From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

1989 Colorado Buffaloes football team

American college football season

Field	Value
year	1989
team	Colorado Buffaloes
sport	football
conference	Big Eight Conference
short_conf	Big 8
CoachRank	4
APRank	4
record	11–1
conf_record	7–0
head_coach	Bill McCartney
hc_year	8th
off_coach	Gerry DiNardo
oc_year	6th
off_scheme	I-Bone option
def_coach	Mike Hankwitz
dc_year	2nd
def_scheme	[5–2](5-2-defense)
mvp	Darian Hagan
captain	Sal Aunese (honorary)
captain2	Bill Coleman
captain3	Mike Jones
captain4	Erich Kissick
captain5	Bruce Young
stadium	Folsom Field
champion	Big 8 champion
bowl	[Orange Bowl](1990-orange-bowl)
bowl_result	L 6–21 vs. [Notre Dame](1989-notre-dame-fighting-irish-football-team)

The 1989 Colorado Buffaloes football team represented the University of Colorado at Boulder in the Big Eight Conference during the 1989 NCAA Division I-A football season. Colorado finished with the most wins in school history, surpassing the 1971 team, and their first conference championship in thirteen years. The Buffaloes went undefeated in the regular season at 11–0 (7–0 in Big 8) and played for the national title, but lost to fourth-ranked Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.

The team dedicated the season to senior and former starting quarterback Sal Aunese, who was diagnosed with stomach cancer in late March, and died at age 21 on September 23 due to complications from the disease.

For the first time in 28 years, Colorado defeated Oklahoma and Nebraska in the same season. In the 27 seasons in between, they had five wins over Oklahoma (1965, 1966, 1968, 1972, 1976) and two over Nebraska (1967, 1986).

In another feel-good story, the team was host to a Make A Wish recipient Chad Henry for the big game against Nebraska in Boulder. Henry was an up-and-coming high school football player from Indiana, Pennsylvania, and the son of college/NFL coach Jack Henry, who began following the Buffaloes after reading about Sal Aunese's battle with cancer while himself battling a very rare and dangerous form of abdominal cancer. After cheering on the Buffs to the biggest win in school history in early November, Henry and his family were also invited to attend the national championship game in Miami as guests of the university. He went on to defeat the disease and did play football for his high school again in 1990. Although his once promising football career was ended following that season due to complications with side effects from the intense chemotherapy he endured, Henry went on to coach football at his high school and became a scout for the NFL's Detroit Lions and is currently with the Indianapolis Colts.

Schedule

|{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = w |{{CFB schedule entry | w/l = l

Rankings

Game summaries

Texas

Colorado State

Illinois

At Washington

Missouri

At Iowa State

Kansas

At Oklahoma

;First quarter

No scoring ;Second quarter
CU – Ken Culbertson 30-yard field goal. ''Colorado 3–0. '''Drive: 11 plays, 50 yards.'''''
CU – J.J. Flannigan 1-yard run (Ken Culbertson kick). Colorado 10–0. ;Third quarter
No scoring ;Fourth quarter
OU – R.D. Lashar 33-yard field goal. Colorado 10–3.
CU – Ken Culbertson 27-yard field goal, 9:49. ''Colorado 13–3. '''Drive: 9 plays.'''''
CU – Darian Hagan 8-yard run (Ken Culbertson kick). Colorado 20–3. ;Top rushers
CU –Darian Hagan – 21 rushes, 107 yards, TD
Colorado 8-0 for first time since 1927
Culbertson's field goal in second quarter gave Colorado its first lead over Oklahoma in a game since 1976
Colorado's first win in Norman since 1965
J.J. Flannigan 25 rushes, 103 yards
Arthur Walker 8 tackles, sack (Big 8 Defensive Player of Week)

|access-date=October 14, 2022

Nebraska

Colorado honored their All-Century team at halftime

At Oklahoma State

At Kansas State

Orange Bowl (vs. Notre Dame)

