CU's Top Rivalries Series: Part 1 Of 5, The Big Eight Conference

BOULDER -- Rivalries are built over years of hard-fought games and some bad blood. When it comes to Colorado's rivalries, it's hard to top the old Big Eight foes: Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Missouri, Iowa State, and of course, Nebraska. We'll talk more about Nebraska later in this rivalries series, however.

This is part one of a five-part series looking at CU's top historical rivalries.

"It started with the players," legendary women's basketball coach and administrator Ceal Barry said in the latest Buffalo Stampede interview with Mark Johnson about rivalries. "The players in the locker room when the coaches aren't in there, they're the ones that get each other fired up about another team. Honestly, when I think about our players, getting fired up, the hatred that they generated for the other team, it usually was some player from the other team that kind of instigated bad sportsmanship or taunted them. They would never ever forget that...and they couldn't wait to play that team again."

Often the rivalries were built up on road trips and staying in the same hotel, killing time waiting for the game to start. Barry remembered her teams staying at Holidome hotels in many Big Eight conference towns with a lot of downtime that was spent talking and playing games. "Those great rivalries, [the players] talk themselves into a frenzy when we're waiting to play the next game. Those were some great moments and the fans would catch onto that."

Kansas
When it came to women's basketball rivalries, few were comparable to Kansas. The Jayhawks always filled Allen Fieldhouse and their former head coach Marian Washington always put a strong team together. KU holds a slight 36-33 edge in the all-time series, but the Buffs were 27-23 vs. the Jayhawks under Barry, including several winning streaks of four or more games.

While Barry's teams reigned supreme during the Big Eight era (CU had the conference's best all-time record in league play at 125-69, .644), KU was a close second with a .614 winning percentage. The teams frequently met in the conference tournament, facing off six times in the final nine years of the Big Eight tournament, including four times in the championship game. The Buffs walked away with four Big Eight tournament championships in the final eight years of the league, matching Kansas State for the most overall in the conference's 14-year history.

The men's basketball series with KU has not been as kind to the Buffs as the Jayhawks lead 124-40 all-time. But one of the most memorable wins in program history came in 2013 when Askia Booker hit a 35-foot shot at the buzzer to lift CU to a 75-72 win in Boulder in a non-conference matchup.

Additionally, CU's first-ever NCAA Tournament win came against the Jayhawks, a 46-44 decision in 1942. The Buffs later advanced to their first of two Final Fours. Adding more fuel to the rivalry, Colorado and Kansas tied for the 1953-54 Big Seven regular season title and the Buffaloes advanced to the NCAA Tournament over the Jayhawks—on a name drawn out of a hat. Then on March 10, 1962, CU rallied from 10 points down with 4:14 remaining to beat Kansas, 63-59 to win the Big Eight Conference title.

Kansas has been a worthy opponent in soccer with CU leading the all-time series 9-8-1. One match that stands out came in the first round of the 2006 Big 12 tournament when CU advanced past the Jayhawks 5-4 on penalty kicks and went on to reach the championship match.

The football series has been historically dominated by CU with the Buffs holding a 42-25-3 record. The storied history of the rivalry has produced some big games over the years, but perhaps none bigger than 1961. KU held a 19-0 lead early in the fourth quarter before the Buffs stormed back with three touchdowns in the final 13 minutes for a 20-19 win, a key victory during CU's run to its first Big Eight title.

One of the most memorable recent games in the series was the 50-47 overtime win for Colorado in 2003. In that game, CU rallied from deficits of 7-0, 35-24, 38-30 and 44-38 to win in a game that featured 1,184 yards of total offense.

The Buffs are 35-15 all-time against the Jayhawks in volleyball. In an epic five-set win in 2003, middle blocker Monique Gerlach became the fifth CU player to reach 1,300 career kills and setter Allison Barnes became the sixth Buffalo to reach 1,000 career assists. A 2005 matchup had more milestones as Allie Griffin recorded her 1,000th career kill and Nicole Carr
picked up her 1,000th career dig in a five-set loss. Eight of the 22 matches between the two squads since 2000 have gone to five sets.

