In 1948, one year after Colorado joined the Big Eight Conference, the Buffaloes hosted Nebraska for the first time in three decades. It was the first of 63 meetings in 63 seasons and the birth of one of college football's best rivalries.
Seventy years later, in 2018, after a seven-year hiatus following both teams' exit from the Big 12 Conference, the rivalry renewed with a beauty in Lincoln, a 33-28 Colorado win. While it was a spectacularly entertaining (and important) game, it doesn't rank among the rivalry's biggest games.
Ranking the 10 biggest games in the Colorado-Nebraska rivalry (Disagree? Ping me on Twitter and let's discuss):
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10. Nov. 29, 1996
Nebraska 17, Colorado 12
Nebraska, No. 1 in the AP preseason top 25, stumbled early against Arizona State before ripping off eight straight wins entering their regular-season finale vs. fifth-ranked Colorado. The Huskers, No. 4 in the AP poll and carrying slim national title hopes, beat the Buffs in Boulder to win the Big 12 North title.
Nebraska lost to Texas in the Big 12 Championship a week later and finished sixth in the final AP rankings. Colorado, meanwhile, finished eighth.
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9. Nov. 26, 1999
Nebraska 33, Colorado 30 (OT)
One of the best games in series history, Nebraska's overtime win to keep their slim national title hopes alive (thanks for an October loss at Texas) was a wild one. They blew a 24-point fourth-quarter lead and missed a field goal at the end of regulation before Eric Crouch won the game with a rushing touchdown in overtime.
Like three years earlier, Nebraska's slim title hopes didn't materialize and they finished third in the BCS standings.
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8. Nov. 28, 1997
Nebraska 27, Colorado 24
Second-ranked Nebraska escaped Boulder and Colorado's late comeback with a three-point win to remain undefeated and in line for a national championship. It could've been one of the biggest upsets in Big 12 history.
Nebraska beat Texas A&M in the Big 12 Championship and Tennessee and in the Orange Bowl to win their third national title in the last four seasons.
Rankings: No. 1 to No. 130 (Updated Weekly)
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7. Oct. 30, 1993
Nebraska 21, Colorado 17
Chasing their third straight Big 12 title and first national title since 1971, Nebraska was sixth in the AP rankings entering their late-October game against No. 20 Colorado.
Calvin Jones and the Huskers led 21-3 after the first quarter but didn't score again, hanging on for a 21-17 win on their way to a conference title and undefeated regular season. However, five weeks later, they lost to Florida State in the Orange Bowl and fell short of the national title.
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6. Oct. 30, 1971
Nebraska 31, Colorado 7
Defending national champion and top-ranked Nebraska hosted No. 9 Colorado in 1971. While the game itself was a dud — and the weather sucked with 38-degree drizzle throughout — it was a massive game as the Huskers stayed alive in their title chase, which they later completed with a second straight national championship.
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5. Oct. 28, 1995
Nebraska 44, Colorado 21
Nebraska was No. 2 and barreling through their schedule (average margin of victory of 38 points in their first seven games) when they visited Boulder in late October.
College GameDay was in town (for their second-ever and still most recent visit) for the No. 2 vs. No. 7 game, which Nebraska dominated on their way to a second straight national championship.
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4. Nov. 23, 2001
Colorado 62, Nebraska 36
Nebraska needed a win in Boulder in the regular-season finale to clinch the Big 12 North title and remain in the BCS hunt. Instead, the top-ranked Huskers were smoked by the 15th-ranked Buffaloes, who led 35-3 after the first 15 minutes.
It remains one of the biggest disbelief games in college football history.
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3. Nov. 3, 1990
Colorado 27, Nebraska 12
After a win over Nebraska in 1989, Colorado sought consecutive wins in the series for the first time since 1960-61.
The ninth-ranked Buffaloes rolled into Lincoln and left with a 15-point win over the third-ranked Huskers. The win vaulted Colorado to No. 4 in the AP rankings on their way to their first-ever national championship.
MORE: Bizarre Story Behind Marshall Faulk's Nebraska Recruitment
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2. Nov. 4, 1989
Colorado 27, Nebraska 21
Colorado beat Nebraska in 1986 for the first time since 1967 but scored seven total points in losses in 1987 and 1988. They scored 14 in the first 10 minutes of the 1989 game between the second- (Colorado) and third-ranked (Nebraska) teams in the country.
The victory — combined with a loss by No. 1 Notre Dame — earned the Buffs their first-ever No. 1 ranking.
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1. Oct. 29, 1994
Nebraska 24, Colorado 7
Colorado and Nebraska have combined for one loss in six of the seasons in which they played. Six of those instances came more than 100 years ago.
College GameDay was in town for their fifth-ever on-campus broadcast, a No. 2 (Colorado) vs. No. 3 (Nebraska) showdown as the Buffs and Huskers jockeyed for national championship positioning. Nebraska won the game and the national championship.
It wasn't the best game in series history, but it was the biggest.
