Editor’s note: Welcome to the CU Independent’s week-long season preview of the Colorado Buffaloes football team. Each day we will delve into the different aspects of CU football leading up to the CSU vs. CU game. On Day 7, we preview the 81st version of the Rocky Mountain Showdown.
Two institutions with a celebrated history of the gridiron game, the fabled rivalry between the Colorado Buffaloes and the Colorado State Rams, encompasses 80 previous clashes, legends past and present, and an armada of devoted fans that fuel the in-state rivalry known as the Rocky Mountain Showdown.
Senior Colorado cornerback Cha’pelle Brown has a theory about the match-up.
“It’s going to be electric, real electric,” Brown said.
On Sunday, both sides will aim for a season-opening victory against an archrival — a victory that is perhaps sweeter than any fruit that the Centennial State bears.
Adding to the energy and anticipation, this year’s event will take place at Folsom Field. CU has a striking advantage at home: The Buffs have not lost to the Rams in Boulder since 1986.
The game will be televised on FSN at 5 p.m., and it will be the only primetime football game on Sunday.
Junior quarterback Cody Hawkins, who started last season’s game against the Rams in Denver, is looking forward to the home field advantage.
“I’m really excited about the game being at Folsom,” Hawkins said. “I’ve never had the experience of playing in there, but [listening to] the guys who played there when they were freshmen, they say it’s an unbelievable experience.”
The last time the game was played at Folsom was in 2005, Mason Crosby 47-yard field goal with four seconds left helped the Buffs defeat the Rams 31-28.
The Rocky Mountain Showdown has been one of the state’s biggest athletic spectacles since it first garnered the moniker in 1998, according to the Metro Denver Sports Commission.
Hawkins explains one of the match-ups key factors.
“Whether its students, alumni, just people in the state, it’s something everybody pays attention to and everybody is really excited about,” Hawkins said. “There is a lot of energy surrounding the game and it can be a great stepping stone for the rest of the season.”
Brown said the two schools’ close proximity is a reason why the rivalry is so strong in Colorado.
“They are just our rivals,” Brown said. “When you have two teams in-state, that’s what it is, it’s a rivalry. They are right up the street.”
According to Brown, the sense of competition is heightened because many native-Colorado players played against each other in high school.
Sophomore running back Darrell Scott said he’s hyped about the game, and after weeks of practice, he feels that the team is ready and in sync for this weekend’s battle.
“We are going to have to kick it into second gear, not first,” Scott said. “Just play fast every down and get a W.”
Head coach Dan Hawkins remained relatively quiet after Wednesday’s team practice, but shared some words about the rivalry’s intensity.
“It’s always wild here anyways,” Hawkins said. “It’s been wild when we’ve been down there too. It’s an in-state deal, so you’ve got kind of two things riding on it. It’s the whole starting the ball rolling for your season and then you’ve got your rival, so it’s two big things rolled into one.”
The match-up stretches back more than 100 years with the first meeting between the two schools occurring in 1893 when CU overwhelmed CSU 70-6.
Since then, not too much has changed in relation to the Buffs success over the Rams. Colorado’s current record against CSU stands at an affirming 59-19-2, according to the CU record books.
Colorado State head coach Steve Fairchild commented on his opponents for this weekend.
“Dan Hawkins’ team plays sound football, they look like a physical bunch that’s going to try to put it on us, as far as their offense,” said Fairchild in a teleconference for the Mountain West Conference. “We are awfully excited to play this game. I feel like it will be a good barometer for our program, to see where we are at.”
An alum and former quarterback for the Rams, Fairchild was brought in to aid a struggling program last year, and delivered with a winning season and a bowl game.
“We’re still not where we want to be,” Fairchild said. “Right now, the important thing is to get better every time we go out to the practice field.”
The coaches’ mutual respect extends to the players.
“We definitely respect one another and we realize both programs have a lot of great tradition,” Cody Hawkins said. “I think when you have that much pride going together, it’s always going to be a heated matchup.”
However, this philosophy is at times lost on the fans who don’t always follow the sportsmanship the two programs embody.
Scott said his Facebook inbox is the target of various e-mails from CSU fans. He has received malicious messages such as “you ain’t gonna win” on his account.
“They’ve been pretty quiet this year,” Scott said. “I haven’t gotten any this week. They’re quiet right now.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Esteban Hernandez at esteban.hernandez@colorado.edu.
