WACO, Texas—When Colorado players gathered the day after upsetting Oklahoma, they didn’t initially watch film of that victory. They instead got a reminder.
“We started watching last year’s overtime game against Baylor and all the plays we missed,” said quarterback Cody Hawkins, the coach’s son. “A lot of guys really focused in when we got into that auditorium where we said: ‘Listen, it’s Baylor this week. We know what happened last year.’ ”
The Buffaloes (3-2, 1-0 Big 12) finally have a big victory to build on under second-year coach Dan Hawkins and don’t want another letdown against Baylor (3-2, 0-1) when they play Saturday night.
Last year, it was a triple-overtime homecoming loss to the Bears that was Colorado’s 10th straight loss, matching a school record. The Buffs were two-time defending Big 12 North champs in 2003, the most previous game between the two before that, when they lost in Baylor coach Guy Morriss’ first league game.
Colorado had the fourth-largest comeback in team history against the then-No. 3 Sooners, overcoming a 17-point deficit for a 27-24 victory on Kevin Eberhart’s 45-yard field goal as time expired—the first time the Buffaloes ever won a game on the last play.
“I always talk about those breakthrough moments and I think that those things help to solidify it more,” said coach Hawkins, 5-12 in his second season. “The things that we have been reiterating as a coaching staff over and over again for basically 2 1/2 years, they all come to fruition, so it really cements those lessons even more.”
Part of the philosophy is “stay off the mountaintop and stay out of the valley.”
Translation: Forget the victory over Oklahoma and focus on Baylor.
“Coach does a good job of teaching us how to deal with the highs and lows and how to stay in neutral,” safety Daniel Dykes said. “The thing we take from (the Oklahoma) game is that we can play with anyone in the country. … It really reaffirms what we felt about ourselves.”
The Bears were headed back to campus after their 34-10 loss at Texas A&M, which snapped their three-game winning streak, when Morriss heard about Colorado’s huge upset victory.
“It was kind of hard to believe,” said Morriss, 18-33 in his fifth season.
At least Colorado has had some past Big 12 success, despite the struggles against Baylor.
The Bears still haven’t had a winning season since the Big 12 was formed in 1996. They went 1-5 the rest of the way last year after linebacker Joe Pawelek’s interception in the end zone ended the game against the Buffs.
“From an individual standpoint, to end the game like that was pretty special,” said Pawelek, a sophomore. “But for how the season turned out, it put a damper on all that stuff.”
Dan Hawkins spent the night in his office on the Colorado campus after the Baylor loss last October. No need for any overnight stays after beating the Sooners, but he still remembers what happened last year against the Bears.
“You think about all the lessons you’ve learned and all the things that you need to get better at,” Hawkins said. “From that standpoint, I’ve thought about it a bunch.”
Now the Buffaloes find out if they can handle a little success.
