BOULDER — With Colorado back on the field after a bye week, the big question remains: Which team will show up this evening at Folsom Field? As fans will attest, that applies to both Colorado and Georgia.
Will Colorado play like the team that, in its last game, exploded for 31 points in the second half to overwhelm Hawaii? Or will it be the bumbling bunch that couldn’t do anything right in the 52-7 calamity at California a week earlier?
As for Georgia, will the Bulldogs look like the team that has dropped three consecutive games in a season for the first time in 20 years. Or will Georgia (1-3, 0-3 SEC) finally perform like the unit that was projected to challenge Florida for the SEC East title?
Stamp this a make-a-statement game.
“This is as big as it gets,” CU defensive tackle Will Pericak said. “We have to win.”
The atmosphere should be electric:
• Late start (5 p.m.).
• Sellout crowd.
• National telecast (FSN).
• A “blackout” game, with CU fans encouraged to wear all black.
• Only the second Southeastern Conference team to visit Folsom Field, the first since LSU in 1979.
And with 75-plus members of Colorado’s 1990 national championship team looking on from their 20-year reunion celebration, this game should have all the buzz of a bowl game — an upper-tier bowl game.
“To have those guys around will be motivation — we just want to represent them,” Buffaloes senior wide receiver Scotty McKnight said. “They put Colorado football on the map. We want to show them that we’re on the way back.”
The trick for the CU players is finding the balance between being caught up in the excitement and remaining centered enough to pay attention to details. Getting off to a strong start has not been a CU trademark.
In three games, Colorado has scored 17 points in the first half — all coming in the opener against Colorado State. Buffs coach Dan Hawkins said the game films revealed a litany of blunders (penalties, missed assignments, overrunning plays) by players who forced things because they were trying too hard to make things happen.
“Sometimes guys want so bad to win, they forget what they’re supposed to do,” Hawkins said.
Who could blame them? Colorado went just 3-9 last season, and their coach remains on every “hot seat” list.
“Sometimes when you get overhyped you forget about your technique and your responsibilities on a certain play,” CU junior safety Anthony Perkins said this week. “That’s when mistakes happen.”
Of Georgia’s past five recruiting classes, four were ranked by among the nation’s 10 best for that year. By comparison, only one of Colorado’s past five recruiting classes has cracked the top 30: the Buffs’ 15th-ranked 2008 class.
“By far, Georgia is going to be the most athletic team we’ve faced,” McKnight said. “There’s a lot of team speed. We have some speed as well, but we’re going to have to combat their speed by playing physical and knowing our assignments and paying attention to detail.”
Much has been made of this being an important game for Hawkins and Georgia coach Mark Richt. For the loser, criticism is sure to intensify.
But it’s also a big test for the quarterbacks, CU’s Tyler Hansen and Georgia’s Aaron Murray, both of whom have been inconsistent in their first season as a full-time starter.
“If we all take care of our own assignments, we can be a good team,” McKnight said. “We have a ton of talent.”
Those on the Georgia side must be thinking the same thing.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
Three questions for Colorado
1. Can Colorado get off to a quick start? Turning on a switch and mounting the second-half comeback against Hawaii was impressive. But falling behind Georgia would be a different animal. The Bulldogs have too many athletes to surrender a big lead. Through three games, Colorado has scored a total of 17 points in the first half — all coming in a season-opening win over Colorado State. That must change.
2. Can CU’s senior cornerbacks, Jimmy Smith and Jalil Brown, prevent Georgia wideout A.J. Green from making a spectacular season debut? Smith (6-feet-2, 205 pounds) and Brown (6-1, 205) have the size and speed to be NFL prospects. Now is the time to show it. Green, a 6-4, 212-pound junior, has been labeled a likely first-round draft choice. And he will be ready to make an impact in his first game back after serving a four-game NCAA suspension for selling his bowl jersey. Whether Green lines up on the left and is covered by Brown — or is covered by Smith on the right side — it figures to be an intriguing battle. Pro scouts will be watching.
3. Will the 75-plus members of Colorado’s 1990 national championship team here for a 20-year anniversary celebration leave Folsom Field high-fiving a big victory or will they depart disappointed? Current CU players have said all week that the anniversary of the program’s finest hour will serve as motivation, and they intend to make the honorees proud. Will the old Buffs leave with a smile on their faces as Alfred Williams did in the last game against Hawaii following his special day?
