Colorado vs. Nebraska
Colorado and Nebraska have 72 meetings on file, the first in 1902; Nebraska leads the series 49–21–2 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s Nebraska 6–4. Share
- Colorado wins
- 21
- Nebraska wins
- 49
- Ties
- 2
- Earliest on file
- 1902
- Longest streak
- 18 Nebraska
- Current streak
- 1 Nebraska
- Last 10 meetings
- Nebraska 6–4
- Most recent
- 2024
The series at a glance
| ’0 | ’1 | ’2 | ’3 | ’4 | ’5 | ’6 | ’7 | ’8 | ’9 | W–L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 1–4 | ||||||||||
| 1940s | 1–1 | ||||||||||
| 1950s | 6–3–1 | ||||||||||
| 1960s | 3–7 | ||||||||||
| 1970s | 0–10 | ||||||||||
| 1980s | 2–8 | ||||||||||
| 1990s | 1–8–1 | ||||||||||
| 2000s | 4–6 | ||||||||||
| 2010s | 2–1 | ||||||||||
| 2020s | 1–1 |
- Both ranked
- 15 meetings: Colorado 3, Nebraska 11; 8 both in the top 10
- Average margin
- 16.5 points; 18 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
- At Colorado
- 12–22–2 Colorado’s record at home
- At Nebraska
- 27–9 Nebraska’s record at home
- Shutouts
- 9
Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.
Games that tell the story
- Colorado’s biggest win1957: Colorado 27, Nebraska 0by 27 points
- Nebraska’s biggest win1981: Nebraska 59, Colorado 0by 59 points
- Upset1954: Nebraska 20, Colorado 6Nebraska had a 19% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1986: Colorado 20, Nebraska 10Colorado had a 25% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset2005: Nebraska 30, Colorado 3Nebraska had a 27% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Ranked showdown1994: Nebraska 24, Colorado 7No. 2 Colorado at No. 3 Nebraska
- Ranked showdown1989: Colorado 27, Nebraska 21No. 3 Nebraska at No. 2 Colorado
- Ranked showdown1996: Nebraska 17, Colorado 12No. 5 Colorado at No. 4 Nebraska
Coach against coach
| Years | Colorado | Series | Nebraska |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1949–1955 | Dallas Ward | 3–3–1 | William Glassford |
| 1959–1961 | Everett Grandelius | 2–1 | William Jennings |
| 1963–1972 | Eddie Crowder | 1–9 | Bob Devaney |
| 1974–1978 | Bill Mallory | 0–5 | Tom Osborne |
| 1979–1981 | Chuck Fairbanks | 0–3 | Tom Osborne |
| 1982–1994 | Bill McCartney | 3–9–1 | Tom Osborne |
| 1995–1997 | Rick Neuheisel | 0–3 | Tom Osborne |
| 1999–2003 | Gary Barnett | 2–3 | Frank Solich |
Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Colorado’s side (Ward 3–3–1 against Glassford). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.
Both programs through the years
Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.
Stars of the series
Biggest days
| Laviska Shenault Jr. Colorado | 10 catches, 177 yards, 1 TD | 2018 Receiving | |
| Maurice Purify Nebraska | 11 catches, 136 yards, 3 TD | 2007 Receiving |
Biggest days: the week’s best individual games by our big-days rule, from box scores (2004 on).
From the newspapers
1902 · The Minneapolis journal, Minneapolis, Minn., Oct 8, 1902
1903 · The Minneapolis journal, Minneapolis, Minn., Oct 26, 1903
1904 · The Topeka state journal, Topeka, Kansas, Oct 10, 1904
1905 · The Minneapolis journal, Minneapolis, Minn., Nov 14, 1905
1907 · The Norfolk weekly news-journal, Norfolk, Neb., Nov 1, 1907
Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.
On television
ESPN’s College GameDay has broadcast from this game twice: 1995, 1994.
College GameDay’s sites from Wikipedia’s list of its locations (CC BY-SA).
Every game
Every game is listed as played on the field.