CU Football 2023 – The Good Old Days

I wish somebody would have told me, babe
That someday, these will be the good old days…
‘Cause someday soon, your whole life’s gonna change
You’ll miss the magic of the good old days.
 – MACKLEMORE

Buff Nation –

As I stood on the CU business field waiting for ESPN College Gameday to start its live broadcast, I couldn’t help but recall doing the same thing 28 years ago when College GameDay was here to broadcast the #3 Texas A&M vs #7 CU game.  I was working my first real job out of college, and Koy Detmer was the QB.  College GameDay was in town twice that year, and CU was ranked the entire season.  For me, those were the good old days.  Almost as if to interrupt my thinking, Coach Prime took the stage, and then The Rock made a cameo, and then I noticed how the crowd had swelled behind me. It dawned on me that these too are the good old days which I will reflect upon sometime in the future.  Three weeks into the 2023 season, CU continues to be the darling of the college football world, and we are living out the good old days real time.  This won’t always be the case, but it is now. We got this!

Several hours later, as College GameDay morning turned into tailgate afternoon, which eventually turned into the sold-out “Black Out” game time at Folsom, this crazy train of a season almost came off the rails. With two minutes remaining, CU was down by 8 on its own two-yard line; CSU had a 99.4% win probability according to the algorithm ESPN uses for these types of things. This was the ultimate trap game, and CSU had come in with reckless abandon, starting a pre-game altercation, racking up 17 penalties (12 of them personal), delivering a lacerated kidney to Travis Hunter, and, in general, doing their best Tony Montana impersonation by bringing a gun to a knife fight.  It wasn’t until well after the stroke of midnight, and two overtime periods that CU was able to safely exit the ball with a 43-35 win, just ahead of the crowd rushing the field for the second time in as many weeks. 

Post-game, Coach Prime demonstrated he fully understood the profound urgency to not lose to CSU when he stated, “We can’t let this dude (CSU Coach Novell) win. His press conference would be unbearable”.  Absolutely.  It’s about getting the W, but when playing CSU, it often feels more like avoiding the L. 

With the non-conference schedule successfully navigated, CU goes on the road this Saturday to play #10 Oregon. TCU, NE, CSU.  All fine wins, all fine teams.  None are the caliber of Oregon.  Oregon is an institution that specializes in victories.  Like USC, who CU will host at home the following week, there is little room for error.  Your offensive line is a bit suspect?  It will be exposed.  Your defensive line is a year away from being top-caliber.  It will be exposed.  Your best player on both sides of the ball isn’t playing.  Sorry to hear that.  Don’t care.

The Oregon game is Coach Prime and his coaching staff’s biggest challenge to date.  There is no hiding.   The nation turns its eyes once again to Colorado, expecting the unexpected, but for how long can this last?  Oregon, led by Heisman candidate QB Bo Nix, is favored by three touchdowns.  Once again, I have gone with my heart and taken CU and the points.  I too expect the unexpected.  These are the good old days after all and I…I believe.

Go Buffs!  We Got Now!

Doug