Rivalry.
The word has connotations. Fierce games. Trash talk. Sports radio talk shows lit up by fans wanting to cuss out the opponent. Football games sold out weeks in advance. A rich tradition of memorable contests. And coaches feeling the heat to beat their rival.
Rivalry.
Texas-Oklahoma. UCLA-USC. Ohio State-Michigan. Miami-Florida State.
Colorado-Colorado State?
As Saturday’s season opener for the Buffs and Rams draws near, the series more and more has the look of The Little Rivalry That Could – peter out.
Broncos issues in the NFL preseason dominate sports talk airwaves. Not the CU-CSU game.
“We’re not seeing a frenzy right now,” said KKFN 950 AM senior producer Dan Jacobs. “It’s not like we get constant trash-talking calls all day. It’s never been like that.”
Tickets remain, though a sellout is expected Saturday in Boulder.
Ohio State-Michigan, which isn’t played until November, is already sold out.
As for pressure, CU coach Gary Barnett will say he felt it after losing his first two years to Colorado State. However, CSU coach Sonny Lubick doesn’t feel much heat because of a perception most years that CU is supposed to win these games.
Texas coach Mack Brown wishes he had it so good.
Despite a 70-19 record at Texas, his 2-5 mark against Oklahoma – which includes five consecutive losses – has worn thin among Longhorns faithful. Ohio State’s John Cooper was fired in 2001 in large part because he went 2-10-1 against Michigan. In those parts of the country, that simply will not do.
How far has the Rocky Mountain Showdown fallen?
The series itself is in danger. CU athletic director Mike Bohn isn’t sold on the series being played in Denver at the expense of CU home dates, or the series itself, for that matter. He’s already miffed that CSU didn’t take 5,000 tickets to sell, as it did a year ago. CU already has Wyoming on its schedule for 2009 and is exploring getting Air Force on future schedules. Playing two Mountain West teams in one season isn’t a likely scenario for the Buffs.
“I really don’t see the financial gain (from the CSU game) as a windfall for us,” Bohn said. “We would anticipate that in 2009 when we play Wyoming, that would be a sellout, which is why there is value in exploring opportunities regionally.”
As for trash-talking, a key component of any good rivalry, that seems to have dis- appeared when quarterback Bradlee Van Pelt left CSU two years ago. It was Van Pelt who once exclaimed CU was the worst No. 6-rated team he had ever seen.
Coaches have curbed any talk that isn’t a comment of the utmost respect toward each other. Players from both sides acknowledge the importance of the game, but does that make it a heated rivalry?
CSU center Albert Bimper is from Texas and was raised on the Texas-Oklahoma rivalry. He said Colorado-Colorado State has “aspects” of what he witnessed back home. “It’s the only game we play where 50,000 fans hate us,” he said.
And there remains a very un-rivalry-like feeling of no respect among CSU players.
“They have a lack of respect for us,” CSU running back Jimmy Green said of the Buffs. “They said we’re little brothers, so they need keep us in line. When there’s a lack of respect and they don’t think we can play with them, it puts put a lot of fire in our guys.”
If the Buffs win Saturday, they will have taken four of the past five meetings after dropping three of the first four under Barnett.
When Nebraska began to string together wins in the 1990s after the Buffs had beaten the Huskers in consecutive years, then tied them in 1991, Nebraska players became less convinced it was a true rivalry. It took CU’s 62-36 rout in 2001, which snapped a 10-game losing streak to Nebraska, to bring the rivalry back into focus.
CSU might need to win to keep the game’s fires hot, but CU players aren’t sold on that.
“You can’t say that,” CU quarterback Joel Klatt said. “From their perspective they are always going to want to come down here and beat us, bench- mark that game. We’ve got to be ready for their best effort every year because they are going to give it to us, just like we gave Nebraska our best effort every year through the ’90s.”
Staff writer Natalie Meisler contributed to this report.
Staff writer Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-820-5455 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
