Boulder – Behind closed doors, Iowa State’s assertion last season that it had every right to be called Big 12 North champion left many Buff players and coaches steaming.
That isn’t a problem this season.
Colorado’s division title did not come as a result of a tiebreaker – it was outright. CU finished better in the conference (5-3) than the Cyclones (4-4).
And as the sting from the Nebraska loss fades, coach Gary Barnett said it will become easier to savor the division crown.
“As we go on down the road and we’re able to put (the Nebraska game) behind us further, we will hang on those things that we did well,” Barnett said. “And we’ll work on those things that we didn’t do well. We still won more games than anybody else did in the North Division. We beat some good teams, and we’re in the game.”
Sympathy for McCarney
While Barnett doesn’t know how Iowa State coach Dan McCarney feels, he has an idea of how painful it must be to lose two straight Big 12 North-clinching games in consecutive years.
“That’s the way this game is,” Barnett said. “It’s a game of one play. You talk to your players all the time about how four or five plays make the difference in the game. They just didn’t make it.”
Footnote
According to CU spokesman Dave Plati, the students who threw objects on the field during the CU-Nebraska game will be subject to prosecution.
