Last-second field goal caps 20-point fourth quarter rally
Buffs’ fans stormed the field after Kevin Eberhart kicked a 45-yard field goal in the final two seconds to defeat the No. 3 ranked Oklahoma Sooners, 27-24.
CU, after a 2-10 season and losing to games two unranked teams this season, defeated the undefeated. The Buffs beat the OU, a team that has won all four of its games by an average of 50 points.
Colorado’s defense posted a shutout last week. The team held OU quarterback Sam Bradford to 8-19 passing with two interceptions.
Coach Dan Hawkins said he expected to win the football game.
“I’ve been doing this for 25 years and you know, you know when your team’s ready, you know when they’re poised,” Dan Hawkins said,
The CU defense has played strong all season, but the offense really got a chance to show what they were made of against OU.
“We felt like we had some things going offensively,” coach Hawkins said. “You know, you’re not going to run up and down the field on these guys, they’re too good for that, but we felt like we could get some things on them.”
The CU offense finally held up their end of the bargain.
“For them to come out and do what they did against one of the top defenses in the nation is awesome,” linebacker Jordon Dizon said. “It gives them a bunch of confidence. It gives this team a bunch of confidence and they’re steamrolling, they’re moving forward and they know what they can do now.”
Senior tailback Hugh Charles had 158 total yards.
“Well I’m a senior and I know I have a lot on my shoulders this season and I expect to do big things in every game,” Charles said. “This is just another game that I have got to prove myself and do good in.”
Dan Hawkins said Charles’ performance shows the kind of play he expects to see from the running back position.
With CU down by seven and just over four minutes left in regulation play, OU’s Reggie Smith fumbled a punt and CU recovered the ball at the Oklahoma 16-yard line.
Yet again, CU was called for holding.
Even when CU was down by 17, quarterback Cody Hawkins said they were not tout of the game.
“In football, if you have guys making plays on defense like our guys were and special teams played, you could score a lot of points fast,” Cody Hawkins said. “We knew we were never out of it, we just had to execute our assignments and make plays when the opportunities presented themselves. ”
OU’s 24-7 lead in the second half was not on CU’s defense. Oklahoma came in the nation’s top scoring team and Dizon said the 24 points allowed was like not letting them score at all.
“For them averaging 61 points a game, we shut them out,” Dizon said. “We did what we had to do, we had great coaches, great confidence, great poise at the end and it was just a fun day overall.”
Oklahoma held its opponents to a19-yard average on kickoff returns. CU averaged 27, Terrence Wheatley averaged 29. While this helped set up a number of CU drives, it was Chase McBride’s 31-yard punt return late in the fourth that set up a game-winning field goal.
“The return by Chase was an amazing return, he really put us in position,” Eberhart said.
Even through inconsistency, Cody Hawkins said the team believes in Eberhart.
“We have a lot of faith in Kevin, Kevin’s a great kicker and unfortunately he missed that first one but I mean he came right over to the sidelines and I told him, ‘Hey, we are going to need you when you kick the game winner,'” Cody Hawkins said. “I wasn’t positive it was going to happen, but it sure did. And he came through when we needed him.”
Contact Campus Press Staff Write Margot Schneider at margot.schneider@thecampuspress.com
