If close games and exciting football make for a good rivalry, the Colorado- Colorado State series has met that definition the past six years. Each team has won three times, with CU holding a 162-161 advantage in points.
When the Buffaloes’ goal-line stand preserved their 27-24 victory a year ago, CU students spilled out of the stands in a Folsom Field celebration previously reserved for beating Nebraska.
In the six years before CSU landed a 41-14 knockout punch in 1999, CU owned the series 6-0, with an average winning margin of 20.8 points. It was a rivalry in name only.
While respect between the coaches and possibly some fans on both sides has grown in recent years, CSU center Albert Bimper said the close call a year ago represented a setback for the Rams, who now believe they can win every year.
“The trash-talking didn’t stop. It began when we were 1 yard away (and couldn’t score),” Bimper said. “There’s not a team in the nation that’s not going to say something when you can’t score from the 1. The trash began, and we deserved it.”
The past three games in the series have gone down to the wire. The only game among the past six in which CSU wasn’t competitive was in 2001, when the Rams were struggling with two new quarterbacks.
CSU director of football operations Tom Ehlers played in the 1983 game, a 31-3 victory for CU, and said it’s a much better rivalry now.
“We have better players now,” he said. “It’s nice going in thinking anything can happen. I don’t think they go in knowing who’s going to win; whoever plays better is going to win. The team that has played the best has won, even last year they played better overall than we did. That shows me it’s a lot closer than it used to be.”
Although the logic might appear convoluted, CSU coach Sonny Lubick saw the turnaround coming in the 1998 game, a 42-14 Colorado rout. The Rams led 14-13 in the third quarter before getting overwhelmed. But Lubick knew his team could compete.
“I think it was close,” Lubick said. “Everyone else thinks it was a blowout.”
When the Rams scored the game’s first 41 points in 1999, Lubick said, “Now that was a blowout.”
