Senior cornerback Cha'pelle Brown dives to tackle KU wide receiver Jonathan Wilson on Oct. 17. (CU Independent/Lee Pruitt)
When senior cornerback Cha’pelle Brown arrived at the University of Colorado in 2006, he said he had hopes of playing for a Big 12 Conference championship or, at the very least, win a bowl game.
“That’s out of the question now,” Brown said.
The Colorado Buffaloes, who lost 17-10 to the Iowa State Cyclones last weekend and plummeted to 3-7 overall, have two games remaining on their 2009 schedule.
No matter how bad the Buffs ache to play during the holidays, it’s mathematically impossible for CU (2-4 Big 12) to reach the postseason. So instead of a bowl game as the carrot hanging from the proverbial stick, players have other ideas in mind.
“There’s nothing you can do,” Brown said. “We just have to go out there and finish with heart.”
CU’s heart—if it hasn’t already—may break to the point of irreparable at 5:30 p.m. Thursday when it travels to Stillwater, Okla., to battle a tough No. 12 Oklahoma State Cowboys (8-2, 5-1) squad on ESPN. The Cowboys are currently positioned second in the Big 12 South division behind the third-ranked Texas Longhorns.
“We’re going to be ready to go,” Brown said. “We’re playing for pride. We can’t just go out on the field and not play.”
Brown, who said he was recruited out of Los Altos High School in La Puente, Calif. by running backs coach Darian Hagan, said he had a chance to play for Division I-AA Southern Utah. Despite CU’s woes, Brown said he is “real glad” he chose the Buffs over the Thunderbirds.
Senior tight end Patrick Devenny, a product of Granite Bay High School in Roseville, Calif., said he also arrived in Boulder with aspirations of winning a bowl game.
“I knew that was definitely something I wanted to shoot for,” Devenny said.
With the feat now unattainable, Devenny said he is playing for his teammates.
“I love the guys on this team,” Devenny said. “At this point, that’s all it’s about. We worked so hard this offseason. It’s too late to just throw it in now.”
Seventeen CU seniors will depart from Boulder without ever obtaining a bowl victory, which head coach Dan Hawkins said is “always hard.”
At the same time, though, Hawkins said his troops need to keep plugging away.
“They’ll finish, they’re fighters,” said Hawkins, who is currently 16-31 at CU. “This group of guys, in two weeks, will probably never be together. There will be some guys you’ll never see again, so you need to maximize that.”
Hawkins said it won’t be hard to preach enthusiasm to his players as the season dwindles down.
“I think there’s a lot of love within this program, and we’re built on philosophies and foundations,” Hawkins said. “Those are the things you cling to.”
The Buffs’ mettle will certainly be tested against the Cowboys, who are riding a two-game winning streak.
Oklahoma State possesses the Big 12’s fourth-best scoring offense at 33.1 points per game while CU is second-to-last in the category at 21.9 ppg. OSU also boasts the conference’s fourth-best scoring defense at 20.6 ppg while the Buffs sit near the bottom of the cellar at 11th, yielding 28.7 ppg.
CU, if it stands a chance against the Cowboys, will have to make the aerial attack its primary recipe because OSU is third in the Big 12 in rushing defense surrendering 89.6 yards per game. The Cowboys’ pass defense is weak, however, as it allows 244.3 ypg, 11th in the conference.
“It looks good when you see their pass defense isn’t as good as their rush defense,” said sophomore quarterback Tyler Hansen, who is coming off a 258-yard passing performance. “It makes a quarterback happy.”
Echoing his teammates’ sentiments, Hansen said the Buffs still have much to play for and need to close the season with class.
“Any time you can get a win against a ranked team and you’re unranked, that’s awesome,” Hansen said. “Plus, it’s on ESPN. You have guys back home texting you, ‘Hey, I saw you on TV.’ You don’t want to embarrass yourself and you don’t want to embarrass your teammates.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Alex K.W. Schultz at Alexander.schultz@colorado.edu.
