Let’s think about 2007 for a minute. Six years ago, the American housing bubble was just starting to burst, JaMarcus Russell was the top pick of the NFL draft and Colorado was going crazy over Rocktober with the Rockies in the World Series.
Since then, the economy has finally started to bounce back, Russell’s football career is essentially over and the Rockies have only a small fraction of that dream team on the current roster. Seems like ages ago, right? Heck, I wasn’t even thinking about college yet.
Unfortunately, another reason 2007 is notable is because that was the last time the University of Colorado was in a bowl game. But the Buffs, sitting at 3-3 at the midway point of the season, may be in the process of changing that stat.
For first time in the last who knows how many seasons, Colorado players, coaches and fans are starting to mumble and whisper about a potential bowl game for the football team.
Even head coach Mike MacIntyre addressed the possibility at Tuesday’s press conference.
Wide reciever Paul Richardson dodges CSU defender Aaron Davis at the Rocky Mountain Showdown 2013. (James Bradbury/CU Independent File)
“We don’t really talk about bowls, but (the Buffs are) at the first time where maybe we could utter it,” MacIntyre said. “We’re three (wins) away.”
The idea of even being allowed to “maybe … utter it” is definitely exciting considering where the Buffs were at this point last year (0-6). Still, we must remain level-headed and realistic when we assess the Buff’s bowl chances.
Looking at the remaining schedule, the six games left essentially breakdown into two potential wins (University of Arizona and University California), two toss-ups (University of Utah and University of Southern California) and two probable losses (University of California, Los Angeles and University of Washington).
Arizona (4-2) comes to Boulder this Saturday for a “black out” night game, giving the Buffs a great opportunity to get their first conference win.
Next, Colorado will face No. 12 UCLA on the road, and the week after that, the Buffs visit Washington, which was ranked as high as No. 15 this year. Considering Colorado’s history of struggling on the road and against ranked teams, Colorado will most likely lose both of those games, putting them at an overall record of 4-5, two wins away from bowl eligibility.
Finding win number five comes in week 12 when the Buffs host California, who currently sits at 1-6 overall and 0-4 within the Pac-12 Conference. Cal lost some talent from last year but has also faced a pretty brutal schedule so I give the Buffs the win here because the game is in Boulder.
That leaves USC in Boulder and Utah in Salt Lake City as the two remaining games for the Buffs to find that sixth win. Both Utah and USC are at 4-3 overall, and both have struggled in conference play. Utah has shown glimpses of being great, most notably with their win against then No. 5 Stanford. But Colorado has played Utah tough every year since joining the conference, and as a rivalry game, it automatically becomes 50-50. USC lost to a 4-4 Washington State University team and just recently fired their head coach, so they are facing a bit of adversity now, and it will be interesting to see how they respond to that in the coming weeks.
As fun and easy as it is to look ahead and project wins and losses, let’s hope the Buffs are instead taking it one game at a time. The opportunity is there, the schedule is possible and the players believe and want it.
“It’s very important,” freshman quarterback Sefo Liufau said. “We all want to go to a bowl. We know how possible it is if we stay consistent and we take the coaching that we learn and put it out on the field. We think it’s very possible.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Grayson O’Roark at Grayson.oroark@colorado.edu.