Main article: 1990 Orange Bowl

First quarter

No scoring Second quarter
No scoring Third quarter
ND – Anthony Johnson 2-yard run (Craig Hentrich kick), 11:48. Notre Dame 7–0.
ND – Raghib Ismail 35-yard run (Craig Hentrich kick), 7:19. Notre Dame 14–0.
CU – Darian Hagan 39-yard run (kick failed), 0:01. Notre Dame 14–6. Fourth quarter
ND – Anthony Johnson 7-yard run (Craig Hentrich kick), 1:32. Notre Dame 21–6. ;Top passers
ND – Tony Rice – 5/9, 99 yards
CU – Darian Hagan – 4/13, 65 yards ;Top rushers
ND – Anthony Johnson – 15 rushes, 89 yards, 2 TD
CU – Eric Bieniemy – 11 rushes, 66 yards ;Top receivers
ND – Pat Eilers – 2 receptions, 47 yards
CU – Eric Kissick – 2 receptions, 33 yards

Personnel

Bill McCartney (8th year)
Gary Barnett
Mike Barry
Gerry DiNardo (OC)
Don Frease
Mike Hankwitz (DC)
Oliver Lucas
Bob Simmons
Ron Vanderlinden
Zaven Yaralian

References

(January 1, 1990). "No crown for Buffs". Lawrence Daily Journal-World.
(March 31, 1989). "Colorado quarterback stricken by cancer". Eugene Register-Guard.
(September 25, 1989). "Colorado mourns quarterback's death". Eugene Register-Guard.
(September 26, 1989). "2,000 bid farewell to Aunese". Eugene Register-Guard.
(October 1, 1989). "Colorado tips Washington after memorial". Lawrence Daily Journal-World.
(October 29, 1989). "Colorado ends Oklahoma domination, 20-3". Lawrence Daily Journal-World.
(November 5, 1989). "Colorado nails Nebraska, 27-21". Lawrence Daily Journal-World.
(September 5, 1989). "Hagen runs, passes Colorado past Texas". St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
(September 10, 1989). "CU downs in-state rivals". The Salina Journal.
(September 17, 1989). "Colorado hopes to climb after scaling Illinois". The Tennessean.
(October 1, 1989). "Buffs win for fallen teammate". Eugene Register-Guard.
(October 1, 1989). "Colorado runs over Huskies". The Olympian.
(October 8, 1989). "Buffaloes trample Missouri". Columbia Daily Tribune.
(October 15, 1989). "No. 3 Colorado shows ISU why". The Daily Nonpareil.
(October 22, 1989). "No. 3 Colorado Buffs power past Kansas 49–17". San Angelo Standard-Times.
(October 29, 1989). "3rd-ranked Colorado rolls past Oklahoma". The Courier-Journal.
(November 5, 1989). "Colorado Buffaloes way coser to Big Eight crown". Star Tribune.
(November 12, 1989). "Buffs put record at 10–0". The Billings Gazette.
(November 19, 1989). "11–0 Colorado ends 28-year title drought". The Atlanta Journal & Constitution.
(January 2, 1990). "Irish initiate great debate". Wisconsin State Journal.
. ["1989 Colorado Buffaloes Schedule and Results"](https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/colorado/1989-schedule.html). *[[Sports Reference]]*.
. ["1989 Football Schedule"](https://cubuffs.com/sports/football/schedule/1989). *[[University of Colorado Boulder]]*.
. ["Colorado Football 2024 Record Book"](https://static.cubuffs.com/custompages/football/2024_Record_Book/2024_Record_Book.pdf). *[[University of Colorado Boulder]]*.
(November 22, 2010). "A look back at Nov. 4, 1989: Colorado 27, Nebraska 21". [[Denver Post]].
"Nebraska vs. Colorado 1989". Husker Max.
(January 2, 1990). "Lackluster Colorado Leveled by Notre Dame". [[The New York Times]].

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1989-big-eight-conference-football-season colorado-buffaloes-football-seasons big-eight-conference-football-champion-seasons 1989-in-sports-in-colorado

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 1989 Colorado Buffaloes football team — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report