A Look Back at Arizona's Long Rivalry With Colorado
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The 4-3 Arizona Wildcats are fully geared up to take on the 3-5 Colorado Buffaloes at Folsom Stadium following their second and final bye week, giving them time to correct any mistakes that were made in the first seven games.
Arizona dominated its way to a 3-0 start, but the team faltered afterward, going 1-3 in the next four games and losing the last two by a combined 9 points. One of those losses to BYU came in double overtime after the Wildcats made a remarkable 14-point comeback in the first quarter.
The Buffaloes, on the other hand, have gone 3-5 in their first eight games of the season and suffered a 53-7 stomping by the Utah Utes last week. Just before that, they upset the Iowa State Cyclones 24-14 on their own home field.
Both Arizona and Colorado are attempting to get their seasons back on the winning track, but only one can leave Folsom Field with a victory on its record. There is a lot of history between the two teams, as they have been playing each other since the 1930s, when Arizona was part of the Border Conference and Colorado was part of the Rocky Mountain Faculty Athletic Conference.
The Wildcats and the Buffaloes have seen a ton of success since then, from winning national championships to top-five defenses. Here is a look at their history.
The first meetings
Arizona and Colorado first met on the football field in 1931, which would be the first of many football games played between the two. Colorado took the first game in Arizona Stadium by a 27-7 score.
The Wildcats would have to wait some time before getting an opportunity to get their revenge, as they did not play Colorado again for 19 years.
A long losing streak
Arizona met with Colorado again in 1950 with high hopes of beating the Buffaloes by a convincing margin. That would not happen as Colorado would beat Arizona yet again, this time by a close 28-25 score.
That defeat was the second of a long 12-game losing streak to the Buffaloes. Arizona would fail to get any of those games, save the first one, within a single possession.
Arizona competed against Colorado in the Border Conference until 1961, when it switched to the Western Athletic Conference. Colorado was part of the Big 7 until Oklahoma State joined in 1958, making it the Big 8. After 1960, the two teams did not meet again until 1985. Colorado won that matchup in Arizona Stadium 14-13, which was the second of the first 12 games decided by a single possession.
Breaking the streak/Pac 12 foes
Arizona played Colorado in 1986 after its 1-point home defeat, breaking the 12-game losing streak in Boulder by a 24-21 score.
By 2011, Arizona was a part of the Pac-12 and Colorado joined that year after a long stint with the Big 12.
Colorado won the first game in Boulder 49-24, but Arizona won the next one at home 56-31. That win was largely due to Ka'Deem Carey's 366-yard, five-touchdown game that broke both the Pac-12 record and Arizona record for most single-game rushing yards.
That game in 2012 was the start of a four-game winning streak against Colorado. The Buffaloes won the next match-up in 2016, but Arizona won the next three. 2017 saw Khalil Tate break the FBS record for most rushing yards by a quarterback in a single game.
Arizona and Colorado split the next four games from 2020 to 2023. Before the two teams switched to the Big 12, Arizona led the Pac-12 rivalry 9-4.
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Nathaniel Martinez and a set of shoulder pads at 7 years old. He later graduated from Pima Community College in 2023, where he began writing for the Pima Post. He is working to achieve a Bachelor’s in Mass Communication and Media Studies.