The Broncos host Jacksonville on Sunday and Colorado welcomes Miami (Ohio) on Saturday in Boulder. But the best ticket in town this weekend can be found in Golden.
Chadron (Neb.) State College running back Danny Woodhead arrives at Brooks Field on Saturday for a noon game against host Colorado School of Mines of the Division II Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Woodhead is on the cusp of setting the all-time, all-classification NCAA rushing record.
His 6,906 career rushing yards rank fourth all-time. In Chadron’s previous game, a 31-0 drubbing of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Woodhead rushed for 147 yards and two touchdowns to move ahead of South Dakota State’s Josh Ranek (6,794 yards, 1997-2001). Woodhead also ranks second in scoring with 570 points and seventh in all-purpose yards with 8,189.
Grove City, Pa.’s R.J. Bowers (1997-2000) holds the NCAA rushing record with 7,353. But not for long. Woodhead, a senior, is 448 yards shy of Bowers’ mark – with at least eight games remaining this season.
Woodhead has rushed for 300 or more yards five times, including a 324-yard explosion against Wayne State last season. In his previous game in Golden, as a freshman in 2004, Woodhead racked up 260 yards against the Orediggers. In nine career games played inside Colorado, Woodhead has 1,842 yards.
While it’s unlikely Woodhead will break the rushing record Saturday, he should get close enough to topple it next week when Chadron faces rival Nebraska-Kearney in front of a home crowd.
WHAT WE’D LIKE TO SEE
Dear Dale Jr.: Good luck with Hendricks Motorsports. We hope you enjoy your new team. But in their attempt to rebrand you in a corporate image, your handlers took away some of your edge. They replaced Budweiser as your sponsor with Amp Energy drink and helped you release your namesake candy bar. “I think there is a little bit of a maturation of Dale Jr. as a brand,” said Mark Dyer, chief executive of Motorsports Authentics, a NASCAR merchandise marketer. Dale, buddy, are you a driver or a brand?
AROUND THE STATE
It’s only Week 4, but the Colorado prep football schedule is seeing the largest slate of entertaining games of the season. Today’s games include several highlights: Pomona-Bear Creek at Jeffco Stadium, Fort Collins-Poudre at French Field, Wheat Ridge-ThunderRidge at the NAAC, and Class 1A stalwarts Wray at Akron. But the real kicker will be the 107th Bell Game, the annual matchup between Pueblo’s Centennial and Central at Dutch Clark Stadium. It’s thought to be the sixth-oldest prep game in the nation and the oldest west of the Mississippi.
WEAK IN REVIEW
CU on Tuesday announced it will stop selling beer at basketball games. That’s CU. Prohibiting beer. At basketball games. Do you know where CU plays home basketball games? It’s called the “Coors Events Center.” Beer sales were banned at football games in 1996. As at football games, beer will still be sold at basketball games to high-paying customers in the luxury areas.
ON THE COUCH
The Rockies’ entire season comes to a head this weekend in San Diego, when the two teams will sort out the NL wild card. The Rockies are chasing the Padres and the Phillies for the final postseason berth. So Colorado’s three-game set with San Diego is crucial. The Rockies tonight face 18-game winner Jake Peavy (FSN, 8 p.m.) and counter with a late-season callup, rookie Franklin Morales. On Sunday, the Rox throw ace Jeff Francis against Greg Maddux (FSN, 2 p.m.).
OFF THE COUCH
Among the wide assortment of offerings in late-summer running events this weekend, two will take place at opposite ends of the seriousness scale. The Colorado Relay, now in its 10th year, begins today and runs through Saturday as a team relay from Idaho Springs to Glenwood Springs. That’s 170 miles in 24 hours (coloradorelay.com). On the shorter side, there’s the Hop, Skip and Jump 5K at the Children’s Museum in Denver on Saturday, including a kids’ fun run, an infant crawl and a toddler trot (cmdenver.org).
