CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

1986 Colorado

6–⁠6 (6–⁠1 Big Eight), coached by Bill McCartney.

Schedule and results

Colorado in 1986, game by game: lost vs. Colorado State 7–23; lost at Oregon 30–32; lost at Ohio State 10–13; lost vs. No. 10 Arizona 21–24; won at Missouri 17–12; won vs. Iowa State 31–3; won vs. No. 3 Nebraska 20–10; won at Oklahoma State 31–14; won vs. Kansas 17–10; lost vs. No. 4 Oklahoma 0–28; won at Kansas State 49–3; lost vs. No. 14 Baylor 9–21+46−28Lost 7–23 vs. Colorado State-16Colorado StateLost 30–32 at Oregon-2OregonLost 10–13 at Ohio State-3Ohio StateLost 21–24 vs. No. 10 Arizona-3No. 10 ArizonaWon 17–12 at Missouri+5MissouriWon 31–3 vs. Iowa State+28Iowa StateWon 20–10 vs. No. 3 Nebraska+10No. 3 NebraskaWon 31–14 at Oklahoma State+17Oklahoma StateWon 17–10 vs. Kansas+7KansasLost 0–28 vs. No. 4 Oklahoma-28No. 4 OklahomaWon 49–3 at Kansas State+46Kansas StateLost 9–21 vs. No. 14 Baylor-12No. 14 Baylor
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 6vsColorado StateL 7–⁠2361%
Sep 13atOregonL 30–⁠3235%
Sep 20atOhio StateL 10–⁠1327%
Sep 27vs10ArizonaL 21–⁠2429%
Oct 11atMissouriW 17–⁠1255%
Oct 18vsIowa StateW 31–⁠351%
Oct 25vs3NebraskaW 20–⁠1025%
Nov 1atOklahoma StateW 31–⁠1442%
Nov 8vsKansasW 17–⁠1077%
Nov 15vs4OklahomaL 0–⁠2830%
Nov 22atKansas StateW 49–⁠378%
Dec 31Bowls & playoffvs14BaylorBluebonnet BowlL 9–⁠2136%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Baylor 21–⁠9 in the Bluebonnet Bowl; unranked in the final AP poll; 2nd in the Big Eight.

In program history: The 67th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 125 on file).

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1986.

Consensus All-AmericanBarry Helton, P

Record
6–⁠6
Conference
6–⁠1 2nd in Big Eight
AP final
Unranked
Points
242–⁠193
Coach
Bill McCartney
Elo
1544 +52 this season
SP+ rating
9.0 No. 33 of 101; offense No. 61, defense No. 13
SRS
6.1 No. 34 of 105 in Division I-A
Recruiting class
—
Offensive coordinator
Gerry DiNardo
Defensive coordinator
Lou Tepper
Captains
Steve Beck, Eric Coyle and Barry Remington
Offense
Wishbone
Defense
3–⁠4

Drafted in 1987

The 1987 draft
Rd 6Jon Embree TELos Angeles Rams

All-Big Eight

5 first team, 3 second team

First team

  • Eric CoyleCAP-1; UPI-1
  • Curt KochDTAP-1; UPI-1
  • Barry RemingtonLBAP-1; UPI-1
  • Mickey PruittDBAP-1; UPI-1
  • Barry HeltonPAP-1; UPI-1

Second team

  • Jon EmbreeTEAP-2
  • Kyle RappoldMGUPI-2
  • Darin SchubeckLBAP-2

From Wikipedia’s 1986 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1986 Big Eight standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Oklahoma7–⁠011–⁠13
Colorado6–⁠16–⁠6
Nebraska5–⁠210–⁠25
Oklahoma State4–⁠36–⁠5
Iowa State3–⁠46–⁠5
Missouri2–⁠53–⁠8
Kansas State1–⁠62–⁠9
Kansas0–⁠73–⁠8

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.