When former Colorado football coach Bill McCartney made Nebraska the Buffaloes' "red-letter game," he ignited a rivalry.

Of course, it didn't take hold immediately.

The Huskers, who routinely throttled Colorado home and away, considered Oklahoma its rival.

The Huskers and Sooners, after all, usually settled the Big Eight championship with their game at the end of November.

But things change.

Colorado became national title contenders under McCartney and continued its success under Rick Neuheisel and Gary Barnett.

Then the Big Eight became the Big 12 in 1996, and Nebraska and Oklahoma no longer played every year.

But Colorado and Nebraska did, with the Buffs taking over the November nationally televised date.

Today, if you ask which team Husker fans despise, the answer usually is Colorado, not Oklahoma.

"My hatred for (Colorado) was born at a young age," wrote Lincoln college student Luke Binder in response to a request for "teams we hate."

Binder was born and graduated from high school in Colorado, but lived in Nebraska from ages 2 to 12.

"My dad is an avid CU fan, my sister is a CU fan, and Mom is a Michigan fan (go figure, right?)," Binder said. "As a youngster, my family always went to Colorado for Thanksgiving, and we all know what happens the day after Thanksgiving.

"Yes, I would watch my beloved Cornhuskers dismantle the Buffaloes much to the dismay of all my family members. I loved being the rebel."

That's completely normal, according to Christian End, a psychology professor at Xavier University in Cincinnati. End's research interests are in social identity theory, self-presentation tactics and gender differences in the sports fan context.

The team you dislike "is usually someone you are in direct competition with year after year," End said. "You're competing for the division or competing against them for more chances to play."

Colorado is part of Nebraska's "outgroup" and visa versa, he said.

But how do you explain universally hated teams, such as the Yankees, the Lakers or the Dallas Cowboys?

These teams, End said, probably beat your favorite team at one time or another, especially when something was on the line.

"There are some Cincinnati Bengal haters," End said. "Who hates the Bengals?"

Probably the fans of the teams the Bengals defeated in AFC Championship games the two times they went to the Super Bowl.

"We get over the memories of those events," End said. "But they don't have warm places in our hearts."

Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.

What you said

We asked you to tell us about the teams you hate. Here are some responses:

-- In the Big 12, No. 1 would be the Colorado Buffaloes. I remember being accosted by grocery checkout people because I was wearing a Husker T-shirt in Westminster, Colo., some years ago. It wasn’t an isolated incident. Whenever I’d encounter Buffalo fans, they’d act as if they had this huge chip on their shoulder.

For all the years I lived in Nebraska, I never once witnessed a Colorado fan (or anyone wearing a rival T-shirt) getting trashed by someone from Nebraska.

— Greg Trojan, Colorado Springs, Colo.

-- I loathe USC. I’m not sure if it is because of their annoying, sunny, SoCal image (so in opposition to the Midwestern, blue-collar tradition of the Huskers), the fact that they will always be highly ranked at the beginning of the season (regardless of how many times they lose to Stanford), or the nauseating lovefest they seem to inspire in the ESPN College Game Day crew.

Kirk Herbstreit, it must be said, has a Titanic-sized man-crush on Pete Carroll. He could only love him more if St. Pete coached at his beloved The Ohio State University.

— Tanya Lewis, Sidney

-- Notre Dame. The golden domers get way too much media attention while the football program has been mediocre at best during the Charlie Weis era.

— Chadd Bice, Hickman

-- If they wear orange, hate ’em!

Think about some of the teams in orange: Texas, Oklahoma State, Florida, Tennessee, Miami, Clemson, Auburn, Virginia Tech, Syracuse (yes, they have a football team!), Illinois and butt-ugly, blue-and-orange Boise State.

I’m sure there are more, but these are leaders of the Orange pack!

— Jo Adams, Lincoln

-- Kansas State. Because (their team) had some success in the late ’90s and early 2000s, (Wildcat) fans think they are on the same level as NU, OU, Texas, etc.

But as soon as they start losing a few games, their stadium once again becomes half full. I hate Kansas State and their fans. (They) have a very unrealistic view on how good the Wildcats actually are.

— Clayton Jenkins, Fort Collins, Colo.

-- After living (in Austin, Texas) and being surrounded by Texas fans, I can’t stand burnt orange. It makes me want to vomit.

I can absolutely respect having pride in your team. I can even respect if that pride is a little overbearing. That’s probably what people think about (us Husker fans). But when extreme pride is combined with ignorance and arrogance, it just becomes annoying.

— Kyle Wade, Lakewood, Colo.

-- If there is one team I truly love to hate, it’s the Missouri Tigers. Over the past six years, I’ve gone to every game between these two teams, home or away. Each game, I meet a new fan who is a complete jerk. (Two years ago in Columbia), we were getting full beers and live snakes — yes, that’s right, live garter snakes — thrown at us.

— Jon Warren, Fremont

-- Two years ago, I was a member of the tuba section in the Cornhusker Marching Band, and we took our annual full band trip to Missouri for the Husker-Tiger game. This was 2007, and Missouri beat us pretty badly, to say the least.

From the moment the band drove into the stadium to the moment we left, we saw nothing but disrespect from almost every Missouri fan we came in contact with.

When we marched to the stadium, fans threw things like popcorn, peanuts and beer cans at us. While we were in the stadium playing, the fans booed us. When we performed our halftime show, there was only a smattering of halfhearted applause, most from our own fans.

— Lindsey Engels, Lincoln