The Colorado Buffaloes and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will meet for only the second time Thursday night. However, their shared football history reaches much deeper than last season’s opener at Folsom Field.
The Yellow Jackets won the 2025 matchup, 27-20, after quarterback Haynes King rushed for 156 yards and three touchdowns. His 45-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter snapped a 20-20 tie and gave Georgia Tech a 1-0 lead in the series.
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Tonight’s rematch at Bobby Dodd Stadium brings Colorado back to Atlanta for a game loaded with new players, but one old argument remains close by: the 1990 national championship.
The championship neither side concedes
Colorado and Georgia Tech did not play in 1990, yet both programs still claim a share of that season’s national championship.
Bill McCartney’s Colorado team finished 11-1-1, survived the famous “Fifth Down” game at Missouri and defeated Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl. The Buffaloes finished No. 1 in the AP Poll, earning the program’s first national title.
Georgia Tech, coached by Bobby Ross, finished 11-0-1 as the nation’s only unbeaten major-conference team. The Yellow Jackets ended their season with a 45-21 Citrus Bowl win against Nebraska and took the UPI Coaches Poll by a single point, 847-846.
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A new chapter in Atlanta
The schools finally began a home-and-home series in 2025, 35 years after the split-title season. Georgia Tech now hosts the return game with a new quarterback, Alberto Mendoza, after King has moved on to the NFL.
Deion Sanders returns to a familiar city. Before becoming Colorado’s coach, Sanders starred in Atlanta for both the Falcons and Braves. His rebuilt roster, led by redshirt freshman quarterback Julian Lewis (also from the Atlanta area), will get an immediate chance to erase last year’s loss and tie the series.
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This article originally appeared on Buffaloes Wire: Colorado, Georgia Tech renew rivalry tied to 1990 national title
