1-0. No, that was not the score from a Colorado Rapids-Los Angeles Galaxy match. Instead, it is the record of CU’s football team following its dramatic 31-28 victory over rival Colorado State University this weekend at Invesco Field at Mile High.
1-0 and 11 to go. The number 11 represents how many more games CU must remain perfect for in order to guarantee itself a shot at the Bowl Champion Series National Championship game on Jan. 8, in New Orleans.
After week one of the college football season, exactly 50 of the 119 Division I teams were saddled with losses. CU, along with 79 other teams in the country still have hopes and dreams that it can put together the perfect season.
Now, realists would tell you that a team that was 2-10 in the previous season could never turn around and go undefeated on its way to a national championship in one season. But who wants to be a realist anyway? Let’s dream a little.
Although the list of reasons CU will not remain perfect and make the national championship game (freshman QB, poor pass defense, not enough playmakers on both sides of the ball, tough schedule, etc.) stretches from the flatirons outside of Boulder to the glaciers of the Arctic Circle, that stuff is boring.
Let’s think big.
Following the first week and win of the season, all things are cherries and whipped cream in Boulder and if head coach Dan Hawkins’ fervent enthusiasm spreads to his players, there’s no reason the Buffs aren’t thinking about anything else besides going undefeated.
Sure, there are titans on the remainder of the season’s schedule like Florida State, Oklahoma and Nebraska. So what? CU can say something about its quarterback that none of those other teams can; its quarterback is undefeated. That’s red shirt freshman Cody Hawkins, whose is now 60-0 in games he’s started since middle school.
If the younger Hawkins can maintain that perfect record for another 11 games, the Buffs will be dancing on Bourbon Street come January.
There are other factors working in the Buffs favor. For example, sophomore defensive back Cha’pelle Brown played four years of varsity basketball in high school. Also, linebacker Brad Jones’ dad played linebacker at Indiana and if that isn’t enough, junior wide receiver Patrick Williams played quarterback in high school so the Buffs do have an experienced fourth-string QB should they need it.
Even though all of that offers up no actual football evidence to support why CU should be expected to win the national championship, this past weekend reminded us that actual football knowledge means very little in the often topsy-turvy world of college football. If the prognosticators knew everything about football, Appalachian State would’ve been ranked No. 5 in the country heading into this past weekend instead of Michigan.
Point being: stranger things have happened than a 2-10 team from a year prior winning a national title. If a tiny mountain school in North Carolina with only 2/3 of the scholarship athletes of a big-time program can go into the Big House and knock off one of the most prestigious programs in the country like Michigan, then CU can dream big too.
Perhaps coach Hawkins said it best after his team’s victory Saturday, when he stood on the rolled out platform in the middle of Invesco and exclaimed, “We’re back!” The coach, obviously referring to the team’s 2-10 season of a year ago, then held up the Centennial Trophy while some delusional Buff fans pictured a similar scene occurring in just over four months.
The booming thunder in Hawkins’ voice was matched by the delirious cheers of the Buff-faithful. For this entire week, Buff nation can tease itself with dreams of another national championship coming to Colorado.
It’s like coach Hawkins said after the CSU game, the Buffs are back and that means it’s not forbidden for fans to dream.
