Buffs, Washington Set Future Dates In Football

#articleRelated { display: none; } BOULDER - The University of Colorado and the University of Washington have mutually agreed to a home-and-home series in football in the next decade, renewing a rivalry that will have begun exactly 100 years prior to the series resuming in 2015.

Both schools jointly announced the agreement Thursday.

Colorado will host the Huskies in Boulder on September 12, 2015, with the Buffaloes to return the game in Seattle on September 10, 2016.

"We are excited to renew our series with the University of Washington, the latest set of games that is really adding to the attractiveness of our future schedules over the course of the next decade," CU athletic director Mike Bohn said. "Washington is a great team to have come to Boulder for our fans, and historically, we have traveled very well to Seattle. These are the kind of series that make college football, good intersectional and interconference rivalries that the players, coaches and fans all enjoy and want to see."

"We are very pleased to renew this series with the University of Colorado," Washington athletic director Todd Turner said. "With this game, we are continuing our commitment to schedule nationally renowned programs that put the UW football program in the national spotlight. Our fans have always enjoyed these major rivalries especially with the University of Colorado and the other members of the Big 12 Conference."

The 11-game series has had several memorable moments for both schools, not to mention that it's been an even one: each school has five wins with one ending in a tie. Washington won the first meeting in 1915 by a 46-0 score in Seattle; it was the first time in the then-CU program's 25 year history that the school traveled beyond four neighboring states (Kansas, Nebraska, Utah, Wyoming) for a football game.

The second meeting didn't occur until 1953, when Colorado returned to Seattle but this time left with a 21-20 win; the difference was a missed extra point in an evenly fought game. The schools played twice more that decade and again in 1976, with a 1985 Buff-Huskies battle in the Freedom Bowl the first postseason appearance by the Buffaloes in nine seasons. Washington staved off two late CU rallies to win that one, 20-17.

The 1989 meeting Seattle was wrought with emotion for the Buffaloes, as quarterback Sal Aunese passed away the previous Saturday following a six month battle with stomach cancer. CU played like a team possessed that day, topping the No. 21 Huskies, 45-28, after building a 38-6 lead late in the third quarter. The Buffaloes went on to win the Big Eight and finish the regular season 11-0, their best regular season record in history.

In 1990, Deon Figures' interception in the end zone in the final minute preserved a 20-14 win in CU's final non-league game en route to the national championship. In the 1996 Holiday Bowl, the Buffaloes recorded the fifth-largest postseason comeback ever at the time in rallying from 14-0 down early for a 33-21 win as Koy Detmer passed for 371 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Buffs.

Most recently, the Huskies won back-to-back thrillers over the Buffaloes in 1999 (31-24 in Seattle) and 2000 (17-14 in Boulder). Rick Neuheisel, who was CU's head coach from 1995-98, moved on to UW in '99 and would defeat his former school twice, the latter on the way to the Huskies winning the Pac-10 Conference title and the Rose Bowl.

The addition of Washington to future CU schedules is the sixth home-and-home series Colorado has lined up in the last 12 months. Announced previously were series with Louisiana State (2011-12), Minnesota (2012-13), Utah (2012-13), Arizona State (2013-18) and Oregon (2014-17).