Karl Dorrell took over as head coach on Feb. 23; this will be his first CU schedule.
Photo by: Cliff Grassmick
2020 Football Schedule Announced
January 16, 2020 | Football
Pac-12 Releases League Slates, CU Schedule Complete
BOULDER — The Pac-12 Conference released its schedule Thursday for conference football games for the 2020 season, with University of Colorado final slate having two home games in each month of the season and a non-Saturday contest for the 25th straight year.
The non-conference schedule has been set for years. The Buffaloes will once again open the season against Colorado State, but the two will play their first Rocky Mountain Showdown in Fort Collins since 1996 when they collide on Saturday, Sept. 5. It is the 22nd time the Rams will be CU's season opening opponent since the rivalry resumed after a 25-year dormancy in 1983. The Buffs have won the last five games in the series to take a 67-22-2 edge in its 91-game history.
Colorado's home opener follows on Saturday, Sept. 12, when Fresno State visits Folsom Field for the first time since 2001; the game was originally scheduled in Boulder on Sept. 14, 2013, but was cancelled after the Boulder area experienced what many have termed the thousand-year flood. The Bulldogs have won the last two games to cut CU's edge in series in half to 4-2.
Non-league play concludes the next Saturday (Sept. 19), when the Buffs will travel to College Station to face former Big 12 rival, Texas A & M (now a member of the Southeastern Conference). The two last tangled in 2009 in Boulder, with CU winning a thriller, 35-34, to take a 6-3 series lead.
The Buffs will open Pac-12 league play at home for the fifth time in the last seven years in hosting defending conference champion Oregon on Saturday, Sept. 26. CU then has a very favorable stretch, as that game will be followed by a bye week which occurs at the midway point between the start of the practice and the remaining eight regular season games. That will be followed by a Friday night game (Oct. 9) at against Arizona in Tucson which will be televised nationally on either FOX or FS-1.
Colorado then has back-to-back home games on the docket, with UCLA visiting Folsom on Saturday, Oct. 17 which will be the centerpiece of Family Weekend. The annual Homecoming affair follows the next Saturday (Oct. 24), with Arizona State providing the opposition. The month of October will end with a game at Southern California on Halloween.
The Buffaloes open November at home against Washington State (Nov. 7), and then have the annual back-to-back raod game stretch with games at Stanford (Nov. 14) and Washington (Nov. 21); CU defeated both at home in 2019, also in the month of November. Colorado will finish its 10th regular season as a member of the Pac-12 at home against Utah on the Saturday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 28), the ninth time the neighboring state rivals will play the season finale.
The opponent "misses" in conference play for the second straight year are California and Oregon State; they will return on the schedule for the 2021-22 seasons and replace Stanford and Washington State.
Colorado was 5-7 last year, with a 3-6 record in Pac-12 play, under first-year head coach Mel Tucker, who resigned on Feb. 11; the Buffaloes are set to return 60 lettermen from that squad, including 15 starters. Karl Dorrell was named CU's 27th head coach on Feb. 23.
Television game selections and start times for the first three weeks of the season will be known by June 1, with all remaining games from Sept. 26 through the final week of the regular season to be made 12- or six-days in advance per contractual agreements with the Pac-12's television partners, ESPN, FOX and the Pac-12 Networks.
2020 COLORADO FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Date Opponent Site
(*—Pac-12 Conference game; FW—Family Weekend; HC—Homecoming)
The non-conference schedule has been set for years. The Buffaloes will once again open the season against Colorado State, but the two will play their first Rocky Mountain Showdown in Fort Collins since 1996 when they collide on Saturday, Sept. 5. It is the 22nd time the Rams will be CU's season opening opponent since the rivalry resumed after a 25-year dormancy in 1983. The Buffs have won the last five games in the series to take a 67-22-2 edge in its 91-game history.
Colorado's home opener follows on Saturday, Sept. 12, when Fresno State visits Folsom Field for the first time since 2001; the game was originally scheduled in Boulder on Sept. 14, 2013, but was cancelled after the Boulder area experienced what many have termed the thousand-year flood. The Bulldogs have won the last two games to cut CU's edge in series in half to 4-2.
Non-league play concludes the next Saturday (Sept. 19), when the Buffs will travel to College Station to face former Big 12 rival, Texas A & M (now a member of the Southeastern Conference). The two last tangled in 2009 in Boulder, with CU winning a thriller, 35-34, to take a 6-3 series lead.
The Buffs will open Pac-12 league play at home for the fifth time in the last seven years in hosting defending conference champion Oregon on Saturday, Sept. 26. CU then has a very favorable stretch, as that game will be followed by a bye week which occurs at the midway point between the start of the practice and the remaining eight regular season games. That will be followed by a Friday night game (Oct. 9) at against Arizona in Tucson which will be televised nationally on either FOX or FS-1.
Colorado then has back-to-back home games on the docket, with UCLA visiting Folsom on Saturday, Oct. 17 which will be the centerpiece of Family Weekend. The annual Homecoming affair follows the next Saturday (Oct. 24), with Arizona State providing the opposition. The month of October will end with a game at Southern California on Halloween.
The Buffaloes open November at home against Washington State (Nov. 7), and then have the annual back-to-back raod game stretch with games at Stanford (Nov. 14) and Washington (Nov. 21); CU defeated both at home in 2019, also in the month of November. Colorado will finish its 10th regular season as a member of the Pac-12 at home against Utah on the Saturday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 28), the ninth time the neighboring state rivals will play the season finale.
The opponent "misses" in conference play for the second straight year are California and Oregon State; they will return on the schedule for the 2021-22 seasons and replace Stanford and Washington State.
Colorado was 5-7 last year, with a 3-6 record in Pac-12 play, under first-year head coach Mel Tucker, who resigned on Feb. 11; the Buffaloes are set to return 60 lettermen from that squad, including 15 starters. Karl Dorrell was named CU's 27th head coach on Feb. 23.
Television game selections and start times for the first three weeks of the season will be known by June 1, with all remaining games from Sept. 26 through the final week of the regular season to be made 12- or six-days in advance per contractual agreements with the Pac-12's television partners, ESPN, FOX and the Pac-12 Networks.
2020 COLORADO FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Date Opponent Site
| Sept. | 5 | at Colorado State | Fort Collins |
| SEPT. | 12 | FRESNO STATE | BOULDER |
| Sept. | 19 | at Texas A & M | College Station |
| SEPT. | 26 | *OREGON | BOULDER |
| Oct. | 3 | —BYE— | |
| Oct. | 9 | *at Arizona (Fri.) | Tucson |
| OCT. | 17 | *UCLA (FW) | BOULDER |
| OCT. | 24 | *ARIZONA STATE (HC) | BOULDER |
| Oct. | 31 | *at Southern California | Los Angeles |
| NOV. | 7 | *WASHINGTON STATE | BOULDER |
| Nov. | 14 | *at Stanford | Palo Alto |
| Nov. | 21 | *at Washington | Seattle |
| NOV. | 28 | *UTAH | BOULDER |
| Dec. | 4 | Pac-12 Championship (Fri.) | Las Vegas, Nev. |