The 1975 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl was a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

postseason bowl game that featured the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

and the

Colorado Buffaloes The Colorado Buffaloes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Colorado. The university sponsors 17 varsity sports teams. Both the men's and women's teams are called the Buffaloes (Buffs for short) or, rarely, the Golden Buffalo ...

Background

A loss to #2 Texas A&M in the final game of the season meant that Texas could not claim an outright

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...

title. Colorado had finished 3rd in the

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associatio ...

. This was Colorado's first bowl game under Mallory, but their fourth overall bowl appearance of the decade, and their first Bluebonnet Bowl since 1971. This was the 8th straight bowl appearance for Texas and its first Bluebonnet Bowl appearance since 1966.

Game summary

* Colorado – Kunz 1 run (MacKenzie kick) 7–0 2:29 1Q * Colorado – Logan 4 pass from Williams (MacKenzie kick) 14–0 12:42 2Q * Texas – Jackson 21 pass from Marty Akins (Erxleben kick) 14–7 1:47 2Q * Colorado – Hasselbeck 25 pass from Williams (MacKenzie kick) 21–7 0:24 2Q * Texas – Walker 3 run from Akins pitch(kick blocked) 21–13 10:56 3Q * Texas – T. Campbell 25 blocked punt return (E. Campbell pass from Marty Akins) 21–21 8:37 3Q * Texas – Erxleben 55 FG 21–24 6:25 3Q * Texas – Jones 4 run from Akins pitch (Erxleben kick) 21–31 3:15 3Q * Texas – Jones 7 run from Akins pitch (Erxleben kick) 21–38 5:05 4Q

Aftermath

Royal retired the following season after posting 5-5-1 record, but remained as athletic director until 1980. Colorado went to the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in th ...

that season, but lost. They did not win a bowl game until January 1991. Texas returned to the Bluebonnet Bowl three times, and Colorado returned once. The Longhorns defeated Pitt 32=27 in the last Bluebonnet Bowl in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

. Texas and Colorado became conference rivals with the formation of the

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

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. They were together in the Big 12 until the Buffaloes departed for the

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

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Statistics

References

Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl Bluebonnet Bowl Colorado Buffaloes football bowl games Texas Longhorns football bowl games Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl 1970s in Houston {{Collegefootball-bowl-stub