BOULDER — Colorado junior tailback Rodney Stewart was so spent following the 34-14 victory over Iowa State, it’s a wonder he had enough energy to talk about his performance.
Stewart rushed a career-high 36 times for 123 yards. He felt it.
“I didn’t know I was going to carry it that many times,” Stewart said. “But we won, so I guess it was a good thing.”
In addition to the team win, there was an individual reward. Stewart became the first CU back to reach 1,000 yards during a regular season since Bobby Purify (1,017) in 2004. Three years later, Hugh Charles surpassed 1,000 yards with the bowl game, but the school does not include postseason statistics in its records. Stewart finished the game with 1,035 yards.
“It feels very good,” Stewart said of reaching 1,000 yards. “To not have a back do that in a long time, I’m proud of myself and of my (offensive) line.”
CU running backs coach Darian Hagan said the plan all along was to make Stewart “the workhorse” for the game. “Rodney told me he’s in the best shape of his life,” Hagan said. “And we wanted to run the ball and keep it away from Iowa State’s offense.”
Only daylight ahead.
That 45-yard fumble return for a touchdown by CU middle linebacker Michael Sipili early in the fourth quarter marked the first non-offensive touchdown this season for the Buffs, who haven’t scored on special teams.
“All I remember was, ‘I had to get (to the end zone),’ ” Sipili said. “The crowd was going crazy. And I hear (safety) Ray Polk asking me to pitch him the ball, but there was no way I was going to do that.”
Sipili scooped up Austen Arnaud’s fumble after the Iowa State senior quarterback was sacked by linebacker Patrick Mahnke. Arnaud suffered what ISU coach Paul Rhoads called a “significant” injury to his left knee.
Rhoads said Arnaud is done for the season and ended his college career. The local star from Ames High finished with 8,044 yards of offense, ranking only behind Bret Meyer’s 10,422 yards from 2004-07.
Footnotes.
With his 55-yard reception on the game’s third offensive play, Colorado freshman receiver Paul Richardson became the first CU player to record three 50-yard plays in a season since 2003, when Derek McCoy had a trio of 60-yard receptions. . . . With two field goals, CU senior Aric Goodman extended his streak to four straight. He is 7-for-8 since a miss at Missouri.
