The Buffaloes Are Forever Linked With ESPN

The Buffaloes are in the middle of three straight night games on ESPN, beginning with last Friday in Houston and the next two Saturdays in Boulder versus Wyoming tonight and Brigham Young next Saturday.

Colorado is actually forever linked with the 24/7 sports network; I'll explain why later in this story. The Buffs actually have a rich tradition when it comes to football television, one that dates back some 74 years, and many significant games in history with ESPN cameras on hand.

On November 17, 1951, when not every American household even had a TV, the Buffaloes appeared on the tube for the first time. Bill Stern and Ray Michael handled the announcing chores for Colorado's 36-14 win at Nebraska. However, the broadcast aired only in the East and Midwest; in Denver, over 1,000 fans bought tickets ($2.40 each) to watch a closed-circuit broadcast at the Broadway Theatre in Denver that had been arranged by the Buffalo Roundup Club, CU's Denver-based alumni booster group.

It was the first televised game involving a team from the state of Colorado. Now, fast-forward 28 years to September 8, 1979.

On cable, the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN), launched the previous day at 5 p.m. mountain time with SportsCenter, hosted by George Grande and Lee Leonard. Just 30 minutes at first, a live event followed – a doubleheader in the American Professional Slow Pitch Softball World Series between the Milwaukee Schlitz and the Kentucky Bourbons (seriously).

At the time, live telecasts of college football were limited by the NCAA – maybe around 50-60 annually with one national game per week. Until 1984 that is, when the College Football Association (CFA, based right here in Boulder), and the universities of Georgia and Oklahoma won their landmark Supreme Court case freeing up the marketplace for many more broadcasts – and revenue at the time that had all gone to the NCAA coffers. But some games were approved for tape delay. That's where CU comes in.

The Buffaloes finished with a 6-5 record in 1978, losing five of its last six games with aspirations dashed – falling out of contention for the Big Eight Conference title and the Orange Bowl berth that it went with. Athletic Director Eddie Crowder made the decision to fire had coach Bill Mallory three days after the season. Crowder was intent with making a big splash with the next coaching hire. After a brief flirtation with Nebraska head coach Tom Osborne, Crowder turned his attention to a former rival across the sideline when he was coaching, one-time Oklahoma coach and then current head coach of the New England Patriots, Chuck Fairbanks.

The hiring a Fairbanks turned into a national circus, first with the story of the hiring broken nationally on Monday Night Football by Howard Cosell. The Patriots were a bit peeved to say the least, and wound up suing the university. It wouldn't be settled out of court until early April, when CU agreed to pay the Patriots $200,000 (chump change in today's world).

Thus, with the fanfare of Colorado hiring Chuck Fairbanks as head coach, the first college football game selected to be televised by ESPN was Oregon at CU. Jerry Gross handled the play-by-play duties, and Colorado's Irv Brown on color commentary (Brown was CU's Buff Club director after retiring as baseball coach after the '78 season). The game kicked off at 1:32 p.m. mountain time, but was tape delayed later in the day, airing after the third round of the LPGA's Sahara Open and SportsCenter.

Eddie Ford's 6-yard touchdown run and a Tom Field extra point tied the game at 16-16 with 9:44 left in the third quarter before the Ducks would pull away for a 33-19 win, spoiling Fairbanks' debut. Both teams ran 68 plays, but Oregon more than doubled the Buffs in total offense, 453-211.

A year later, on October 4, 1980, ESPN couldn't resist televising – again on tape delay – the CU-Oklahoma game from Boulder. The attraction? Fairbanks versus his old school and his successor, Barry Switzer. The game was a track meet, though mostly for the Sooners, who rushed for 758 yards in winning 82-42, the highest scoring game in NCAA history at the time (though it was a respectable 34-21 margin at halftime).   CU couldn't stop the Sooner offense, as they rolled up 875 total yards (on 80 plays) and were a ridiculous 10-of-11 on third down conversions while never punting.

Some 63 records – school, conference and NCAA – were established in the three-and-a-half marathon (during a time when almost all games were completed in less than three hours, unlike the present). The announcers for the game? Brown once again on color, with Stu Nahan on the play-by-play.

