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Goodbye, Rocky Mountain Showdown, you won’t be missed. Now that the Colorado Buffaloes will no longer play the annual game against Colorado State after 2020, they can get out of an empty rivalry and fill their schedule with competitive teams from major conferences.
The latest announcement is that CU will take on the Missouri Tigers of the SEC in 2025 and 2030, which double as the 35th and 40th anniversary of the infamous 5th Down Game that ultimately led to the Buffs’ 1990 National Champion. (CU wouldn’t have spiked it on 4th down if the marker was correct, in case you needed reminding.)
Missouri & Colorado just agreed to a games in 2025 and 2030 that come on the 35th and 40th anniversaries of the Fifth Down Game.
— Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) January 22, 2019
Brian Howell was quick to point out how the schedule will work out:
This would eliminate the possibility of a CU-CSU game in 2025 and set up the non-conference that year as Georgia Tech, Houston and Missouri. From 2021-2027, the Buffs and Rams would play only twice (2023 and 2024) #cubuffs https://t.co/Q0TgmHHnkY
— Brian Howell (@BrianHowell33) January 22, 2019
Having Georgia Tech and Missouri in non-conference the same year is the perfect chance for Colorado to right two wrongs from the 1990 season. Colorado was named National Champions by the AP Poll — the only poll Ralphie Report recognizes now — but Georgia Tech topped the Coaches Poll. Colorado is still the rightful Champ, but they can take out 35 years of anger and beat down the Yellow Jackets.
Here’s what their future schedule looks like through 2028:
2019: Colorado State (neutral), Nebraska, Air Force
2020: at CSU, Fresno State, at Texas A&M
2021: Massachusetts, Texas A&M, Minnesota
2022: TCU, at Air Force, at Minnesota
2023: at TCU, Nebraska, TBA (home)
2024: North Dakota State, at Nebraska, TBA (home/road)
2025: Georgia Tech, at Houston, Missouri
2026: at Georgia Tech, Houston, at Northwestern
2027: Colgate, Northwestern, Kansas State
2028: TBA (home/road), TBA (home/road), at Kansas State