Jimmy Horn Jr. on rivalry with Nebraska: 'I hate 'em'

A rivalry that dates back to the 19th century between the Colorado Buffaloes and Nebraska Cornhuskers will be renewed in Week 2. Saturday’s matchup between the two programs will be the first meeting since they faced off four years ago.

With it being so long between matchups, players of each program are getting their first taste of this historic rivalry. One of them is the Buffaloes wide receiver Jimmy Horn Jr. Horn is not too familiar with the rivalry, but that doesn’t matter, as he hates the Cornhuskers all the same.

“Naw, but I hate them. When it’s rivalry week, it’s rivalry week,” said Horn on Monday when asked as he found a reason to hate Nebraska. “It’s smoke with them. Like, I don’t know the history too much, but I just know we can’t wear red in the facility. And then boys in the red and white, when they come down here, they gotta get the business.”

The rivalry dates back to 1898 but really picked up momentum in 1948 when both teams joined what is now known as the Big 12 conference. Nebraska and Colorado have gone head to head 71 times, with the Cornhuskers leading the all-time series 49-20-2. However, in their last matchup in 2019, the Buffaloes picked up the win in overtime 34-31.

While Horn may not be familiar with the rivalry, the Buffaloes wideout has noticed a change in the atmosphere around the program in its fans this week. Horn is familiar with rivalries; he admits that this one against Nebraska has a different feeling to it.

“It’s a different feeling. You just know everybody takes this one like real seriously. This is the game that everybody wants to win. So we could play 1000 games, we could go to bowl games, all that, but this rivalry game, even hearing from fans, ‘I don’t care if y’all lose 100 games; as long as y’all beat Nebraska, y’all will be good.’ I know people out here take this one seriously. So as players, we got to take it just as seriously as them. A rivalry is a rivalry. So, no matter who we’re playing, we have to treat them all the same.”

Horn does plan on doing research to understand why there is so much animosity between the two programs. And while gaining knowledge on the rivalry is a great reason to brush up on the history, Horn has another motive in mind as to why he wants to look it up.

“Most definitely. I got to do a little research to add a little more hate into my heart.”

Colorado will take on their long-time rival in Week 2, Saturday, Sept 9. The game will be a part of Fox Sports’ Big Noon Kickoff, and it is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. CT.