The 1961 Colorado Buffaloes football team represented the
University of Colorado at Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sy ...
as a member of the
Big Eight Conference during the
1961 NCAA University Division football season. Led by third-year head coach
Sonny Grandelius, Colorado finished the regular season at 9–1 (7–0 in Big 8),
and played their 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, th ...
in
Boulder, Colorado.
As in the previous year, Colorado defeated both
Oklahoma and
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
; they did not defeat both in the same season again for
28 years. The Buffaloes won their first Big Eight title and were invited 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
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
, but lost 25–7 to fourth-ranked
LSU
Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...
on
New Year's Day.
After the season, in March 1962, Grandelius was fired by the
university regents for recruiting violations, primarily due to the operation of a
slush fund for players and families.
Ten days later, alumni director
Bud Davis was hired as the interim head coach;
he had no collegiate coaching experience, just five years as a high school head coach.
[ A month later, the NCAA put the CU football program on probation for two years; because the university began the investigation and took action, the penalties were relatively light.]
Schedule
Coaching staff
* Bob Ghilotti (ends)
* Chuck Boerio (LB)
References
External links
Sports-Reference
– 1961 Colorado Buffaloes
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, 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 wes ...
Colorado Buffaloes football seasons
Big Eight Conference football champion seasons
Colorado Buffaloes football
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