Top Rivalries Series: Part 2 Of 5, The University of Denver

BOULDER - Separated by just 32 miles down the Boulder Turnpike and I-25, there is no rival school in closer proximity to CU than the University of Denver. And for the soccer program, there is no bigger rival.

"For us, the obvious [rivalry] since Day 1, has been the University of Denver," soccer head coach Danny Sanchez said recently in a Buffalo Stampede interview with Mark Johnson, "just because of the proximity, quality of their program, and a lot of the players played with each other growing up."

This is the second part in a five-part rivalries series. The first looked at six of CU's seven former Big Eight Conference rivals.

"In my first year in 2012, we went into Denver and I fired [the team] up with a Rocky speech and we got rolled 4-1 and their Denver team went to the Sweet Sixteen," Sanchez said. "And the next year, I fired them up again and we went into Denver and we lost 3-0. That year, 2013, we snuck into the NCAA Tournament and I remember [before facing DU again in the postseason] going, 'I have to scrap these speeches; they're fired up and they go guns a-blazing,' and we said, 'hey, we're just happy to be here.' We went in and Anne Stuller scored that goal for us to advance in the NCAA Tournament in 2013. It's been a great run for us since then."

The 2013 NCAA Tournament game was no doubt a turning point in the rivalry, starting a current streak of eight wins for CU, though six have been decided by one goal. Stuller's goal was the only score in that game with her 84th-minute strike off a free kick lifting the Buffs to the second round before they advanced to the Round of 16.

The two teams met again in the 2017 NCAA Tournament when CU rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit to win with two second-half goals.

"A lot of these matches have been really close, a couple of NCAA Tournament games were overtime and one-goal games," Sanchez said. "It's been a great run against them and we have a lot of mutual respect between the programs."

No doubt it's been an intense rivalry. Seventeen of the 25 all-time matchups between the two schools have been decided by one goal or been a tie. CU leads the all-time series 16-8-1, pulling ahead with its recent streak. Overall, the Buffs are 8-2-0 under Sanchez vs. the Pioneers.

Facing its top rival before conference play has also helped prepare the Buffs for the level of play needed for an 11-game Pac-12 schedule.

"We always play them in our last weekend before conference play and I say, 'listen, this is like a Pac-12 game. For us, we have 11 more, basically NCAA Tournament games, but for the University of Denver, this is the game they circle every year on the calendar. For us, we put the same kind of emphasis on it to be ready for Pac-12 play and to play an NCAA Tournament team."

CU's soccer team isn't the only team to develop a rivalry with DU, however.

Besides soccer, no team has a bigger rivalry with DU than skiing. The Pioneers are the only school with more national championships than CU with Denver holding a 24-20 edge in that category. However, CU holds the lead in individual championships with 95 compared to Denver's 91. The two schools are among the top three finishers at the NCAA Championships nearly every year and consistently battle each other for the spot atop the podium.

The rivalry also was intense between the coaches, DU's Willy Schaeffler and CU's Bob Beattie, followed by Bill Mallory. Schaeffler coached DU from 1948-70 and when CU got good, the rivalry really heated up. He was tagged as America's greatest ski coach, which irked supporters of Beattie, but then Marolt eventually got the tag.

While CU's lacrosse team has only existed for seven years, the Buffs have already developed a tense rivalry with Denver. Despite DU sponsoring lacrosse since 1999, a 15-year head start on building its program, the Buffs have been with Denver step-for-step. The Pioneers lead the series 4-2 (the 2020 game was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic).

The Buffs won a wild matchup in Denver 11-10 in 2016, building a 4-0 lead, but letting the Pioneers cut the lead to one three different times. CU enjoyed a dominating 14-3 win in Boulder in 2017 when the Pios were ranked No. 14, but Denver has won the past two matchups by scores of 10-8 and 9-7.

Men's basketball is 58-25 all-time vs. Denver and has won seven straight games in the series. However, the two teams have faced off just six times since 1980. Historically, CU has earned some key victories in the series. In 1913 the Buffs won 26-12 to win their first conference championship, back in the Rocky Mountain Conference. The 100th win in CU men's basketball history came vs. the Pioneers on March 13, 1920, a 27-10 victory. Just one year later, the Buffs beat DU to cap a perfect 8-0 season and win another RMC championship.

In 1937 CU beat Denver 43-38 on Jan. 8 in the first-ever game in Balch Fieldhouse, which would be home to the Buffs for the next 42 years. The following season, Colorado moved to the Mountain States Conference and a 58-38 win over DU on Feb. 19 gave the Buffs the MSC title. On March 2, 1940, CU beat the Pioneers for its third consecutive MSC championship.

Women's basketball doesn't have the history that men's basketball does with just 11 all-time matchups and CU leading the series 9-2. The Buffs have won five consecutive games, including 96-70 in Boulder last season. The only two games in the series decided by fewer than five points were both of DU's wins.

Colorado leads the series 30-14 in tennis against Denver, though DU has won the past five matchups. Thirteen matches have been decided by one point.

Volleyball has not been much of a rivalry with CU leading the all-time series 9-1, including nine consecutive wins. The two teams last faced each other in 2009.

While Denver no longer sponsors football, when the Pioneers did have a program it was an intense rivalry. CU's first-ever win in Boulder was a 46-0 victory over DU on Nov. 8, 1892. CU and DU met on the gridiron 44 times, with CU winning the series, 26-14-4. On several occasions, a loss by one to the other cost the loser a chance at winning or tying for a conference title. The series became a regular Thanksgiving Day affair in 1925, when the two met almost annually until the series ended in 1947 when CU joined the Big Seven Conference. DU won the final game that year, 26-20, dropping the Buffs to 4-5 on the season to thwart exiting their regional colleagues with a winning record.

Prior to the Ralphie program, the first live buffalo to attend a CU football game came in 1934, three weeks after the nickname "Buffaloes" was selected for CU athletics. That buffalo stood on the sidelines with a cowboy and four students keeping it under control and it watched the Buffaloes beat DU 7-0 on Thanksgiving Day.

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

Top Rivalries Series: Part 2 Of 5, The University of Denver

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