FORT COLLINS — Traditions and Colorado State don’t pair well.
Dead traditions, sure. Fum’s Song. Lining rails of the student section with liquor bottles. Even the the Rams’ biggest rivalry is about to enter a coma.
Beyond firing a 100-year old French cannon after every score, the pieces of history that connect CSU fans are limited to a Bronze Boot and beating traffic by leaving at halftime. But that doesn’t have to be the case. Traditions are hard to build, and CSU has a rare opportunity to thrust itself into the national spotlight on an annual basis.
Zero Week. Every year.
While the rest of the college football world waits for Labor Day weekend to start their season, for the past two years, CSU has played the week prior, bringing attention of a national TV audience and tremendous fanfare. Saturday’s home opener against Hawaii might have lacked the fly-over and Pac-12 opponent it featured in 2017, but that was made up for by playing under the lights with a chance to take an early hold on first place in the Mountain West standings, even though the Rams’ comeback fell short.
Itap been happenstance, really, thatap led to two Zero Week games in as many years. Last season, CSU tweaked its schedule to get Oregon State – originally slated to come Week 3 – in ahead of the usual opener against Colorado in Denver. This time it was a matter of Hawaii athletic director David Matlin, trying to get his team that flies halfway across the Pacific Ocean every other week an extra bye somewhere on the schedule, calling Joe Parker and asking if he had any interest in another early game. Parker, the Rams’ AD, asked head coach Mike Bobo if he thought there was value in repeating 2017’s experience, and they agreed it was.
Walking through tailgate parties and bleachers littered with green Saturday evening, itap hard to argue their decision. This early game feels special, as if it were a special state holiday made by CSU for CSU, and needs to be a permanent part of what the Rams do.
Without it, driving preseason hype will soon be a challenge.
It’s no secret the Rocky Mountain Showdown is dying. The biggest rivalry either of the major state football programs has will soon be dead. Parker fought to resuscitate it for two games (Sept. 16, 2023 and Sept. 14 2024) after the current series contract expires in 2020, but make no mistake, the Showdown is spiraling toward an extended hiatus similar to the one that kept the Buffs and Rams off the same field between 1958 and 1983.
“I’d like to play them every year,” Parker said. So would any reasonable college football fan within Colorado’s borders. But itap not happening, and as disappointing as that is for the state (more people attend the game in Denver every year than have ever seen a game in Boulder or Fort Collins), itap a bigger blow to the Rams. In addition to benefiting with an annual Power 5 opponent on its schedule, CSU builds interest in its program – locally and across the country – by almost always opening with the Buffs on national TV.
CSU needs a hook. Playing in a Group of 5 conference that continues to slide further from relevance, starting the season with a ‘wow’ moment – regardless of how the remaining 11 games go – is important. And this? This atmosphere, this exposure, this feeling of being first? This is the hook.
There’s a problem: No plans exist to do this again. Maybe when Hawaii comes back on the schedule in 2020, but until then? Nope. And that line of thinking is complacent. If this university prides itself on being bold, then it should take a unique approach to scheduling and start a new tradition.
Attendance figures Saturday (31,007) didn’t scratch what they were when CSU christened its stadium against Oregon State last August in front of a sellout crowd of 37,583. No surprise there. Parker called 2017 “a once-in-a-lifetime” experience and CSU expecting to recreate that coming off a third-straight 7-6 season was unrealistic. But the crowd that was there – with thousands of fans not arriving until close to halftime because of new security measures that’ll make you miss TSA at Thanksgiving – was better than any CSU has seen (aside from last year) for a home opener since 2004.
The Rams’ goal is to become a must-see show in Colorado. A program from a smaller conference thatap known coast-to-coast for its football, similar to Boise State. They’re not yet — not even close, as showcased in Saturday’s 43-34 loss to Hawaii. But part of that climb, as much as on-field success plays its critical role, is creating tradition and a buy-in from a historically disconnected fan base.
Make Zero Week that tradition by creating a CSU football holiday.