Saturday was supposed to be a celebration of everything Colorado Buffaloes football. It took a while, but it got there eventually.
This week may have been the most pressure-packed week that the Colorado Buffaloes will face all season long. Sure, they have big games against Oregon, USC, Oregon State, and UCLA ahead on the schedule. But as good as Colorado has been, no one expects them to win all those games. This was the first “supposed to win” game of the Coach Prime era. Just about every college football show in the nation descended upon Boulder this week. And the celebrity sightings rivaled the sidelines at a USC game. Everyone expected Colorado to get the job done.
If you just looked at this game on paper, you probably would wonder what exactly happened for the first 50 minutes of this game. To wrap our minds around that, I think we have to go to Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell.
I guess I’m unsure what to make of this week for Norvell. Maybe he helped himself career-wise. I don’t know. But I do know that I wouldn’t want to see him join my program.
I don’t mind the initial sunglasses comment. Sure, it was stupid, but it could have worked out in his favor. He got his name out in the news, and if his Rams won or even played close, then maybe he would put himself on the radar of some more prominent programs. Well, his team did play a close game, but it’s how they did it that leaves me unimpressed with Norvell and the CSU Rams.
Colorado State Crossed the Line
There’s nothing wrong with playing hard football. It’s clear that Norvell preached a message to his team that the way to beat a high-flying, athletic team like the Buffaloes was to hit them in the mouth. There’s a difference, though, when you cross the line into dirty. The Rams were hitting players late and out of the play all game long. It started to feel like there could have been a flag on every play.
The finest example of this malfeasance was a cheap shot on the Buffaloes’ two-way star, Travis Hunter. It left him writhing in pain on the ground, and although he would return briefly, he made his way to the hospital while the game was still going on.
The problem with Norvell here isn’t so much that his players took a number of cheap shots. It’s that far from appearing to discourage it, Norvell seemed to be encouraging it and arguing with the refs about every call against his team. It was, to be frank, an ugly look for the Rams head coach. I don’t want that anywhere near my program if I’m a fan.
We can’t deny the effectiveness this strategy showed early on. The constant late hits and the absence of Hunter meant the Buffaloes’ offense never seemed to find its feet. The defense, too, appeared to suffer from Hunter’s absence as well. Both sides, though, found their footing just in time.
This may have been Coach Prime’s finest performance. His team found themselves in a dogfight without their most impactful player. The way things were going, it wouldn’t have been surprising to see a mental error or bad play followed up by a total unraveling of the game. We never saw the confidence waiver. Coach Prime had the same demeanor on the sideline throughout the game. No matter how grim things looked, you had a feeling there was a chance that they just might pull off the miraculous.
I don’t know what the next couple of big games will hold. In a way, it doesn’t matter. Even if they lose to every ranked opponent the rest of the way, Saturday night showed that something special will happen in Boulder in the coming years, something worthy of celebrating already. Shedeur Sanders’ phenomenal length of the field drive to send the game to overtime might only have been surpassed by the poise he showed in those overtime periods. Then, finally, the celebration of Colorado football could begin.
Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders (2) – Dustin Bradford/ Getty Images
