By: Dave Collins
Eagle Radio Sports Director
Part IV
Here it is. Number one.
Leading up to kickoff this weekend of the college football season I thought it'd be fun to scope out the national Division I schedule and find the games that we just can't miss watching this fall! Rivalries, non-traditional match-ups of great powers, games with huge implications.....this top-10 has it all and today is my #1 can't miss game of the year. Get primed for kickoff Saturday, it's finally going to be here!
#1 – Nebraska at Colorado
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Big 8. Big 12. Big rivalry renewed!
Nebraska visits Colorado for another installment of this regional showdown that sparks great debate, like if this game is even a rivalry at all in the first place. More Colorado fans would tell you it is a rivalry than Husker diehards, which adds even more gas to the fire on the CU side.
The Buffs for so long had been the ones trying to tear down what Nebraska had built over decades when so many of these games were thrillers in the late 80's through 90’s. CU would come so close but have a win snatched away by the Big Red and another year of sting would settle in as Nebraska would go on to huge seasons. Rankings were typically really high in the polls for one, if not both schools, and even National Championship implications could be the line.
CU finally broke through with a 62-36 rout that hasn’t left the Huskers as dominant since, even though they went on to play for the Natty in the 2001 season after the defeat.
For me, it’s my all-time favorite rivalry in college football. Even more so than CU-CSU.
I was raised in Denver, mom and many more family members were brought up in eastern Nebraska cheering for the Huskers. I once went to a Husker-CU game in Boulder as a young kid with a Nebraska mini-helmet that I’d hold high for big Husker plays. I loved watching the Big Red roll when I was a young pup.
Years passed and me, my dad and brother are all CU graduates and that's who we pull for on any Saturday now, no doubt.
My wedding party included two Buffs and a Husker. I’ve got lifelong friends all over both sides of the aisle, red and gold.
Tommy Frazier and Darian Hagan are my favorite college quarterbacks of all-time. I still have vivid memories of Calvin Jones and Eric Bieniemy gashing yards off in chunks.
I’ve been in the middle of some good-natured smack talk and many back-and-forth arguments defending the Buffs while being able to honor what is incredible Husker history and considering the present-day states of each program.
Whether it be in the parking lots or in the stadiums, I’ve witnessed the rowdies from each fan base that both fan bases claim make the other side intolerable.
Exuberance. Hope. Frustration. Straight-up anger. You feel a lot of emotions with this game.
It’s been fun to have a dog in the hunt on both sides over the years and last season’s first installment was another in the epic match-up with CU pulling out a 33-28 stunner in Lincoln.
With a new head coach the Buffs are in rebuilding mode, but return a starting dual-threat senior QB and a Heisman candidate in WR Laviska Shenault. But is there enough defense to slow Nebraska’s Heisman contender Adrian Martinez?
Scott Frost may never admit it, but I bet this one is circled as the most important on his calendar this season. He played in the heat of this 90’s rivalry and last year’s loss was about the worst thing that could happen to derail the hype-train that was going full-speed and ended up screeching to an 0-6 start.
These two teams should play every year. Or, maybe they shouldn’t. Maybe its better now that there’s conference separation and a few years between home-and-home series. It builds anticipation.
If anything, I’m just glad we get it again this year.
My “head over heart” pick: Nebraska 38, Colorado 28
Enjoy the season fans, college football is the greatest sport there is!