BOULDER — Outside the locker room, Tony Jones stopped abruptly and, with tears welling up, pounded both fists repeatedly into the wall.
“It’s like devastating,” the Buffaloes’ senior running back said.
Inside a meeting room, Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre said, “I promise we’ll have a happy time in here before long.”
Another Saturday, just another CU loss.
Not quite.
The Buffs of Boulder trailed the Bruins of Los Angeles 24-7 late in the first half in the shadows of the colossal construction crane just behind Folsom Field. Presumably, the game was over — same old same old.
Not quite yet.
The Buffs battled back, tying the game in regulation and tying the game again in overtime.
The 100th homecoming crowd, smallish at 37,442, was not quiet yet.
The second overtime, for the second time this season, was CU’s undoing. The Buffs got a field goal; the Bruins responding with a touchdown, and the final score was 40-37.
Sigh.
The Buffaloes’ only lead of the afternoon was ephemeral.
What would have been Colorado’s grandest victory at home in its brief Pac-12 history very suddenly became its 28th defeat in 32 conference games.
But, as a student told me in the stands at the end, “At least, we’re not getting blown out any more.”
Maybe that should be the team slogan, or, at least, a T-shirt for the Washington game this coming Saturday.
This wasn’t 56-28. And there were a couple of things never seen previously in a college football game around these parts.
The Buffs scored with 1:46 to go before halftime, forced a fumble on UCLA’s first down and had first-and-goal at the Bruins’ 4-yard line with a pass completion from Sefo Liufau to D.D. Goodson.
It got weird: Officials ordered the clock to halt at 23 seconds. The Buffaloes assumed the signal was made because Goodson had been pushed out of bounds. His forward progress was checked before he went out. Rather, the clock paused, as always, for first down to move the chains.
The clock started again. The Buffs had used up their timeouts. MacIntyre, at 16 seconds, frantically flapped his arms to get Liufau’s attention to spike the ball.
Liufau and Jones were pointing, in panic, at the clock and yelling at the officials.
When the Buffs finally tried to proceed with the play, there was a false start, and, by rule, 10 seconds would be run off. Only four seconds were left. “Put that one on me,” MacIntyre said. OK, Coach. It’s on you.
Half over, and momentum gone.
That was one of the oddest endings since “The Usual Suspects,” which the Buffaloes have been for eight lonnnnnnnng years. And this will be the ninth.
The Bruins cruised to 31-14.
But, wait. The Buffs, who won their first homecoming in 1914, came out of nowhere for 17 points and an overtime.
Both teams kicked field goals to cause another OT, and moved to the other, southern end of the field.
There were many people seated from the 10-yard line to the back of the end zone in the lower bowl on the east. Suddenly, before play could resume, the crowd at the north end went south. It was like the gallery moving at a golf tournament. You can’t make that up.
“That was really cool,” defensive end Derek McCartney said. “It’s not something I’ve experienced before.”
We, either.
And the SRO crowd in the vicinity went wild, but the Buffs had an ill-selected play on third-and-1. They managed three instead of seven.
UCLA scored a touchdown on two dashes by quarterback Brett Hundley.
“We had the right defense but not the execution,” MacIntyre said. He put that one on the players.
The Buffs’ players and coaches committed some serious errors, but, as someone who has watched this program for 40 years, I felt bad for them at the conclusion of a game that was longer than “The Longest Day” at 3 hours, 53 minutes.
“What a game, what a battle,” the CU coach said. “Sometimes life is not fair. That was a game, but I do believe it teaches character and reveals character. I think that our team has great character.”
The team would prefer some victories.
Losing is “definitely getting old,” McCartney said.
If the Buffs play as they did Saturday, Tony Jones will be able to pump, instead of bang, both fists before he’s through.
Woody Paige: woody@woodypaige.com or
