The Colorado–Nebraska football rivalry was an American college football rivalry between the Buffaloes of the University of Colorado and Cornhuskers of the University of Nebraska. The two teams first played in 1898, but the rivalry intensified in the mid-1980s as Colorado improved under head coach Bill McCartney. It was somewhat consolidated with the formation of the Big 12 Conference in 1996, which placed the two universities in the same six-team division and ended Nebraska's annual matchup with Oklahoma.