Wait a minute – Stu Nahan? You mean the guy who was a ringside announcer in three of the six Rocky movies and had a cameo in Fast Times at Ridgemont High? Yes, him. He also hosted Fairbanks' TV show on KWGN (Channel 2) for two years with his connection to Robert Six, the president of Continental Airlines who was a big CU booster – and married to actress Audrey Meadows of The Honeymooner's fame,

Seven years would pass before the Buffaloes were selected again for an ESPN broadcast, but for the first time live (and just CU's second night TV game aside from the '85 Freedom Bowl). Oklahoma again was the opponent, this time in Norman in 1987. By now, Bill McCartney was in his sixth year as CU's head coach, the third with the Buffaloes running the wishbone offense, the long-time "bread-and-butter" for the Sooners. OU had shutout the Buffs the last two seasons (31-0, 28-0, both in Boulder), but CU did get on the scoreboard with two Eric Hannah second quarter field goals in a 24-6 loss.

A year later, OU again was the opponent for the first-ever night game in Boulder.   The Sooners took a 17-14 lead with a field goal midway through the fourth quarter; CU attempted to tie it up with a 62-yard field goal try by Ken Culbertson that had the distance but sailed just wide to the right and OU held on. On TV? Yes. On ESPN, yes again.

CU's first win on ESPN soon followed on Labor Day night in 1989 (September 4). Many eyes were on this Buffalo team, having made national headlines when quarterback Sal Aunese was diagnosed with inoperable stomach cancer in March. Darian Hagan made his first career start, admitting he had butterflies leading up to and even after kickoff. But those soon dissipated when on the second play of the game, he broke free on an option run and gained 75 yards, finally hauled down at the Texas 2 – the start of a 27-6 win over the Longhorns and an 11-0 regular season.

To date, it was Colorado's only game on Labor Day in its history. ESPN has also televised a few other notable games in school history, starting with two in 1990. After a 1-1-1 start, the Buffaloes rallied from down 22-14 after three quarters in Austin to defeat Texas, 29-22 on September 22, in what many refer to as the turning point of the national championship season. Then on November 3, in the wind, cold and rain in Lincoln, after spotting the No. 3 Cornhuskers a 12-0 lead, four fourth quarter touchdowns by Eric Bieniemy rallied the Buffs to a 27-12 victory.

The network was on hand for the first game at Folsom Field with the spanking brand-new Dal Ward Athletic Center framing the north end of the stadium, a 30-13 win over Wyoming on opening day in 1991. Later that year, in CU's version of the "Ice Bowl" (a.k.a., the '67 NFL title game – Dallas at Green Bay), a 19-19 tie with Nebraska when Greg Thomas blocked a potential game-winning field goal by the Huskers as time ran out.

In 1994, ESPN televised CU's 55-17 throttling of defending Big Ten and Rose Bowl champion, No. 10 Wisconsin, and in 1995, the "asterisk" game –at No. 10 Oklahoma. Quarterback Koy Detmer was injured the week before against Texas A&M, with John Hessler taking over the reins; Sooner coach Howard Schnellenberger said during the week, "I would prefer Detmer play. I don't want a damn asterisk when we beat their ass." Hessler threw a school record five touchdown passes in the 38-17 win.

The '98 season opener was the first officially called the "Rocky Mountain Showdown" – the annual battle between CU and Colorado State which was moved to Mile High Stadium in Denver. Mike Moschetti made his debut as CU quarterback, throwing for 257 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Buffs to a 42-14 win – yes, before ESPN television cameras.

ESPN was in Tucson for the last day of the millennium (December 31, 1999), broadcasting CU's 62-28 rout of Boston College in the Insight.com Bowl. It returned to Denver for the '03 opener with CSU, a 42-35 Buffalo win in a see-saw game with a 28-minute lightning delay late in the third quarter that literally hit after a 78-yard touchdown pass from Joel Klatt to Derek McCoy.

On a September Thursday Night at Folsom in 2008, CU alum and long-time ESPN GameDay host Chris Fowler called his first Buffalo game, a 17-14 overtime win over West Virginia. Fast-forward to the 2016 opener in Denver, a talented senior-laden Buffalo team opened its best season to date (10-4) since 2001 with a 44-7 rout of the Rams in the Rocky Mountain Showdown. And during the wacky COVID-19 season that didn't begin for Pac-12 schools until November, ESPN televised CU's 48-42 opening win over UCLA in Boulder and a 35-32 win at Stanford a week later.

Tonight, will be the ninth time ESPN cameras will be rolling for a game in the "Coach Prime" Era. Its first was a classic, CU's double-overtime win over CSU, 43-35 on September 16, 2003.

In all, the Buffaloes have appeared on the ESPN family of networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU) 78 times before tonight, including last week's Friday night affair in Houston.    It includes nine bowl games – CU's last seven – including all four Alamo Bowl appearances in San Antonio – as well as 30 night games from Folsom Field.

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