Thirty minutes before kickoff, a young fan wearing Buffalo horns and waving an empty pint staggered toward the Colorado State marching band and welcomed the Rams to the CU campus with a scatological greeting.
Ah, the beauty and pageantry of college football.
These are two schools that don’t particularly like each other. Will the Buffs and Rams ever join hands at the 50-yard line and sing “Kum Ba Yah”? Not in Bradlee Van Pelt’s lifetime.
But if a thrilling 31-28 victory by Colorado on Saturday proved anything, it demonstrated how much these two teams need each other.
After being at the epicenter of a big group hug in a celebration at Folsom Field, CU hero Mason Crosby said, “It shows how much it means to both teams.”
“If the rivalry’s dead, why are their fans running out of the stands?” Rams quarterback Justin Holland said.
Although the Buffs might be too proud to admit it, a rivalry between CSU and CU is exactly what college football in this state needs.
After three straight games so classic you wished they would never end, the series between the Rams and Buffaloes deserves to go on forever.
The best way for Colorado to build a reputation as a football hotbed is to show America the hottest way to end summer is an annual showdown between the Buffs and Rams.
Sadly, there is no guarantee CU and CSU will meet on any football field after next year, proving the Rams and Buffs even have trouble seeing eye-to-eye on something undeniably good.
Unable to nail down a commitment from CU to meet in Denver every year, Colorado State is faced with a tough choice in 2006, when the site of the game is the Rams’ choice.
Does CSU ignore the putdowns from CU and schedule the game for the neutral turf of Invesco Field at Mile High?
Or, after three straight losses that are the stuff of nightmares, should the Rams require that CU travels to Fort Collins, where home-field advantage could make the difference in a contest decided by a field goal?
“We have not decided where the game is going to be played in 2006,” Colorado State athletic director Mark Driscoll said Sunday. “Our fans are very much in favor of playing the game in Denver every year. But, quite honestly, I don’t know if we can get that done.”
No voice has screamed louder for Denver as the permanent home of the Rocky Mountain Showdown than mine.
But if Colorado State coach Sonny Lubick is smart, he will put his foot down and demand the Buffs pack their bags for Hughes Stadium in 2006.
After Crosby drilled the decisive field goal through CSU hearts Saturday, the Rams ache for a victory. Since this series resumed on an annual basis in 1995, the game has been staged six times in Denver, four times in Boulder and only once in Fort Collins.
Before the rivalry can be viewed with mutual respect on both campuses, the Rams must stop acting as if they’re lucky to be in any stadium with the Buffs.
Hiring Mike Bohn as athletic director gave CU the strong leadership it lacked for years. Now, we can only hope Bohn is so strong-willed as to believe the Buffs could benefit as much from scheduling Wyoming or Air Force as CSU.
Speaking from rock-headed experience, too often guys let testosterone get in the way of logic, and they bump chests until egos are too bruised to shake hands on a deal that makes sense.
Maybe Gov. Bill Owens should lock Driscoll, Ralphie the Buffalo, Bohn and Cam the Ram in a cramped room until they clean up this mess.
Here’s one simple compromise as a starting point in meaningful negotiations to keep the CU-CSU series alive.
Beginning in 2007, ensure the Rocky Mountain Showdown is a season-opening tradition the nation can count on for football passion. Stop the squabbling over the site with a three-year rotation shared equally by Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins.
One team must lose the game. But the state of Colorado would always win.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-820-5438 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
