Boulder – Somewhere, Jake Jabs is smiling.
Because, while the good people of Colorado know him as the animal-loving furniture maven who founded American Furniture Warehouse, the good people at Montana State know him as an alum.
And Saturday, his alma mater made him proud.
The start of the Dan Hawkins coaching era at Colorado was shown no love by the Division I-AA Bobcats, who stormed out of Folsom Field, crowded with 45,113 fans, with a gritty 19-10 victory. After their first game against a I-AA school, the Buffs are 0-1.
“At no point did I think we couldn’t win this football game because of our talent level and coaching expertise,” MSU coach Mike Kramer said. “I knew that if we didn’t make a big mistake, we could be there in the fourth quarter. Because of their devastating losses last year, they would start doubting each other, and that’s exactly what happened.”
Said Hawkins: “They came in and made the plays they needed to make, and we didn’t. That’s pretty much the sum of it.”
Well, not all of it.
A headline on the Montana State University website screamed “Bobcats Shock the World,” just hours after the scoreboard clock read zeroes. Bobcat players and coaches had more where that came from.
“As soon as our team got going, we knew we could play with these guys,” MSU quarterback Cory Carpenter said. “This is a new feeling for me, but this is the biggest win for our program in a long time.”
It was the first Bobcats win over a Division I-A opponent in 22 years, to be exact. But the program never has had much trouble putting the Buffs away, owning a 3-1 edge in a series that was revisited Saturday after a 79-year hiatus.
Colorado’s troubles were smoke-screened on a flashy first play: quarterback James Cox’s 42-yard pass to Patrick Williams to set up a Mason Crosby field goal. But that play and a four-minute, second-quarter TD drive were about all CU had to look on fondly.
The game was a sea of missed blocks, missed opportunities and general sloppiness. Cox flamed out in his first start, completing just 8-of-22 passes for 110 yards. The CU offense gained 216 yards – 13 fewer than Carpenter threw for in his first collegiate start. The Montana State QB connected on 23-of-31 attempts, one a 10-yard TD pass to Michael Jefferson.
“We were just one man short, a couple feet short on a throw, a couple feet long on a throw,” Cox said. “We had things there. We just have to look at the bright side and build on that.
“The bright side is we had a lot of things there.”
But Montana State had more. And in the second half, the Bobcats pitched a shutout using an emotionally charged defense and efficient offense.
A seven-play, 58-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter put Montana State ahead 13-10. MSU threatened again soon thereafter, but CU’s defense held at the goal line with 12:46 left in the fourth. Montana State held down the Buffs on the ensuing drive and again marched to the 1-yard line before settling for a 19-yard field goal and a 16-10 lead.
CU’s Stephone Robinson fumbled on the next kickoff return, MSU recovered and it led to another Jeff Hastings field goal with 2:58 left to put the game out of reach at 19-10.
“You can’t paint a rosy picture when you don’t have that thing out there,” Hawkins said. “You find out who you are at this point. Everybody wants to win, that’s why we play. We understand that. We also know that sometimes you lose.
“We need to take that to heart, figure out what those issues are, come out and solve those issues and use them as a force multiplier. Those guys obviously have not gone through a loss with us before, so they’re going to be interested in how we handle it. We need to come out tomorrow, win, lose or draw, and get better. And that’s what we’ll do.”
Staff writer Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
