1989 Colorado Buffaloes football team

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Ranking
Coaches	No. 4
AP	No. 4

1989 Big Eight Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 4 Colorado $	7	–	0	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
No. 11 Nebraska	6	–	1	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
Oklahoma	5	–	2	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Iowa State	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Oklahoma State	3	–	4	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Kansas	2	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Missouri	1	–	6	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
Kansas State	0	–	7	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1989 Colorado Buffaloes football team represented the University of Colorado at Boulder 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 since 1976. The Buffaloes played for the national title but lost to 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 February and died on September 23 due to complications from the disease.

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, Henry and his family were also invited to attend the National Championship game as guests of the university. Henry 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

September 45:30 PMTexas*No. 14

• Folsom Field
• Boulder, Colorado

ESPNW 27–6 47,269 September 91:30 PMColorado State*No. 9

• Folsom Field
• Boulder, Colorado (Rocky Mountain Showdown)

W 45–20 44,921 September 161:30 PMNo. 10 Illinois*No. 8

• Folsom Field
• Boulder, Colorado

CBSW 38–7 46,747 September 302:00 PMat No. 21 Washington*No. 5

• Husky Stadium
• Seattle

KCNCW 45–28 69,152 October 71:30 PMMissouriNo. 3

• Folsom Field
• Boulder, Colorado

W 49–3 51,855 October 141:00 PMat Iowa StateNo. 3

• Cyclone Stadium
• Ames, Iowa

KCNCW 52–17 41,515 October 211:30 PMKansasNo. 3

• Folsom Field
• Boulder, Colorado

W 49–17 50,057 October 2812:30 PMat OklahomaNo. 3

• Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
• Norman, Oklahoma

KCNCW 20–3 75,004 November 412:30 PMNo. 3 NebraskaNo. 2

• Folsom Field
• Boulder, Colorado (Rivalry)

CBSW 27–21 52,877 November 1112:30 PMat Oklahoma StateNo. 1

• Lewis Field
• Stillwater, Oklahoma

KCNCW 41–17 41,000 November 1811:10 AMat Kansas StateNo. 2

• KSU Stadium
• Manhattan, Kansas

KCNCW 59–11 20,117 January 16:00 PMvs. No. 4 Notre Dame*No. 1

• Orange Bowl
• Miami (Orange Bowl)

NBCL 6–21 81,191

Game summaries

Nebraska

#3 Nebraska at #2 Colorado

1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 7 7 7 0 21 • Colorado 14 3 7 3 27 Date: November 4 Location: Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado Game attendance: 52,877 Television network: CBS

Scoring summary 1 13:30 NEB Bryan Carpenter 51 yard pass from Gerry Gdowski (Gregg Barrios kick) NEB 7–0 1 8:22 COL J.J. Flannigan 70 yard run (Ken Culbertson kick) Tie 7–7 1 5:04 COL Darian Hagan 1 yard run (Ken Culbertson kick) COL 14–7 2 11:33 NEB Morgan Gregory 12 yard pass from Gerry Gdowski (Gregg Barrios kick) Tie 14–14 2 0:12 COL Ken Culbertson 49 yard field goal COL 17–14 3 8:00 COL J.J. Flannigan 2 yard run (Ken Culbertson kick) COL 24–14 3 1:04 NEB Chris Garrett 26 yard pass from Gerry Gdowski (Gregg Barrios kick) COL 24–21 4 8:47 COL Ken Culbertson 28 yard field goal COL 27–21

External links

• https://twitter.com/cubuffs