Kansas State
While on the surface K-State wasn't a particularly big rivalry for Barry's women's basketball team, the numbers would tell a different story as the Wildcats hold a 35-33 all-time lead in the series. However, that has included several big momentum shifts. Early on, K-State took control of the series by winning 10 of the first 11 matchups. From 1988 to 1997, it was all Buffs, winning 20 out of 21 games. But from 2003 on, it's been the Wildcats regaining control with a 15-4 record during that stretch.

One of the marquee games in the women's basketball series was Feb. 23, 2002, when Barry's 11th-ranked team hosted the 12th-ranked Wildcats. Despite the top-15 matchup, it wasn't much of a game. The Buffs dominated from the opening tip, leading 40-12 at halftime on their way to a 79-58 victory.

The volleyball team also enjoyed a tight series with the Wildcats. The Buffs hold a 26-23 all-time edge against Kansas State. On Sept. 15, 2004, CU swept 15th-ranked K-State, its first win over a top-15 team since 1998, and Lara Bossow tied a school record for a three-set match with 11 blocks.

Much like the KU rivalry, CU has controlled the football series 45-20-1 all-time. The Buffs went 11-0-1 vs. the Wildcats in 12 games from 1985 to 1996. More recently, however, the series took on more of a rivalry feel with CU winning six of the past 10 games with six of those decided by 10 points or fewer.

K-State leads the all-time series 97-47 in men's basketball. The Buffs have enjoyed some recent success against the Wildcats, winning the last three matchups including a win in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Big 12 tournament when K-State was ranked No. 19 in the nation.

Colorado had several historically somewhat improbable wins against the Wildcats in the early days of the Big Eight. Colorado's first win over a ranked opponent in men's hoops came on Feb. 23, 1952, as the Buffaloes upset No. 3 Kansas State 67-57. The greatest known comeback in CU history came during the team's 1955 Final Four run vs. the Wildcats. The Buffaloes trailed K-State by 23 points in Manhattan before rallying for a 63-60 win on Feb. 26.

Then on Feb. 6, 1960, CU, without two starters, managed to down Kansas State, 65-50, to snap the Wildcats' 19-game conference winning streak. Three years later on March 9, 1963, CU's 69-56 victory over Kansas State in Manhattan gave CU a share of the Big Eight title with the Wildcats. The Buffs advanced to the NCAA playoffs because they had more wins.

Missouri
Few games are more memorable in CU football history than the infamous fifth down game in which the officials inadvertently gave the Buffs an extra down to allow them to score the game-winning touchdown in a 33-31 thriller during the 1990 national championship season.

But the football series has been more than just that game and the Tigers actually hold the all-time edge 41-31-3. That includes the biggest comeback win in Colorado history (20 points). In 1978 the Buffs rallied from down 27-7 in the third quarter to win 28-27 over the 13th-ranked Tigers.

The script was nearly flipped in 2002 when Mizzou rallied from a 27-7 deficit in the third quarter to force overtime, only to be thwarted by a 1-yard touchdown by Chris Brown, his 211th rushing yard of the game. That win helped enable the Buffs to reach the 2002 Big 12 Championship game, though they still needed wins the following two weeks over Iowa State and Nebraska to secure that spot.

CU's women's basketball team has historically dominated Missouri, particularly under Barry. From 1998 to 2005, Barry's Buffs won 30 out of 39 games against the Tigers that included a 4-1 record in the Big Eight and Big 12 tournaments. That one Missouri win, however, was an overtime thriller as the Tigers prevailed 79-71 in the 1994 Big Eight title game.

The Buffs have held the upper hand against the Tigers in volleyball, leading the all-time series 38-19. On Nov. 20, 1993, CU swept Missouri to claim the Big Eight regular season championship. It was the only Big Eight Conference title won by a team other than Nebraska during the conference's 20 years.

In 1998 on Halloween night, the Buffs played in one of the wildest matches in school history. First serve was delayed two hours after Missouri's Basketball Madness went long in Hearnes Arena. In front of a packed arena leftover from the basketball event, the Tigers breezed to a 15-3 win in the first set. But most of the crowd left after the opening frame and the Buffs rallied back for a 3-15, 15-6, 15-11, 16-14 win to improve to 17-2, the best record through 19 matches at that point in program history.

