The 1979 Colorado Buffaloes football team represented the
University of Colorado
The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...
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 ...
during the
1979 NCAA Division I-A football season
The 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season saw the Alabama Crimson Tide bring home a national title with a perfect 12–0 season. The title was Alabama's 11th claimed, and their 6th Associated Press awarded title.
This was an extremely dominant ...
. Led by first-year head coach
Chuck Fairbanks
Charles Leo Fairbanks (June 10, 1933 – April 2, 2013) was a football coach who was a head coach at the high school, college and professional levels. He served as the head coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1967 to 1972 and at the Universi ...
, the Buffaloes finished at 3–8 (2–5 in Big 8, tied for fifth),
and played home games on campus at
Folsom Field
Folsom Field is an outdoor college football stadium in the western United States, located on the campus of the University of Colorado in Boulder. It is the home field of the Colorado Buffaloes of the Pac-12 Conference.
Opened in 1924, the ...
in
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...
.
A one-point win at
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
in the fourth game was Colorado's sole victory in their first nine;
they won the final two games of the season and avoided the conference cellar.
[
Previously the head coach of the ]New England Patriots
The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
for six years, Fairbanks was hired by athletic director Eddie Crowder
Eddie Crowder (August 26, 1931 – September 9, 2008) was an American football player and coach. He was an All-American quarterback (QB) and safety at the University of Oklahoma (OU) in the early 1950s and a successful head coach and athletic dir ...
in mid-December 1978.Flatirons
The Flatirons are rock formations in the western United States, near Boulder, Colorado, consisting of flatirons. There are five large, numbered Flatirons ranging from north to south (First through Fifth, respectively) along the east slope of ...
Club) bought out Fairbanks' contract, allowing him to leave the Patriots just days ahead of the start of the Buffs' spring practice.
Schedule
: Note: The opener against Oregon was the first college football game ever televised by ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
.
Personnel
Roster
Starters
*Offense: QB Bill Solomon, HB Lance Olander/Charles Davis, FB Willie Beebe, SE Donnie Holmes, WB Kazell Pugh, TE Bob Niziolek/Greg Willett/Doug Krahenbuhl, LT Stan Brock, LG Paul Butero, C Roger Gunter/Bob Sebro, RG Art Dale Johnson/Guy Thurston, RT Karry Kelley
*Defense: LE George Visger, NT Laval Short, RE Kevin Sazama, OLB Steve Doolittle, ILB Bill Roe, ILB Charles Scott, OLB Brian McCabe/Bob Humble, LCB Mark Haynes, SS Mike E. Davis, FS Tim Roberts, RCB Jesse Johnson/Tim Stampley
*Specialists: K Tom Field, P Lance Olander
[2011 Colorado football information guide.]
References
External links
University of Colorado Athletics
– 1979 football roster
– 1979 Colorado Buffaloes
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
Colorado Buffaloes football seasons
Colorado Buffaloes football
{{Colorado-sport-team-stub