| First meeting | February 10, 1893 Colorado 70, Colorado State 6 |
|---|---|
| Latest meeting | September 14, 2024 Colorado 28, Colorado State 9 |
| Trophy | Centennial Cup |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 93 |
| All-time series | Colorado leads, 69–22–2[1] |
| Largest victory | Colorado, 67–0 (1894) |
| Longest win streak | Colorado, 12 (1934–1947) |
| Current win streak | Colorado, 7 (2015–present) |
The Rocky Mountain Showdown is the name given to the Colorado–Colorado State football rivalry.[2] It is an American college football intrastate rivalry between the University of Colorado Buffaloes and the Colorado State University Rams; the winner of the game receives the Centennial Cup. It began in 1893 and was played annually from 1899 to 1958,[3] except for 1901, 1905, and 1943–44. It was revived in 1983 and played periodically until it became an annual rivalry once again from 1995 to 2019.
Since 1998, the game has usually been played in Denver at Mile High Stadium and its replacement, Empower Field at Mile High, although the 2004, 2005, and 2009 games were played at CU's Folsom Field in Boulder. Empower Field, the home of the NFL's Denver Broncos, is considered neutral ground for both teams and has a greater capacity than either university's home stadium (Folsom Field and CSU's Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins). Since the annual game was renewed in 1995, it has been played twice at Colorado State; in 1996 at the Rams' former home of Hughes Stadium and in 2024 at CSU’s new on campus stadium.
In August 2009, both universities agreed to extend the Showdown until 2020, with the 2010–19 games all to be played at Broncos Stadium. The game was played in Boulder as planned in 2009. In 2015, Colorado athletic director Rick George stated that he wanted to return the series to campus sites, but that it was not in Colorado's best interest to extend the series.[4][5]
Because the Pac-12 restricted member schools to conference play in fall sports in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the game was canceled for 2020, which marked the first year since 1994 without the rivalry game.[6] The next scheduled game is on September 15, 2029, in Fort Collins.[7]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
serieswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Rocky Mountain Mowdown: CU Buffs dominate Colorado State". September 1, 2018.
- ^ "Colorado schools may meet again by 1981". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. (Kansas). Associated Press. May 2, 1979. p. 23.
- ^ Kensler, Tom (February 4, 2015). "Colorado likely to end football series with CSU after 2020 meeting". denverpost.com. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
- ^ "Colorado-Colorado State Football Series Could Be Ending". Fbschedules.com. February 2, 2015. Retrieved August 25, 2016.
- ^ Rooney, Pat (July 10, 2020). "No Rocky Mountain Showdown: Pac-12 cancels nonconference games for all fall sports". Boulder Daily Camera. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
- ^ "Future Colorado Football Schedules".