The Buffs picked up a big win on Oct. 29, 2005, upsetting eighth-ranked Missouri on the road in five sets, their first win over a top-10 opponent since 1997. It was also the first win in Columbia since 1999. A year later in Boulder, Amber Sutherland put down 35 kills, the third-highest kills total in CU history, in another five-set win.

Missouri was a tough matchup for CU in soccer as the Tigers hold a 14-7-1 record in the series. One of the key wins for CU came in the 2003 Big 12 championship season for the Buffs as they rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat MU on Sept. 26. Another big win came just one year later in the first round of the Big 12 tournament as Fran Munnelly scored on a penalty kick in the 99th minute for a 2-1 overtime victory. The Buffs won a 6-0 shocker in a 2018 non-conference matchup in Boulder as Tatum Barton netted the sixth hat trick in school history. CU broke the school record with 22 points in that match as well.

Missouri leads the men's basketball series 96-55, but the Buffs have still had their moments. Colorado pulled off the biggest upset in Big Eight Tournament history in 1990 as the eighth-seeded Buffs upset top seed and No. 6 nationally-ranked Missouri, 92-88 in overtime. In 1969 CU clinched its last regular season conference title with a 92-73 win over Missouri. The win gave the Buffaloes their first-ever 20-win season.

Iowa State
This was one of men's basketball's better rivalries with the Cyclones leading 78-70 all-time. Perhaps the most memorable game in the series came in 2005 when CU edged the Cyclones 54-52 in overtime for its first win in Ames since 1991. Andy Osborn buried a 3-pointer with 15.9 seconds left in overtime and the Buffs held on. A year later in 2006, CU won 82-80 in Boulder to close out the regular season. In 2011 Alec Burks scored 29 points to lead a comeback in a 77-75 win in the first round of the Big 12 tournament.

The longest game in Colorado, and at the time Big Eight, history was a five-overtime contest on Feb. 20, 1960. The Cyclones won the game, played at Balch Fieldhouse, 83-80. On March 7, 1984, CU's 65-62 win at Iowa State earned the team its second trip to the Big Eight Tournament final four in Kansas City, becoming the first team in league history to win twice on the road in the league playoffs.

Women's basketball's 37-30 all-time record would suggest a rivalry with ISU, however it's been a series of streaks. CU won 16 straight games from 1991-97 and the Cyclones have taken 14 of the past 16 matchups. However, during CU's Elite Eight season in 2001-02, the rivalry took on some notoriety with the two teams ranked in the top 20 and splitting the regular season matchup before ISU edged the Buffs 58-56 in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament. CU responded to sweep the next four matchups in 2003 and 2004.

CU has dominated the Cyclones historically in volleyball, holding a 40-17 edge, their best record against a Big Eight opponent. CU had some of its best defensive performances against the Cyclones in the mid-90s. In 1994 Katie Downey set a school record that still holds up with 41 digs in a five-set thriller, a 14-16, 16-14, 11-15, 15-11, 16-14 win in Boulder. The win helped qualify for the Buffs for their fifth NCAA Tournament in the program's ninth year of existence. A year later Rachel Wacholder had 40 digs in a four-set loss in the Big Eight Tournament. But her 106 attack attempts that night were an NCAA record.

In football, it's also been a landslide in CU's favor with the Buffs leading the series 49-15-1. CU won 16 straight games from 1984-99. During that winning streak in 1994's 41-20 win, Rashaan Salaam eclipsed the 2,000-yard mark with a 67-yard touchdown run that put him at 2,055 yards on the season that not only sealed the win, but also capped his Heisman Trophy campaign.

Few series have been as one-sided for CU soccer than the matchup with Iowa State as the Buffs lead 14-2-1. Colorado is 10-0-1 over the past 11 matchups.

Oklahoma
CU's volleyball team is 38-19 all-time vs. the Sooners and the two teams met four times in the Big Eight tournament. From 1990 to 2003, CU won 27 of 28 matches against OU.

