BOULDER — Year 4 of the Dan Hawkins Era ended Friday with one more win than Year 1. To the anger of most, to the relief of some and to the surprise of almost all, there will be a Year 5.
For two-thirds of the 52,817 fans at Folsom Field — those who weren’t wearing Nebraska red — hope could be found in Colorado’s season-ending 28-20 loss to the Cornhuskers.
Against the eighth-ranked defense in the country, Colorado’s moribund offense rolled up 403 yards, a season high against the Cornhuskers. The Buffaloes neutralized the college game’s best NFL prospect, tackle Ndamukong Suh, to make way for Rodney Stewart’s 110 yards on the ground.
OK, since athletic director Mike Bohn gave Hawkins something truly to be thankful for — a year’s reprieve announced on Thanksgiving — stats for the future are as important as a win in the present.
Colorado’s 3-9 season (2-6 Big 12) and Hawkins’ four-year mark of 16-33 become mere footnotes after the university’s decision a day earlier.
After the game, Hawkins seemed more like a man finishing his first exhale in a month than one who finished his fourth consecutive losing season.
“In this economy, there are a lot of people out of a job,” he said. “Anytime you stay employed, that’s pretty good.”
When Hawkins hunkers down during the offseason to correct all the flaws in his program, he can use Friday’s game as a microcosm.
Special teams were a disaster. Niles Paul’s 59-yard punt return for Nebraska opened the scoring. Kicker Aric Goodman ended a bright year on a downer, missing field-goal attempts of 52 and 37 to end two consecutive promising second-half drives.
The defense hung tough all day until a 13-play, 80-yard drive, fueled by backup freshman tailback Rex Burkhead, gave Nebraska a 28-14 lead with 6:43 left.
“We just have to build up a body of confidence in the offseason,” Hawkins said. “That way we can come out and have that same kind of intensity early on.”
Yes, it’s too late now. The Buffs came only seven wins short of Hawkins’ preseason prediction to a booster club. Still, the worst offense in the Big 12 moved the ball Friday against one of the nation’s best defenses — when it had field position.
Due to a horrific return game and Alex Henery’s booming, pinpoint punts, Colorado’s starting field positions opening the game were the 17, 2, 7 and 9, after which the Buffs went three-and-out each time and quickly fell behind 14-0. But down 21-7 midway through the third quarter, the Buffs began to move.
The young embattled line bore holes in Nebraska’s massive front wall, and Stewart found running room. A Nebraska holding penalty on a third-down incompletion moved the ball to the Huskers’ 6-yard line, where Tyler Hansen found junior Scotty McKnight for a TD to make it 21-14.
Suh, who entered with 15 tackles for losses, had only a pedestrian five tackles and one sack on an intentional grounding. Colorado’s 403 yards were nearly 124 more than Nebraska had given up per game.
“A lot of teams we watched, a lot of big O-linemen, a lot of their schemes aren’t necessarily attacking schemes like ours,” Buffs guard Mike Iltis said. “So we wanted to get double-teams on the down guys, hit them in the mouth and try to get some push on them. And I think we did a good job.”
Colorado threatened Nebraska twice more. Hansen’s 58-yard pass to Markques Simas to the 25 went for naught as a grounding call pushed Goodman’s field-goal attempt to 52 yards, which he missed.
After Buffs defensive tackle Eugene Goree recovered Roy Helu’s fumble at the 50, CU moved to the 19, and Goodman missed again.
“I feel bad for the guy,” said Hawkins of Goodman, who finished the year 10-of-18. “I do. He works hard and he tries hard, but somehow we’ve got to find a way to make some more of those things.”
Nebraska’s ensuing 6:52 TD drive, topped by Burkhead’s 7-yard run for the 28-14 lead, sealed it for a Nebraska team that inferred that it got by with little effort against an inferior opponent.
“I don’t like the way our football team played in any phase of the game,” said second-year Nebraska coach Bo Pelini, whose Huskers (9-3) appear headed for the Holiday Bowl unless they upset Texas in the Big 12 Championship game next week to earn an automatic BCS berth. “We played well on special teams, and that’s about it.”
Meanwhile, Friday ended the year for a group of Buffs who didn’t meet expectations but feel they will — no, they must — next year.
“I’m optimistic,” said McKnight, whose seven catches for 114 yards and two touchdowns put him two catches from Michael Westbrook’s school mark of 158. “The mistakes we made this year weren’t because of the coaches. They were because of the players.”
The Buffs have a long winter, spring and summer to iron out their issues. That’s because Year 5 begins now.
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
