Colorado State and Northern Colorado will meet in football in 2011 for the first time in 25 years.
The game, which is scheduled for Sept. 10, has no bearing on any extension of the CSU-Colorado series, CSU athletic director Paul Kowalczyk said Tuesday.
“We want the (CU) series to continue,” he said, but declined to comment on whether talks have resumed.
CSU and CU have three nonconference games scheduled for 2011 and need another to fill out a 12-game schedule. Both have Sept. 17 open.
CSU also has games at Utah State (Sept. 24) and home against San Jose State (Oct. 1) in 2011, while the Buffs play at Hawaii (Sept. 3) to open the season as well as home against Cal (Sept. 10) and Fresno State (Sept. 24).
CSU and UNC announced their 2011 meeting Tuesday. UNC is coming off a $400,000 payday at Purdue and will receive a $225,000 guarantee from CSU, in line with CSU payments to other Big Sky schools.
However, UNC has virtually no costs for the CSU game except for a short bus ride to Hughes Stadium.
“That’s the whole difference for me,” UNC athletic director Jay Hinrichs said.
Hinrichs said UNC’s leap from Division II to the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) was a major boost in setting the schedule. The Bears play at Kansas next season and have an opening for another major school in 2010.
“It wouldn’t be out of school for me to say we’d like to play another regional team like the Cowboys or Falcons,” Hinrichs said of Wyoming and Air Force.
The last UNC-CSU game was played in 1986, a 46-14 win for CSU.
“I’m astounded it’s been so long since we played,” Kowalczyk said.
CSU needed two field goals in the final 89 seconds to beat another Big Sky team, Sacramento State, last weekend. The crowd of 20,051 represented the Rams’ smallest home-opening crowd since 18,573 watched a 37-34 loss to Idaho in 1992. The previous Big Sky home-opening foe, Weber State, drew 28,801 two years ago.
“When we’re winning, we’ll pack it for whoever we’re playing,” Kowal-czyk said. “Playing UNC makes a lot of sense.”
Said CSU coach Steve Fairchild: “I think it’s a good deal for both schools. It’s a chance for them to play a Division I school and not travel real far. That program has been good in the past, and it’s good for us to generate a little excitement.”
UNC won men’s and women’s basketball games vs. CSU last season.
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
