FORT COLLINS — As a college quarterback, Mike Bobo couldn’t beat Peyton Manning. But as the new Colorado State coach, all Bobo needs to do is whip CU, fill a new $220 million stadium and land the football program an invitation to a power five conference.
No problem. No pressure. Right?
Colorado State president Tony Frank has pushed all his chips to the middle of the table with a commitment to build an on-campus stadium scheduled to open in 2017.
For the Rams, is it admission to a power five conference or bust?
“I don’t know the answer to that,” Frank told me. But after a long exhale to contemplate the challenge facing CSU football, he revealed his plan: The Rams must emulate Boise State’s on-field success and then gamble the college football playoff will expand from four teams to eight sooner rather than later.
“I tend to believe there are a few slots outside those big five conferences, where you follow the Boise State model and you can say: ‘Hey, we’re competitive. We’re knocking on the window, winning eight or nine games a year. Remember us out here.’ We’ll scrap with a big-flash program whenever we get a chance,” Frank said.
“I think it will be real interesting to see what happens in the college football playoff. The odds that it stays at four teams? I just don’t see it. So, with eight teams in the playoff, you go with the five conference champions, the best of the rest and then you’ve got two at-large spots.”
The dream the Rams are chasing is to become Cinderella in green and gold. Be the best of the rest in major-college football. Explaining why CSU ultimately decided to give thumbs-up to a stadium that faced heated opposition within Fort Collins, Frank joked, “Sometimes you don’t see an exit ramp when you’d like to.”
It is now Bobo’s job to justify the controversial stadium decision. His background as a slow, undersized quarterback for Georgia from 1994-97, however, indicates Bobo is unafraid to deliver under pressure.
“Everybody always told me: ‘Hey, Mike Bobo, you’re tough. You stand in there as a quarterback.’ Well, No. 1, I couldn’t move, so I couldn’t get away. I had to stand in there and take the lick,” said Bobo, who threw for 38 touchdowns and more than 6,000 yards while leading the Bulldogs to a top-10 finish in the national polls as a senior.
But he couldn’t beat Manning as a starting quarterback, losing to Tennessee by scores of 29-17 and 38-13.
“My history against Peyton Manning was … oh-fer,” Bobo said.
At his introductory news conference, Bobo stood in front of CSU boosters, and in a Southern drawl as sweet and syrupy as a Georgia peach, he declared, “I am Colorado State.”
Now, if somebody could pour Bobo a frosty glass of 90 Shilling Ale and hand him a map, he might be able to find the Lory Student Center.
A man who has spent 39 of the first 40 years of his life with feet firmly planted in the red Georgia clay looked CSU athletic boosters in the eye and declared, “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t a dream job.” Moments later, some irreverent knucklehead had to ask Bobo:
So when was the first time you visited Fort Collins?
“Today,” Bobo said.
He took the job sight unseen? That’s nuts.
The Rams hired an offensive coordinator from the mighty Southeastern Conference and spared no expense, signing Bobo to a five-year, $7.75 million contract.
Hey, it worked with Jim McElwain.
McElwain coaxed 10 victories from the Colorado State football program for the first time since 2002, whipped CU and earned the Rams a well-deserved bowl bid. Then McElwain skedaddled out of town, paying $2 million for the steppingstone that took him to Florida.
But there’s reason to think Bobo might be in this job for more than a minute. In a profession that attracts nomads always in search of the next championship ring, Bobo served as an assistant coach at the University of Georgia since 2001. Bobo does more than talk loyalty. He has lived it.
The main challenge for a Georgia native who admittedly knows almost nothing about CSU or the Rocky Mountain West except for what he has read? Now Bobo must convincingly sell what he doesn’t know to a blue-chip recruit and his mother.
“I’m getting comfortable with being uncomfortable,” Bobo said.
If Bobo wants to immediately feel welcome and at home in Fort Fun, here are three simple words of advice: Beat the Buffs.
Mark Kiszla: mkiszla@denverpost.com or
