| Colorado Buffaloes football | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
 | |||||||
| First season | 1890; 135 years ago | ||||||
| Athletic director | Rick George | ||||||
| Head coach | Deion Sanders 3rd season, 16–18 (.471) | ||||||
| Stadium | Folsom Field (capacity: 50,183[1]) | ||||||
| Year built | 1924[1] | ||||||
| Location | Boulder, Colorado | ||||||
| NCAA division | Division I FBS | ||||||
| Conference | Big 12 | ||||||
| All-time record | 735–554–36 (.568) | ||||||
| Bowl record | 12–17 (.414) | ||||||
| Claimed national titles | |||||||
| 1990 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Conference division titles | |||||||
| Big 12 North:2001,2002,2004,2005 Pac-12 South:2016 | |||||||
| Heisman winners | Rashaan Salaam – 1994 Travis Hunter – 2024 | ||||||
| Consensus All-Americans | 32 (6 unanimous)[2] | ||||||
| Rivalries | Colorado State (rivalry) Kansas State (rivalry) Nebraska (rivalry) Utah (rivalry) | ||||||
| Current uniform | |||||||
 | |||||||
| Colors | Silver, black, and gold[3] | ||||||
| Fight song | Fight CU | ||||||
| Mascot | Ralphie | ||||||
| Marching band | Golden Buffalo Marching Band | ||||||
| Outfitter | Nike | ||||||
| Website | cubuffs.com/football | ||||||
TheColorado Buffaloes football program represents theUniversity of Colorado Boulder incollege football at theNCAA Division I FBS level, and is a member of theBig 12 Conference. The team was a charter member of the Big 12 before leaving to join thePac-12 Conference after the 2010 season. After 13 seasons in the Pac-12, the Buffaloes returned to the Big 12 in 2024. Before joining the Big 12, they were members of theBig Eight Conference. The CU football team has played atFolsom Field since 1924.[1] The Buffs all-time record is 716–520–36 (.577 winning percentage) as of the 2022 season. Colorado won the1990 National Championship that was shared byGeorgia Tech. The football program is 27th on the all-time win list and 40th in all-time winning percentage. Along with two heisman winners.Rashaan Salaam in 1994, andTravis Hunter in 2024.[4]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(December 2017) |
Beginning in 1890, the Buffaloes have appeared in 29 bowl games (36th all-time), and won 27 conference championships, 5 division championships and anAP national championship in1990.
Folsom Field was built in1924, and since then, Colorado has a 308–169–14 record at home through the 2016 season. The road game against theNebraska Cornhuskers on November 24, 2006, was Colorado's 1,100th football game. The game on September 12, 2015, against Massachusetts was the school's 1,200th football game. In 1994, the Buffaloes had their first Heisman winner, beingRashaan Salaam. Then 20 years later,Travis Hunter (later nicknamed the Unicorn) became their second Heisman winner. Being famous for playing both ways. At WR and CB. Being the first defensive player to win the award sinceCharles Woodson.
Colorado won one national championship in football for1990.[5]: 120 [6]
| Season | Coach | Selectors | Record | Bowl | Result | Final AP | Final Coaches |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Bill McCartney | AP,Berryman,Billingsley,DeVold,FACT,FB News,Football Research,FW,Matthews,NCF,NFF,Sporting News, USA/CNN | 11–1–1 | Orange | W 10–9 | No. 1 | No. 2 |
Colorado won thenational championship in 1990 under the direction of head coachBill McCartney, who helmed the team from 1982 to 1994. While theGeorgia Tech won theUnited Press International Coaches Poll, Colorado won theAssociated Press,Football Writers Association of America and other polls. Colorado played the most difficult schedule in the country, beat more ranked teams and conference champions.[7] Colorado capped the season with a 10–9 win overNotre Dame in theOrange Bowl, a rematch of the 1989 seasonOrange Bowl Game which Notre Dame won 21–6. Colorado's tie came againstTennessee, who was ranked No. 8, the first week of the season when Colorado was ranked No. 5. The second week gave the Buffs a scare, scoring with 12 seconds left in the game on a 4th and Goal attempt. The next week gave Colorado its only loss of the season, losing 23–22 toIllinois and dropping Colorado to No. 20 in the polls. Colorado then went on to beat teams ranked (at the time) No. 22Texas, No. 12Washington, No. 22Oklahoma, and No. 3Nebraska. They ended the season 7–0 in theBig Eight Conference for the second straight season. They then capped the season with a win overNotre Dame who were number 1 until a loss in their second to last game of the regular season.[8]
Colorado has won 26 conference championships in over a century of college play, spanning through five conferences.
