The Colorado Buffaloes (0-0, 0-0 Big 12) open their 119th season of intercollegiate football this Sunday, August 31, against the in-state rival Colorado State Rams (0-0, 0-0 Mountain West) in the Qwest Rocky Mountain Showdown at Invesco Field at Mile High ... Kickoff is set for 5:40 p.m. MDT, with Fox Sports Net to televise the game nationally; Joel Meyers (play-by-play), Dave Lapham (analyst) and Jim Knox (sidelines) will be in the mile high city to call the action... Colorado is the designated home team for the second straight year and will be again in 2009 if the game returns to Denver; CU has only five games scheduled in Boulder in 2009 and needs CSU to be a sixth home opponent; a decision is due in the very near future as the two schools are discussing the future schedule of the series ... This is the ninth meeting between the two rivals in Denver; the first eight were split. Only two were officially sellouts (1998, 2001) ... Sophomore safety Bret Smith turns 21 on game day; unfortunately he won’t be able to play, as he is still 4-6 weeks away from completing rehab for spring knee surgery... After the opener, the Buffs host their next two games at Folsom Field, against Eastern Washington (Sept. 6) and West Virginia (Sept. 18); it will mark the first-ever games against both schools. CU last played schools back-to-back it had never seen before in 2006 when it hosted Arizona State and then traveled to Georgia (losing both); that was the first time since 1972, when the Buffs hosted Cincinnati and then hit the road to Minnesota (winning both) ... CU sold out of its ticket allotment for the CSU game on August 25 ... Visit CUBuffs.com/gameday as your one stop for everything, including live stats for all games.

For the complete release as well as those from the Big 12 and Colorado State, click on the links below: