Boulder – There is more at stake for the remainder of Colorado’s season than meets the eye.
Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Iowa State and Nebraska won’t just determine the season’s success or failure. They are likely the key to the future of the CU football program.
Five wins and a berth in the Big 12 championship game with a shot at a BCS bowl would do wonders for coach Gary Barnett, who is seeking a contract extension, and would be a shot in the arm for a program that those involved with believe is on the brink of returning to the elite.
Missing a chance at a conference title in a season when CU was favored to be there could result in new leadership in the program.
“It’s up to us to put our image out there,” quarterback Joel Klatt said. “I think we’re very close to being one of those teams that every year can win nine, 10 ballgames. That’s the type of program that I want to leave. That’s the type of program guys want to enter, and the type of program our freshmen want to play in the next four years.”
Colorado has not won nine games since 2002. CU athletic director Mike Bohn has said wins are not the sole criteria for whether he extends Barnett’s contract, but a football program headed in the right direction only helps Barnett’s cause.
“The older guys kind of understand a little bit of what’s going on and what’s happening,” Klatt said. “This team has the ability to go out and win all five of these games and everything after that will take care of itself.”
Said fullback Lawrence Vickers: “Whatever we have to do to make that situation happen, we’ll do. It’s no worry. How could you get rid of a coach who has been Big 12 coach of the year twice, been to the Big 12 championship two of the three years I’ve played so far and been to a (BCS) bowl game?”
Meanwhile, the program itself is in need of some big wins. At Nebraska, Frank Solich was fired not because he wasn’t winning games – he won nine in his final season – but because the dominance had left the program. Opponents were no longer afraid of the Huskers, recruiting was sagging and Nebraska had slipped out of the annual national title conversation.
Barnett says the next five games are must-wins “for no other reason than we need to win them. We need to win every game we can win.”
But the team knows there’s more to it.
“In our hearts and minds, we think it’s going to take five wins to win this division,” Klatt said. “That would put us 9-2. A record like that with the schedule that we have we think is program-changing. The future of this whole program is not necessarily on everyone’s minds every day, but in the back of our minds we know that it’s going to take a tremendous effort.”
Footnotes
Linebacker Jordon Dizon sat out Tuesday’s practice with the flu. … Freshman wideout Jarrell Yates had patellar tendon surgery.
Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-820-5455 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