| Year | Conference | Coach | Overall record | Conference record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1894 | Colorado Football Association | Harry Heller | 8–1 | 5–0 |
| 1895 | Fred Folsom | 5–1 | 3–0 | |
| 1896 | 5–0 | 2–0 | ||
| 1897 | 7–1 | 2–0 | ||
| 1901 | 5–1–1 | 2–0 | ||
| 1902 | 5–1 | 4–0 | ||
| 1903 | Dave Cropp | 8–2 | 4–0 | |
| 1909 | Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference | Fred Folsom | 6–0 | 3–0 |
| 1910 | 6–0 | 3–0 | ||
| 1911 | 6–0 | 4–0 | ||
| 1913 | 5–1–1 | 3–0–1 | ||
| 1923 | Myron E. Witham | 9–0 | 7–0 | |
| 1924 | 8–1–1 | 5–0–1 | ||
| 1934 | Bill Saunders | 6–1–2 | 6–1 | |
| 1935 | Bunny Oakes | 5–4 | 5–1 | |
| 1937 | 8–1 | 7–0 | ||
| 1939 | Mountain States Conference | 5–3 | 5–1 | |
| 1942 | James J. Yeager | 7–2 | 5–1 | |
| 1943 | 5–2 | 2–0 | ||
| 1944 | Frank Potts | 6–2 | 2–0 | |
| 1961 | Big Eight Conference | Sonny Grandelius | 9–2 | 7–0 |
| 1976† | Bill Mallory | 8–4 | 5–2 | |
| 1989 | Bill McCartney | 11–1 | 7–0 | |
| 1990 | 11–1–1 | 7–0 | ||
| 1991† | 8–3–1 | 6–0–1 | ||
| 2001 | Big 12 Conference | Gary Barnett | 10–3 | 7–1 |
† Co-champions
| Year | Division | Coach | Opponent | CG result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001† | Big 12 North | Gary Barnett | Texas | W 39–37 |
| 2002 | Oklahoma | L 7–29 | ||
| 2004† | Oklahoma | L 3–42 | ||
| 2005 | Texas | L 3–70 | ||
| 2016 | Pac-12 South | Mike MacIntyre | Washington | L 10–41 |
† Co-champions
The Buffaloes have played in 1,109 games during their 125 seasons, through 2014. In those seasons, 11 coaches have led Colorado to postseasonbowl games:Bunny Oakes,Dallas Ward,Marcel M. Mazur,Bud Davis,Eddie Crowder,Bill Mallory,Bill McCartney,Rick Neuheisel,Gary Barnett,Dan Hawkins,Mike MacIntyre andKarl Dorrell.[9] Ten coaches have wonconference championships with the Buffaloes:Fred Folsom,Myron Witham,William Saunders, Oakes,Jim Yeager,Sonny Grandelius, Mallory, McCartney and Barnett. The Buffaloes won the national championship in 1990, and have won a total of 28 conference championships.
McCartney is the all-time leader in games coached with 153, total wins with 93, and conference wins with 58.[10] Folsom had the longest tenure as head coach, remaining in the position for 15 seasons.Harry Heller andWillis Keinholtz are tied for the highest overallwinning percentage. Each served a single season and won eight of his nine games for a winning percentage of .889. Of coaches who served more than one season, Folsom leads with a .765 winning percentage. Davis, in terms of overall winning percentage, is the worst coach the Buffaloes have had with a .200 winning percentage. No Colorado coach has been inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame, although McCartney was inducted into the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame in 1996.
