Colorado defensive tackle Justin Solis is one of many Buffs who go into games in southern California with a chip on their shoulders. (Daily Camera, Jeremy Papasso)
Boulder — More than 40 Colorado players are from California, so when the Buffs travel there for a game — especially for a game at UCLA or Southern Cal — there’s a little extra motivation for them. That will be the case Saturday when they play UCLA at the Rose Bowl.
“Every Pac-12 game is big to us, just to go back and play in our home towns,” said senior defensive tackle Justin Solis. “It gets personal for us. These are the schools we grew up watching. A lot of us didn’t get offers from them, we take that personally, like we weren’t good enough for them. It will be more important to us, just because we come from that area.”
His favorite team growing up was USC.
“I loved watching SC,” Solis said. “I would always go to the games, and that was definitely my dream school. I ended up here in Colorado for a reason. Itap just, when we play those teams, I play a little harder, just knowing that, ‘Yeah, you guys made a mistake not picking me up.'”
Solis said he got an offer from UCLA but not USC.
“When I came up here, I just fell in love with this place,” Solis said. “Itap just a beautiful place, beautiful campus. Itap just a great place to be. There’s so much history with this program. I just want to be part of the whole rebuilding and bring this program back to the top.”
One frustration when the Buffs travel to southern California is that so many players have so many family members and friends who want to attend the game, but there’s only so much ticket availability. Solis is hoping to add to the four tickets he’s already secured.
“Itap just a struggle to get tickets for this game, because everyone’s from that area,” Solis said. “I gotta get me some more tickets.”