Women's basketball leads the all-time series 34-22 vs. the Sooners, though OU has had its moments. Oklahoma knocked the Buffs out of the NCAA Tournament in the Elite Eight in 2002.

CU soccer holds the upper hand vs. OU, 9-5-1 all-time. The lone draw in CU's 2003 Big 12 regular season championship came at the hands of the 18th-ranked Sooners as neither team found the net in 110 minutes. Nikki Marshall scored a school-record four goals in a 5-1 win over OU in 2009.

In football, this was a lopsided series in favor of the Sooners, who lead 40-17-2 all-time. The two teams faced each other in both the 2002 and 2004 Big 12 Championship games, but OU won both of those matchups. The 2007 game, however, was a memorable one for CU fans as the Buffs shocked third-ranked Oklahoma on a last-second 45-yard field goal by Kevin Eberhart for a 27-24 victory in Boulder.

During the 1950s, OU was 47-0-1 in Big Seven Conference play in football. The only blemish on that record was 21-21 tie in Boulder in 1952. In 1970 CU edged No. 2-ranked Oklahoma 20-14 in Boulder. The Sooners entered that game having outscored their opponents 196-6.

OU leads the all-time series in men's basketball 88-49.

Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State became a rivalry for women's basketball that started with a controversial play late in the 1989 Big Eight championship game, which the Buffs won in double overtime.

"The first Big Eight championship that Colorado women's basketball won was a double overtime victory against Oklahoma State," Barry said. "When I think about it, those players back then, Annan Wilson, Bridget Turner, Tracy Tripp, [OSU] had a player who hit a shot after she traveled. She took three steps. Our players came back to the huddle and they said, 'she took three steps' before she hit a jump shot and tied it. [Wilson, Turner and Tripp] still talk about that kid."

The rivalry no doubt became heated with the all-time series tied 26-26. But that double overtime win in the 1989 championship game lit a fire under the Buffs. That game came early on during a stretch when CU won 14 of 18 games vs. the Cowgirls.

In football, Colorado holds a 26-20-1 edge over OSU. A key win for CU came in the 2001 Big 12 championship season as the Buffs, coming off a disappointing loss to Texas, rallied late in the fourth quarter as Bobby Pesavento found Daniel Graham for a 21-yard touchdown with 5:54 remaining as CU erased a 19-7 second-half deficit to win 22-19.

CU has controlled the soccer series with a 10-4-3 all-time record vs. Oklahoma State. A big match for CU came in the semifinals of the 2008 Big 12 tournament when they advanced past OSU on penalties as CU goalkeeper Kirstin Radlinski stopped three of the five shots from the spot. During the 110 minute of game action, she made a career-high 12 stops as OSU kept her under pressure all game. More recently, a memorable 3-1 CU victory advanced the Buffs to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after two OSU own goals.

In men's basketball, OSU leads the series 61-48, though CU has a number of big victories. In 1990 the Buffs became the first No. 8 seed to reach the Big Eight Tournament championship game after defeating Oklahoma State 82-72 in the semifinals. On Feb. 12, 1992, Colorado claimed its highest-ranked win in AP Poll history by defeating the No. 2-ranked Cowboys 57-53 at the CU Events Center.

The two teams also played back-to-back overtime games in 1997 and 1998, splitting the two contests. Then in 2006 Richard Roby scored 27 points, including the game-winning basket, in an 80-78 win in Stillwater.

The Buffs also developed a rivalry with OSU in men's cross country. While no school compares to CU's dominance in the sport, the Cowboys were the only school to win a Big Eight or Big 12 men's team championship besides the Buffs from 1995 to 2011 (CU's last year in the Big 12). OSU won four titles during that stretch, compared to CU's 13.

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After CU and the Big Eight schools moved to the Big 12 in 1996, some rivalries were no doubt developed with Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Baylor. But nothing runs as deep as the history of the Big Eight rivalries.

This is the first in a five-part series recapping some of CU's greatest rivalries. Look for more over the next couple of weeks.

Colorado University Athletics

CU's Top Rivalries Series: Part 1 Of 5, The Big Eight Conference

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