Boulder – If sunshine can brighten the gloomiest mood, then Colorado is headed to a positive place.
The sun shines more often than not in Orlando, Fla., and the Buffs will be there Dec. 27 to soak up some rays and face Clemson in the Champs Sports Bowl.
It is a buffer for the hurt that Colorado coaches and players feel after having been beaten 70-3 in Saturday’s Big 12 championship game.
“We’ll be pretty well healed up, both physically and emotionally,” CU coach Gary Barnett said. “We’re going to give our guys some time off and get their batteries regenerated a little bit. We will be excited and we will come down anxious and ready to play Clemson.”
The decision came down to Colorado or Kansas. Champs Sports executive director Tom Mickle said because of their name, the head-to- head win over the Jayhawks, and status as Big 12 North Division champions, the Buffs were the overwhelming choice.
“We really think they are a fine football team that will bounce back and play well in the bowl game,” said Mickle, who added the magnitude of CU’s loss to Texas played a minimal part in the selection process.
“We tried to sleep on that, which I think is a good thing,” he said. “Sleep on that and consider the whole body of work in the whole season. That’s what we did. Colorado won the vote rather handily over Kansas.”
Mickle said concerns over CU’s light-traveling fan base weren’t much of a consideration either. He added no Big 12 team has traveled well to Florida for that game and couldn’t recall any Big 12 team having much more than 3,000 fans.
Colorado will have an allotment of 12,000 tickets.
“When we got into this we knew the Big 12, even though they are committed to 12,000 tickets, would not sell their allotment, just because of the geography,” Mickle said. “If we can get a few thousand people from Colorado, we’ll do well.”
Clemson (7-4) comes in having won three consecutive games and five of its past six. Its four losses are by a combined 14 points.
The Tigers feature game- breaking quarterback Charlie Whitehurst, who just underwent arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder in order to be pain-free and will be able to play in the bowl, and kicker Jad Dean, who is a Lou Groza Award finalist along with CU’s Mason Crosby.
Clemson coach Tommy Bowden expects Colorado to come out swinging.
“Gary’s going to have their full attention,” Bowden said. “They usually come out fighting. If anything, I would just as soon face them coming off a win than a loss like that.”
Barnett update
Barnett said he expected to coach the Buffs in the bowl, despite a published report Sunday citing “strong indications” that he wouldn’t.
“You know something I don’t know?” Barnett said when asked about his bowl status.
Speculation about Barnett’s future with the Buffs has begun to swirl again in light of CU’s season-ending three-game losing streak, which was punctuated by blowout losses to Nebraska and Texas.
Barnett said he spoke Sunday with CU athletic director Mike Bohn, but the conversation never turned toward his future at CU.
“We talked about the bowl game, and he expressed his excitement about having a chance to go down there and compete and I agreed with him,” Barnett said. “That was the extent of it.”
Barnett added that he “absolutely” continues to seek a contract extension. Bohn didn’t return a phone message.
Footnotes
Tickets for the bowl can be obtained at the CU ticket office, or by calling 303-492-8337. Internet sales may be available by mid-week. …
CU quarterback Joel Klatt (concussion) arrived in town Sunday after being kept in Houston overnight for observation. All tests came back negative.
Staff writer Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-820-5455 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
