BOULDER — Behind the football coach whose legend casts a long shadow on the University of Colorado program, a handful of fans meandered slowly into Folsom Field. But Bill McCartney was doing what he does best. He preached. “Why do you live here?” Coach Mac demanded, reminding me Boulder enjoys more sunny winter days than Los Angeles.
As I contemplated my reply while admiring a bluebird sky that extended to infinity and beyond, the CU band’s first brassy notes of “The Star-Spangled Banner” caused McCartney to spin around on a chair in his private box high above the stadium. Mac looked down on row after row of empty seats and exclaimed in disbelief: “Where is the crowd?”
Colorado routed the University of Massachusetts 48-14 on Saturday, ending a nine-game losing streak. Did it feel good? Oh, heck yeah. This was a draw- a-line-in-the-sand week. And CU refused to back down.
“It’s really big for us, because we haven’t done it before. … Those kids can put it as a benchmark and say: ‘We can do this consistently,’ ” noted current Buffs coach Mike MacIntyre, who hadn’t walked off a field as a winner in 357 long days. “It’s just one game, it really is. But it’s a good one.”
For a program trying to get back on the football map in its own state, maybe the answer to McCartney’s question is the one statistic from this game that mattered most: Attendance was 35,094, the smallest crowd for a CU home opener since 1988.
“You see this crowd right here?” said McCartney, who won a national championship 25 years ago, when the Buffs were golden. “If Notre Dame or Miami were here today, this place would be jam-packed. The culture here appreciates when somebody with excellence comes (to town). When you bring in a team they never heard of, they’re going to watch television. It’s in the culture. It’s in their DNA.”
I told Coach Mac that driving up Highway 93 to the stadium, I saw more than one Subaru stacked with bicycles, headed in the opposite direction. Instead of riding with the Buffs, folks were pedaling up the canyon.
“If we had won last week, they would have put the pedal to a different metal,” McCartney said with a chuckle. “When you win, they come (to the games). If you don’t win, they won’t come. It’s real simple.”
That’s why, fair or not, MacIntyre is feeling the heat. CU is more than halfway done with a gorgeous, massive, $156 million upgrade to its football facilities. In big business, a big investment demands a big payoff.
MacIntyre knows the score. After thrashing UMass, he kidded with his CU assistant coaches: “That keeps the bricks off our backs for about 30 seconds.”
While the Minutemen will not be confused with an elite Pac-12 Conference foe, they were not gone in 60 seconds. It took the Buffs well into the second quarter to quell thoughts of a UMass upset.
With CU ahead 24-14, the visitors drove to within 10 yards of the goal line, and UMass quarterback Blake Frohnapfel threw a pass to the end zone. It found the opportune hands of Buffs defensive back Ryan Moeller and a story that demanded to be told.
After the interception by Moeller, “the game completely changed,” said MacIntyre, who watched the Buffs capitalize on the turnover by marching to a touchdown that staked them to an insurmountable 17-point halftime lead. But that’s not what makes this story special.
Moeller is a walk-on from the tiny Western Slope town of Rifle. As a senior in high school, he ran for 3,002 yards. Yes, 3,002 yards in a single season.
“Hey, it’s not like I was a wrestler, and I had to do it all alone,” said Moeller, with down-home humility you don’t often hear voiced outside of a television commercial for pickup trucks.
If hard work and unflinching faith can not only carry Moeller to the big time, but allow him to bag his first college interception, then maybe it is possible for the Buffs to reclaim the glory days of McCartney.
Quarterback Sefo Liufau put behind a lousy performance during the loss at Hawaii. Nelson Spruce set a school record with his 219th career reception. Led by Michael Adkins II and Christian Powell, the Buffs trampled UMass for 390 yards on the ground.
But maybe the most encouraging sign of all?
Colorado athletic director Rick George, who doesn’t often intrude after games, showed up to MacIntyre’s news conference and offered the coach a warm hug of congratulations.
Outside the Dal Ward Center, as George shook hands with players, a CU staffer asked the boss: “Are you smiling?”
George replied: “I am today.”
Mark Kiszla: mkiszla@denverpost.com or
