Colorado tight end Tyson DeVree walked toward the tunnel wearing a grin that stretched nearly as wide as his shoulder pads. Another senior, cornerback Terrence Wheatley, could barely see through his tears. Wide receiver Patrick Williams said he wanted to cry for joy but got distracted by all the celebrating going on.
This wasn’t a national championship game. It wasn’t even an important conference victory.
But Colorado’s 31-28 overtime victory over rival Colorado State on Saturday – capped by Kevin Eberhart’s game-winning 35-yard field goal – unleashed emotions the Buffs and their fans haven’t experienced for at least two seasons.
Following a disastrous 2-10 season, the comeback from an 11-point second-half deficit at Invesco Field had the feeling of a bowl victory.
“Last season scarred a lot of players,” Williams said. “We had a tough winter. We had a tough spring and a tough summer. But we came out today and showed that we can do this.”
A big reason they were able to was the play of redshirt freshman quarterback Cody Hawkins, who understands his father’s keep-them-guessing offense and can make all the throws. Cody’s impressive debut included 201 yards passing and two touchdowns, with one interception.
Cody Hawkins never was shaken, rattled or rolled by a CSU defense that wanted to take home his helmet as a souvenir. He led the rally with poise beyond his age.
“We have a quarterback back there who is very heady,” Williams said. “He played like a beast. You would have never guessed that he was a redshirt freshman out there.”
“I’m more tired than I thought I’d be, but that locker room is pretty crazy right now,” Cody Hawkins said. “We’ve been talking this year about finishing strong. We’ve been talking all summer about beating the Rams. This is huge for the program.”
Rams fans could say senior quarterback Caleb Hanie (20-for-27 for 229 yards and three TDs) outplayed Hawkins, but Hanie made one big mistake, an interception Wheatley grabbed that put an end to CSU’s only overtime possession. On third- and-goal from the 9, Hanie scrambled to his right to avoid the rush, a tactic that had worked well all game. But this time his pass sailed, and receivers Kory Sperry and Johnny Walker got tangled up in the end zone, allowing Wheatley to leap for an easy catch.
“The best thing, in hindsight, is he should have thrown it in the stands,” CSU coach Sonny Lubick said.
Hanie agreed. “I probably should have thrown it out of the end zone but I scrambled out and I was actually trying to get it to Johnny and Kory was supposed to be in the corner of the end zone on that play, so I didn’t expect him where he was and they ran into each other and that guy was there to make the play.”
Needing only a field goal to win, CU played it safe by moving the ball 7 yards on two running plays and a short pass. Eberhart, a fifth-year senior who had been waiting for All-American Mason Crosby to graduate, then booted the game-winner.
Eberhart sent the game into overtime with a 22-yard field goal with 13 seconds remaining. The kick was set up by Chase McBride’s 43-yard punt return to the CSU 34 and a fourth-down pass-interference penalty on Rams cornerback Joey Rucks.
Wheatley, who had 135 yards on three kickoff returns, said the emotion of the day was too much to keep in as he walked to the locker room with the CU fans hanging over him.
“To have all that pent-up aggression, all that anger and hurt, that you keep inside for the whole year, it’s good to get a chance to let it out on the field,” Wheatley said. “We showed people today that we have heart. You may knock us down, but we’re going to get back up and we did that today.”
Staff writer Tom Kensler can be reached at 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com.
LOWDOWN on the SHOWDOWN
PLAY OF THE DAY
Interference helps Buffs
Trailing 28-25, Colorado was facing a fourth-and-4 from the CSU 28 with just over a minute remaining in the fourth quarter. Cody Hawkins’ pass down the sideline for Patrick Williams was incomplete and probably was going to be so under any circumstances, but CSU cornerback Joey Rucks was called for interference after waving his arm without turning around as the ball arrived. The call enabled the Buffs to retain possession, and they ended up kicking the game-tying field goal to force overtime.
HIT OF THE DAY
CU’s Walters drills Sperry
CU free safety Ryan Walters nailed Rams tight end Kory Sperry over the middle in the third quarter, but it was indicative of Sperry’s eight-catch day: He held onto the ball at the Buffs’ 13-yard line, and the play went for 22 yards. Running back Kyle Bell scored on the next play as the Rams took a 28-17 lead.
KEY STAT
2.8
CSU averaged only 2.8 yards per rushing attempt. Kyle Bell finished with 135 yards but had 40 of the Rams’ 56 carries.
THE BEST …
Squib kick bounces right way for the Rams
… AND THE WORST
CSU’s special teams not so special against Buffs
COACH’S CALL OF THE DAY
Gutsy move
This took neither a rocket
scientist nor Amos
Alonzo Stagg, but some
coaches would have passed
on the chance to go for two
points under the circumstances
CU faced after scoring
late in the third quarter,
theorizing it might be too
soon to start paying attention
to charts. But when
Demetrius Sumler scored
from 2 yards out to close
CU to within 28-23 with 34
seconds left in the third,
the Buffs went for two –
and got them, on a Cody
Hawkins-to-Riar Geer pass.
POLICE REPORT
Crowd control
Denver police reported less public fighting Saturday than usual at this hotly contested game, though they recorded the usual excess drinking and dozens of resulting visits to detox.
Partisan crowds contributed an even dozen arrests for fighting, disobeying lawful orders and disturbing the peace; another six fans received summonses for public urinating and underage drinking.
Forty-six people were taken to detox, and another 14 to local hospitals for alcohol or other medical issues.
– Terry Frei and Denver Post staff reports