Mike MacIntyre had brief success with the program. Hired on Dec. 10, 2012,[11] MacIntyre compiled a 30–44 record over five-plus seasons at Colorado. In 2016, MacIntyre lead Colorado to a 10–2 regular season and a trip to the Pac-12 Championship Game. It was the first winning season for Colorado since 2005, ending a 10-year streak of finishing below .500. 2016 was also the best season for the Buffaloes since 2001. As well, it marked their first time playing in a conference championship game since the 2005 Big 12 Championship Game. The team also went 8–2 in the Pac-12 after having five conference wins in the previous five seasons. Mike MacIntyre was named the Walter Camp 2016 Coach of the Year by the Walter Camp Foundation, the second Colorado football coach to earn the honor (Bill McCartney in 1989). MacIntyre was also awarded the 2016 Pac-12 Coach of the Year, American Football Coaches Association's coach of the year and comeback coach of the year awards, the Associated Press coach of the year, and the Eddie Robinson coach of the year by the Football Writers Association of America. In 2018, the Buffaloes started out the season 5–0 with wins against rivals Colorado State, Nebraska, Arizona State, and UCLA - however, MacIntyre was fired as the head coach on November 18, 2018, after a six-game losing streak.[12]
Mike Sanford was named interim Head Coach afterKarl Dorrell was fired during the2022 season, Sanford was previously the Buffaloes Offensive Coordinator for the start of the 2022 campaign.[13] On December 3, Colorado announcedDeion Sanders as Head Football Coach.[14]
A traditional college football rivalry with theNebraska Cornhuskers restarted in the 1980s (many historical documents show the importance of this game going back to 1898) when Bill McCartney declared the conference opponent to be their rival. His theory was since Nebraska was such a powerhouse team, if Colorado was able to beat them then they would be a good team. Colorado began to repeatedly threaten Nebraska in the late 1980s, following their win over the Huskers in 1986, and then surpassed the Huskers for the Big 8 crown in 1989.
In 1990, Colorado beat Nebraska 27–12 inLincoln for the first time since 1967, en route to their first national title. From 1996 to 2000, the series was extremely competitive, with the margin of victory by NU in those five years being only 15 points combined. The rivalry was further buoyed by the introduction of the Big 12 Conference in 1996, which movedOklahoma andOklahoma State to the southern division with the four new schools from Texas, formerly in theSouthwest Conference. Nebraska had traditionally finished the Big 8 conference schedule with arivalry game withOklahoma, but the two were now in different divisions, which meant they met every other year in the regular season. Colorado replaced Oklahoma as Nebraska's final conference game of the regular season, which further intensified the rivalry. In2001 No. 1 Nebraska came to Folsom Field undefeated and left at the short end of a nationally televised 62–36 blowout. Both teams departed the Big 12 in 2011, as NU headed east to join theBig Ten and the future of the rivalry was in doubt. On February 7, 2013, Colorado and Nebraska agreed to renew the rivalry.[15][16][17][18][19][20] Colorado traveled to Lincoln in 2018 and won 33–28 (winning against Nebraska for the first time since 2007 and the first time in Lincoln since 2004). On September 7, 2019, Colorado mounted an improbable comeback after being down 17–0 at half, to win the game in overtime, 34–31. After a 3-year break, Nebraska lost 36–14 to Colorado in Boulder in 2023, but then won against Colorado 28-10 in 2024. Nebraska leads the series 50–21–2 through the 2024 season.[21]
Colorado's in-state rival is theColorado State Rams of theMountain West Conference, located north of Boulder inFort Collins. The two schools are separated by 45 miles (72 km) and both consider it important and noteworthy to beat the other for bragging rights for the next year. The two football teams annually compete in theRocky Mountain Showdown for the Centennial Cup, played inDenver, Fort Collins, and Boulder. The trophy takes its name from the state ofColorado's nickname of "The Centennial State". The Buffaloes lead the series 67–22–2 through the 2023 season.[22]
The rivalry withUtah ran from 1903 to 1962, in whichUtah and Colorado played each other nearly every year; through 1962 they had met 57 times.[23] At the time, it was the second-most played rivalry for both teams (Utah had playedUtah State 62 times;[24] Colorado had playedColorado State 61 times[25]). The rivalry was dormant until 2011, when both teams joined thePac-12, renewing the rivalry on an annual basis. The Colorado–Utah rivalry remains the fifth-most played rivalry in Utah's history, and eighth-most in Colorado's history.[26][27] Utah leads the series 34-32-3 through the 2022 season.[28]
Colorado has participated in 31 bowl games, with a record of 12–19 (.387).
