust and ended after three years.

Bill McCartney took over the program in 1982 and for three years his records were 2-8-1, 4-7 and 1-10. In the meantime, Oklahoma and Nebraska completely owned the Big Eight. Not only was the season finale between the Sooners and Cornhuskers always for the Orange Bowl bid, but everyone pretty much knew prior to the season that would be the case. Colorado joined the rest of the Big Eight as an afterthought.

The Buffaloes began their slow rise in 1985 when they reached a bowl game. In 1986 they sprung a shocking upset on Nebraska. In 1987 and 1988 they went a combined 15-7. They hadn’t stopped the Oklahoma-Nebraska game from settling the Orange Bowl spot, but Colorado was a program that was coming.

Prior to the 1989 season was when tragedy hit. Starting quarterback Sal Aunese was diagnosed with stomach cancer and he would not make it. Aunese had dated Kristin McCartney, the daughter of the head coach and she became pregnant. Coach McCartney was a member of Promise Keepers, a group of Christian evangelicals. His daughter chose life and the entire story—that of sin and mercy, and of a football team trying to move forward without its leader, became a national story and inspiration.

On the field, the Buffs still had talent. The offensive line was anchored by All-American guard Joe Gartner and included All-Big Eight performers in Mark Vander Poel and Darren Mullenberg. The defensive front seven had All-Conference players with lineman Arthur Walker on the interior, along with Kanvais McGhee and Alfred Williams controlling the edge.

The secondary didn’t have the same level of talent, but in the 1980s Big Eight that didn’t really matter. The option was what offenses were built on and Colorado was typical. Darian Hagan had the task of stepping for Aunese and Hagan only threw 85 passes for the entire season. Mike Pritchard was the leading receiver and he had twelve catches for the year. Yes, the old Big Eight was a lot different from the Big 12 it evolved into and not just in terms of membership and alignment.

Hagan was exceptional at running the option and went for over 1,000 yards on the ground and got honorable-mention All-American by season’s end. In the backfield, J.J. Flannigan cleared the 1,0000-yard threshold and future NFL talent Eric Bienemy chipped in over 500 yards .

Colorado opened the season ranked #14 and quickly set to work moving up the polls. They started with Texas on Labor Day. The Longhorns were a mediocre team, but one whose talent level still needed to be respected. The Buffs won 27-6. Five days later they hosted Colorado State, another average team, but this was a rivalry game on an extremely short week. No matter—Colorado won it 45-20.

It set up a big home game with 10^th-ranked Illinois, who end the season as the Big Ten’s second-best team. The Buffs blasted the Illini 38-7 and were now ranked fifth in the nation.

There was a bye week following, and it was here that Aunese passed away. If Colorado wasn’t already a sentimental favorite across the country, they were now.

And they didn’t let up on the field, going to #21 Washington and delivering another easy win over a ranked opponent, this one 45-28. The pollsters nudged Colorado to #3 as the Big Eight schedule began.

The offense put up big numbers in the first three conference games, scoring 150 points combined and blasting Missouri, Iowa State and Kansas. The Cyclones were the only opponent of the group even remotely decent though. The real test was ahead the next two weeks, October 28 and November 4, when Colorado took on Oklahoma and Nebraska.

Oklahoma had already fallen from grace after a tumultuous offseason resulted in the firing of head coach Barry Switzer. These Sooners were not a national title contender, having already lost to Arizona and Texas. But OU still controlled their destiny in the Big Eight and as any team who has challenged a dynasty can tell you, the Old Guard rarely gives up its hold easily.

This game in Norman stayed scoreless for a quarter. Hagan made the first big play in the second quarter when he ripped off a 40-yard run that set up a touchdown. Colorado took a 10-0 lead into the fourth quarter, but an Oklahoma field goal kept them in striking distance with over fourteen minutes left.

It was the Buffs who finally got the big break, when they recovered a fumble inside the Oklahoma 10-yard line and turned it into a gift touchdown. Colorado closed out a 20-3 win. The first half of the Big Eight lock had been broken.

But the hard part would come the following week in Boulder. The national championship picture had taken on clarity—the Colorado-Nebraska winner was all but assured of going to the Orange Bowl and was all but certain to play top-ranked Notre Dame. A de facto national semifinal took place in Colorado on the first Saturday of November.

Nebraska’s offense was as run-oriented as Colorado’s but Cornhusker quarterback Gerry Gdowski made some big plays and one of them was a 51-yard touchdown strike to Bryan Carpenter for the game’s first score. Flannigan responded by bolting 70 yards to the house to tie it and a few minutes later Hagan ran in from a yard out.

Gdowski threw another touchdown pass in the second quarter, and Colorado got a 49-yard field goal just before the half to take a 17-14 lead. The Buffs started a good drive in the third quarter ,one that appeared to be snuffed out when Hagan threw an interception in the end zone. But pass interference nullified the pick, Colorado marched it in and took a 24-14 lead.

Before the third quarter was out, Gdowski struck again. For the day, he only completed 11/27 passes, but they went for 211 yards and he threw a third touchdown pass from 26 yards out. The game went to the fourth quarter at 24-21.

Colorado got a field goal with a little less than nine minutes to go and was still leading 27-21 when Nebraska got the ball at their own 12-yard line with 1:40 left. Gdowski made it interesting, driving the Cornhuskers to the Buffalo 42 and being able to toss one desperation pass into the end zone. Colorado defended it and the party could start in Boulder.

The Orange Bowl bid was sealed the following week with a 41-17 rout of subpar Oklahoma State and a 59-11 blasting of lowly Kansas State wrapped up the undefeated season. By the time New Year’s Night came around ,Colorado had moved to the top of the polls. Notre Dame lost in Miami on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The Irish had already accepted the Orange Bow bid though, so they were still the last hurdle Colorado had to clear.

There was still skepticism over whether Colorado was in the class of teams like Notre Dame, Miami or Florida State. That was best summed up when news cameras caught Irish coach Lou Holtz talking to his team about the Buffs and using none of the usual coach-speak–”They’re living a lie” was the quote that came out of it.

For thirty minutes of football, Colorado looked ready to make believers out of the country. They had a 6-0 lead on Notre Dame, but had also missed opportunities. Those came back to haunt when the Irish offensive line took over the second half and churned out a 21-6 win.

The Colorado dream season was over, but this program had provided inspiration thanks to their coach’s compassionate response to his daughter’s pregnancy and his team’s courageous response to the loss of their quarterback. And on the football field they set the stage for even bigger things—in 1990, they made it back to the Orange Bowl, got a rematch with Notre Dame and this time they finished the deal and won a share of the national championship.