BOULDER — Folsom Field rocked Saturday afternoon.
The scene and the decibel level conjured up those red-letter days from a bygone era when the hated Nebraska Cornhuskers arrived to the foot of the Flatirons to take on the hometown Buffaloes.
“The crowd was wonderful,” Colorado senior cornerback Chidobe Awuzie said after No. 12 CU’s 38-24 victory over Washington State. “You hear all those people yelling on third downs, fourth downs. Hearing them gave us a lot of motivation to really stop the other team. That’s been huge for us this year.”
The announced crowd at Folsom was 48,658, the largest in coach Mike MacIntyre’s four-year tenure at CU. Folsom Field seats 50,183, so it was short of a sellout, but the atmosphere was electric nonetheless.
“It’s nice to see that our young men have done that,” MacIntyre said. “They’ve brought people back out. They have kind of reconnected the state of Colorado with their team.”
Now comes the next big test. The Buffs host No. 11 Utah next Saturday night with a possible Pac-12 conference championship on the line. Colorado students are on Thanksgiving break, but MacIntyre made a plea for them to return early and make Folsom rock again.
“I imagine a bunch of students will be getting some early plane flights back from break this next Saturday,” he said. “I’m excited about seeing the place overflowing.”