Rocky Mountain Showdown Wrap-Up
filed in Post-game on Aug.31, 2003
Well, it didn’t go exactly like most people thought it would, but we still pulled off the W, winning 42-35. Before the game there was a lot of talk about the Buff’s Defense coming out and dominating the Rams. And the Buff’s offense was more or less unmentioned seeing as they were pretty much a question mark in most people’s minds. But in the end our Defense was anything but dominant throughout most of the game and our offense was impressive, certainly exceeding expectations.
The biggest surprise was definitely quarterback Joel Klatt. Klatt posted the first 400+ yard passing game since 1999 and finally got Barnett his first win in an opener in 5 years. He showed incredible poise in his first college start, the timing between him and the receivers was outstanding and his arm was flat out crazy good. He threaded the needle and hit receivers in stride for huge gains. His 402 passing yards were split pretty evenly between the two halves and included huge plays to Jeremy Bloom, John Donahoe, D.J. Hackett and Derek McCoy. Senior McCoy stepped to the occasion grabbing 192 yards and 2 of Klatt’s 4 touchdown throws.
The running game on the other hand, sputtered and stalled repeatedly. Play calling seemed a little odd as it always has. The Buffs seemed to favor Brian Calhoun over Doak Walker nominee Bobby Purify. Calhoun had trouble picking up any yards up the middle against a fairly stiff CSU D that was stacking 8 and 9 in the box all night. It was a tad baffling that we continued to send our slash and dash back up the middle with limited success rather than the heavier Purify who is a much better runner between the tackles. My guess would be we will see a shift in thinking next week. Rather than setting up the passing game with our running game we will be setting up the running game with our passing game.
Defensively there
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September 1st, 2003 on 12:17 am
Overall good effort for the Buffs against a good CSU team. There were some surprises the biggest one being Klatts performance, strong arm and accurate. Then again the receivers were outstanding. Marcus Houston had a good peformance but he showed a lack of class on more than one occasion. His father showed an absolute lack of class with his comments in the Denver post on sunday. Apparently neither one of them has the mental toughness that is needed to compete on this level.
September 2nd, 2003 on 6:35 am
Where the hell did Klatt come from?? What an outstanding performance. If he can move the team with consistency, CU is a shoe-in for the Big XII title game.
I know I said CU didn’t stand much of chance against FSU, but I’m getting a little nervous now for my Seminoles.
September 2nd, 2003 on 7:44 am
Ryno may fall on his face after reading this (I’ll watch over the cube wall), but CU actually played a fairly decent game on Saturday. Aside from all the “my team is better than your team” BS, here’s a couple of thoughts from a CSU alum:
Worst calls of the game:
1) Houston NOT getting called (and should have been ejected) for throwing a punch after his first run. Score one (meekly) for the Rams.
2) Donahoe NOT getting called out of bounds at the 2. Score one (literally) for the Buffs.
Rams strengths:
1) Running
2) Passing
3) Responding. When CU had the big play, the Rams came right back.
Rams weakness:
1) Secondary. Period. CU normally has their worst time in this area – the Rams took a page from that playbook. Klatt was on fire (more below), but Wynn flat-out missed a few, and the boys in the back need to tighten up soon.
Buffs strengths:
1) QB. Holy $h!t, Batman. For a walk-on, what a QB. I was most impressed with his arm strength and quickness. Once he got in the groove, look out. The Buffs will do well if he continues to play like that for the rest of the season.
2) Good receivers. The boys had good hands and made some great grabs.
Buffs weakness:
1) Stopping the run. Ouch. Houston alone had more rushing yards than the entire Buffs squad. That’s gotta change – the passing game won’t get you all the way there.
Overall, while I am saddened that the CSU winning streak has (temporarily) ended, all sides have to agree that this was, hands down, one of the best college football games we have seen in years. Woody Paige said it right in the Sunday paper when he commented that the game should have been rebroadcast Sunday on ESPN Classic. Any college game with over 1000 yards in offense and 77 points on the board had to be good.
Best of luck in the rest of the season. Too bad Ryno didn’t have to fortitude to up this year’s bet: I could have been standing on a cube wall in a Buffs polo shirt singing the CU fight song this morning…
September 6th, 2003 on 11:10 am
CU and CSU
Buff fan relieved for the win. Exciting game.
It