CU Buffs Football: MacIntyre on injuries, senior day vs Utah
CU Buffs Football: Monday Notebook
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The Rumble in the Rockies college football rivalry between Colorado and Utah is one of the more underrated rivalries in college football from a historical standpoint.
From 1903 to 1962, the Buffs and Utes played 57 times. In the early 1900's, CU and Utah were in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, and then both moved to the Mountain States Athletic Conference - from 1938 to 1947.
In 1948, Colorado moved to the Big Seven Conference (later named Big Eight, and now the Big 12), but the CU-Utah rivalry continued as a part of both programs' non conference schedule up until 1962.
The rivalry was dormant from 1963 up until Utah and Colorado joined the Pac-10 (renamed to the Pac-12) in 2011, and the teams play each other every year as members of the Pac-12 South.
*** Coaching Rumor Mill Thread (11/13 AM update) ***
The Rumble in the Rockies rivalry name was decided the week that CU and Utah played for the first time after the five decade hiatus by both teams' marketing departments.
Colorado holds a 32-29-3 series lead, and the 65th edition of the rivalry is this Saturday on Folsom Field at 11:30 am MT - in a game with huge implications for both teams.
Colorado is 5-5 and desperately needs a win as they've lost five consecutive games, and Utah needs a win and help from Arizona or Oregon to knock off ASU, which would mean the Utes reach the Pac-12 Championship Game.
Since renewing the rivalry, Utah has controlled the series, winning five of seven contests. Last season, both teams were 5-6 entering the contest, and the Utes dominated CU, winning 34-13.
Utah has had a strong season and their physicality will give the Buffs problems.
"I see big, physical, aggressive dudes," Buffs' head coach Mike MacIntyre said of Utah on Monday. "They're a physical football team. They play quite a bit man coverage. They're very similar to Washington in a lot of ways; they play man coverage, single high. They'll do some Cover 2 like Washington did."