.jpg)
 | This list has noprecise inclusion criteria as described in theManual of Style for standalone lists. Pleaseimprove this article by adding inclusion criteria, or discuss this issue on thetalk page.(July 2023) |
.jpg)
.jpg)
| Year | Name | Position | Rank in Heisman voting | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937 | Byron White | HB | 2nd | 264 |
| 1961 | Joe Romig | OG/LB | 6th | 279 |
| 1969 | Bobby Anderson | TB | 11th | 100 |
| 1971 | Charlie Davis | TB | 16th | 28 |
| 1989 | Darian Hagan | QB | 5th | 242 |
| 1990 | Eric Bieniemy | TB | 3rd | 798 |
| Darian Hagan | QB | 17th | 17 | |
| Mike Pritchard | WR | 50th | 2 | |
| 1991 | Darian Hagan | QB | 20th | 12 |
| 1992 | Ronnie Blackmon | CB | 30th | 4 |
| 1993 | Charles Johnson | WR | 15th | 24 |
| Michael Westbrook | WR | 61st | 1 | |
| 1994 | Rashaan Salaam | TB | 1st | 743 |
| Kordell Stewart | QB | 13th | 16 | |
| 2002 | Chris Brown | TB | 8th | 48 |
| 2024 | Travis Hunter | CB/WR | 1st | 2,231 |
| Shedeur Sanders | QB | 8th | 47 |
|
| Name | Induction | Ref |
|---|---|---|
| Byron White | 1952 | [38] |
| Joe Romig | 1984 | [39] |
| Dick Anderson | 1993 | [40] |
| Bobby Anderson | 2006 | [41] |
| Alfred Williams | 2010 | [42] |
| John Wooten | 2012 | [43] |
| Bill McCartney | 2013 | [44] |
| Herb Orvis | 2016 | [45] |
| Rashaan Salaam | 2022 |
Colorado has one inductee into thePro Football Hall of Fame.
The following is a list of Consensus All-Americans from CU as listed[when?] in NCAA record books.[2]
The following players have been honored by having theiruniform numbers designated asretired numbers by the Buffaloes.[46][47][48]
| Colorado Buffaloes retired numbers | ||||
| No. | Player | Pos. | Tenure | Year retired |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Shedeur Sanders | QB | 2023–2024 | 2025 |
| 11 | Bobby Anderson | QB/RB | 1967–1969 | 1969 |
| 12 | Travis Hunter | CB/WR | 2023–2024 | 2025 |
| 19† | Rashaan Salaam | RB | 1992–1994 | 2017 |
| 24 | Byron White | HB | 1935–1937 | 1937 |
| 67 | Joe Romig | G | 1959–1961 | 1961 |
† = Posthumously honored
In 2020, Colorado athletic directorRick George announced plans to re-issue uniform numbers 24, 67, and 11, with the support of the noted players (or their families).[46] Contemporary uniforms issued with those numbers will include a commemorative patch.[46] Nonetheless, no player has used any of those numbers since the announcement.[49][50][51][52] Uniform number 19 will remain unused for 19 years, after which it may be re-issued. In 2025 Shedeur Sanders' and Travis Hunter's numbers had been retired. Despite the controversy, they were drafted in the 2025 NFL draft as the 144th and 2nd pick respectively.[46]
On November 1, 2023, Colorado's Big 12 opponents from 2024 through 2027 were revealed.[53]
Home Schedule
| 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|
| Houston | Arizona State |
| Kansas State | Kansas |
| Texas Tech | TCU |
| UCF | West Virginia |
| Utah | − |
Away Schedule
| 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|
| Arizona State | Arizona |
| Baylor | BYU |
| Cincinnati | Houston |
| Oklahoma State | Iowa State |
| − | UCF |
Announced schedules as of December 19, 2023.[54]
| 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 | 2031 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sept. 5 atGeorgia Tech | Sept. 4 Colgate | Sept. 2 UMass | Sept. 1 TBA | Aug. 31 SMU | Aug. 30 Missouri |
| Sept. 12 Weber State | Sept. 11 Northwestern | Sept. 9 atFlorida | Sept. 8 Florida | Sept. 7 atMissouri | Sept. 6 atSMU |
| Sept. 19 atNorthwestern | Sept. 18 Northern Illinois | Sept. 16 Northern Colorado | Sept. 15 atColorado State | Sept. 14 Colorado State | Sept. 13 Northern Colorado |
Others beyond 2031: vs. North Texas, Sept. 4, 2032; at North Texas, Sept. 3, 2033; vs. Colorado State, Sept. 17, 2033; at Colorado State, Sept. 16, 2034; vs. Colorado State, Sept. 19, 2037; at Colorado State, Sept. 11, 2038.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)"All-Time Record"(PDF). CUBuffs.com. June 28, 2014. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on May 21, 2015. RetrievedMay 19, 2015.
Located in:Boulder, Colorado | |||||||||||
| Academics |
|  | |||||||||
| Research | |||||||||||
| Campus | |||||||||||
| Athletics |
| ||||||||||
| Student life |
| ||||||||||
| People | |||||||||||
| Related | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
