The Clemson Tigers had just beat Nebraska’s Cornhuskers in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1, 1982, when former University of Colorado Sports Information Director Mike Moran decided to call one of his Cornhuskers buddies.

“This is Danny Ford,” Moran said in a Southern accent to imitate Clemson’s head coach at the time. “Who’s No. 1 now?”

Moran hung up the phone, laughing, and forgot about the call until days later, when he heard that the victim of his prank — whom he’s not naming — was rushed to the emergency room with a broken hand.

“He got so angry he put his fist through a room divider and had to go to the hospital and have surgery on his hand,” Moran said.

Photo by Paul Aiken

University of Colorado Linebacker Sean Tufts is carried from the field by fans after CU beat Nebraska 63-26 in 2001at Folsom Field.

Moran said he didn’t admit to making the call out of fear he’d be sued. But now that the statute of limitations has expired, Moran said he’s willing to out himself as the caller: a Buffalo fan whose school had nothing to do with the Clemson-Nebraska bowl game — except, of course, for CU’s long tradition of disliking their “Big Red” neighbors to the north.

Today marks the 66th meeting between CU and Nebraska, and the Cornhuskers have won 46 of the matchups. Despite that lopsided record, the teams’ feud has been ranked by some polls as one of the top col lege-football rivalries in the nation. 

Colorado’s football history with Nebraska dates back more than a century, when NU became CU’s first out-of-state opponent in 1898. Since that meeting, many games between the border-state rivals have held historical significance.

CU won its first Big Seven game against Nebraska in 1948; its first nationally televised appearance was against the ¤’Huskers in 1951; the Buffs were vaulted to their then highest-ever national ranking at No. 3 after beating Nebraska in 1967; and Colorado played Nebraska in its first Folsom Field game with lights in 1987.

But the animosity felt today didn’t spark until the 1980s, when Bill McCartney became Colorado’s head coach and used the neighboring team — which was on a two-decade winning streak against CU — to inspire his players, according to former players and CU sports officials.

Joe Romig, 66, who suited up for CU in 1959-61, said he thinks whatever feud once existed between CU and Nebraska has faded since McCartney retired in 1994.

“The rivalry with Nebraska was created by Bill McCartney,” Romig said.

Some fans disagree.

“I hate Nebraska,” one online commenter wrote this week on a CU football Web site, netbuffs.com. “Just thought you would like to know.”

CU sports information director Dave Plati said the hatred is more between Buff and ¤’Huskers fans, not players.

“The teams respect each other, and some of the stuff that goes on between the fans never gets to the team,” he said.

Plati said there are a few possible explanations for the feud: It could date back to the inaugural meeting; it might be a result of the states’ proximity to each other; or recruiting wars could have fueled the fire.

But a major player was probably the 18-game Nebraska winning streak that plagued CU from 1968 to 1985, Plati said. CU broke the streak in 1986 in a game referred to as the “the turning point” — not just for the rivalry, but for CU’s football program as a whole.

An unranked Buff squad beat the No. 3-ranked Cornhuskers 20-10 to halt the losing run.

“That’s when it became a major rivalry in college football,” Plati said.

Moran — who attended the University of Nebraska before coming to CU, where he was sports information director from 1968 to 1978 — said he remembers the game well. He said the match was so refreshing because he endured more than a decade of losses to his alma mater — of which he’s not a fan.

Moran had vowed never to watch another CU-Nebraska game, but somehow “got talked into coming back to CU to watch the game in ¤’86.”

He’s glad he was convinced.

Moran said he told one of the men who twisted his arm all the way to Boulder that day: “I can die and go to heaven because I’ve seen a CU win over Nebraska.” 

Moran said CU’s rivalry with Nebraska has waned, and it’s unclear whether it will continue to taper or rekindle.

“I think it’s in limbo at the time,” he said. “Nebraska is struggling internally ... And CU is making progress.”

Rivalries need competitive squads and fan fuel, Moran said.

“It has the makings of a good rivalry,” he said. “But I don’t know that it is what it used to be, in terms of animosity.”

Many of CU’s old-timers agree that the rivalry isn’t the same, and that today’s freshmen aren’t as hip to the history of Nebraska hatred as other classes have been.

But Plati, CU’s sports information director, said it takes time for tradition to become ingrained in newcomers, and CU’s rivalry with Nebraska should continue to hold a solid spot among the top collegiate football feuds.

“I think it’s a regional deal — you can’t say one is better than the other,” Plati said. “But you can hand-pick a dozen or so, and I think the CU-Nebraska rivalry would fit in the top 12.”

Contact Camera Staff Writer Vanessa Miller at millerv@dailycamera.com or 303-473-1329.