The kiss was big and wet and sloppy. College guys go wild when Colorado State plays Colorado in football. Can we get a witness for a man kiss?
The smooch heard ’round the Rocky Mountains was planted on the cheek of CSU’s Johnny Walker from the grateful lips of 296-pound defensive tackle Erik Sandie. Hey, these things happen when you win 14-10. Beat the Buffs. Get a buss.
Think the Rams loved this one?
“This is pretty much the happiest day of my life. Straight up,” Sandie said Saturday, after CSU regained bragging rights in this series for the first time since 2002.
All the joy came spilling out of Sandie as the big junior dashed across the field and barged through a circle of reporters to give Walker some sugar.
“A tear came to my eye. I lost it,” said Sandie, who wrapped Walker in his arms and never thought twice about puckering up. “I figured I don’t care if he’s getting interviewed. I’m kissing him.”
After three straight years in which the Rams invented new ways to break hearts with last-moment losses against the school that forever treats them like a little brother, CSU finally gave CU what it deserved.
The agony of defeat.
“I was thinking the whole fourth quarter, we can’t find a way to lose this one, can we? Hey, I’m quitting if Colorado beats us this time,” admitted Rams coach Sonny Lubick, whose 102nd victory for the school might have been as sweet as any triumph during his previous 13 seasons in Fort Collins. “Maybe they’re not ready at Colorado State to get rid of me yet.”
But two games into his career at Colorado, new Buffaloes coach Dan Hawkins will be feeling the heat for being winless.
“You have the doubters, and they don’t know that when you are in the fire, you get the highs and lows,” Hawkins said. “When you stand outside the fire, it is easy to laugh and guffaw.”
Hawkins devised a gimmick to surprise Colorado State, starting junior Bernard Jackson at quarterback in place of James Cox. The move looked brilliant. For one series.
After the Buffaloes stunned CSU by taking a 7-0 lead on the opening drive, however, Hawkins quickly ran out of bright ideas. Colorado, with an offensive playbook so simplistic it would shame many prep teams, appeared clueless.
Although there’s no denying the Rams won a close decision on points, they thumped Colorado, limiting the Buffaloes to a scant nine first downs and a meager 146 yards of total offense.
Why did Colorado State win? Lubick will tell you. But be forewarned, CU fans. The truth hurts worse than watching the Buffaloes try to throw a pass.
“They just didn’t have a quarterback,” Lubick said. “They couldn’t move the football.”
Although billed as a showcase for the sport in Colorado, the people of the state were reluctant to buy it. Rows of seats went unoccupied in the upper deck of Invesco Field at Mile High.
Although there were 65,701 rambunctious, sometimes contentious fans in attendance, the turnout was weak. Those who stayed away did not miss much action.
It’s fair to wonder: Could either team win the Big Sky Conference?
The Rams were as painfully conservative as they were intelligently patient, waiting to take the lead on a 5-yard touchdown pass from CSU quarterback Caleb Hanie to junior Kory Sperry with a little more than 4 minutes remaining in the second quarter.
Thereafter, Colorado State seemed content to stand back and watch the Buffs be inept. The lone weapon feared by the Rams was CU kicker Mason Crosby, who had a 61-yard field goal erased from the scoreboard by a timely timeout by Lubick before the snap.
Hawkins is the right coach for CU.
But the Buffs do not have the right quarterback.
“He can’t throw the ball,” said Lubick, who put eight defenders in the box against Jackson and never got burned.
The longest offensive play of the game was a 32-yard catch grabbed by Walker deep in CU territory late in the fourth quarter, which allowed the Rams to run out the clock
“After a play like that, I’ll make out with him,” Sandie gushed. “I don’t care who watches.”
Nothing’s sweeter than kissing frustration goodbye.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
