Boulder – The man in black walked the sideline, with Colorado football coach Dan Hawkins dressed from head to toe like the late, great Johnny Cash.
And he was singing the Folsom Field blues, after his young Buffaloes worked hard but wound up sadder than a country song in a 16-6 loss to Florida State.
“We need to quit making excuses and go make plays,” Hawkins said very early Sunday morning, after any hope of the breakthrough victory his CU program so desperately needs was destroyed by botched field-goal attempts, an inability to establish a respectable running attack and the speed of the Seminoles that ultimately left the Buffs breathless.
On a warm summer evening when CU encouraged fans to dress in dark clothing to create a blackout effect in the stands, it was the offense of Hawkins that faded to black.
Only an 11-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Cody Hawkins to Tyson DeVree with 3 minutes, 39 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter avoided a shutout and kept the school’s 18-year-old streak of 225 games with points on the scoreboard alive.
In a game full of maddening could-haves and should-haves for the Buffs, two errant field-goal tries by Kevin Eberhart prevented CU from staying within striking distance of an upset. The missed opportunities provoked boos from a large home crowd, which obviously could recall when this program regularly beat big-name foes.
In a sports-crazy but intensely competitive market for the entertainment dollar, Colorado must work hard for your money and pack its schedule with sexy dates to get fannies in the seats.
So that explains why the Buffs stayed up late and took on the storied Seminoles, when it certainly would have been easier and probably far smarter for Hawkins’ rebuilding program to pick on a patsy for an easy victory.
Not to diss the yellow-bellies hiding under the shirts of other Big 12 Conference coaches, but check these scores from elsewhere around the league: Oklahoma 54, Utah State 3. Baylor 34, Texas State 27. And, um, Troy 41, Oklahoma State 23.
What, no school for diesel mechanics was available?
Colorado cannot afford to schedule bye weeks disguised as crummy football teams. What’s more, the Buffs would not want to shamelessly pad a bowl résumé. This team takes on anybody, anywhere.
“I wouldn’t want it any other way,” CU linebacker Brad Jones insisted last week. “I came to this school just because we consistently play one of the hardest schedules in the nation.”
When being recruited as a teenager from East Lansing, Mich., Jones demanded college recruiters to tell him “who you are playing. I want to know if you’re playing somebody like Appalachian …”
Oops.
“I mean, Appalachian State is good,” Jones said, laughing at the mistake of downgrading the one patsy that has roared the loudest this season.
No worries. We know where you’re coming from, Mr. Jones.
If we want to pay good money to see our local heroes whup a lousy team, we’ll buy tickets for the Broncos to toy with the silver-and-bleak Oakland Raiders.
Now, Florida State might no longer be the Seminoles that made quarterback Charlie Ward a Heisman Trophy winner and the corny humor of coach Bobby Bowden famous.
But there is enough luster remaining on the Florida State program to fill CU’s home stadium with the highest concentration of folks wearing ‘Noles gear anywhere this side of a Sunshine State beach.
Sure, the Buffs were gutsy – one of those polite words used to make losers feel better about themselves.
“I know when I was getting recruited, there was a team that played a lot of those (premier programs), but was getting beat 63-3. And I was going: ‘OK. Great. That’s awesome.’ I wasn’t really impressed by that,” Hawkins said days before the Seminoles hit town.
Colorado entered this game having lost 14 straight times against ranked foes. Although nowhere to be seen in the current Top 25, the Seminoles were found among the others receiving votes in this week’s Associated Press poll.
The Buffs played Florida State not only because they wanted the challenge, but also because CU needed to do it.
For the money.
And to assure the movers and shakers of a football nation, to say nothing of alums down the street in Denver, do not forget the Buffs used to be somebody in this sport.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
