Buffs never say die
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BY CURT McKEEVER / Lincoln Journal Star
There are college football teams that win regularly because they overwhelm opponents with an abundance of talent. Then, there's Colorado.
The Buffaloes rank better than eighth in just one of the Big 12 Conference's team offensive and defensive statistical categories. Even with that unimpressive paperwork, they enter today's game at Nebraska in the running to play in their third league championship game in four years.
"I don't look at stats. We really try and play as a team," said senior wide receiver Ron Monteilh. "A lot of people have stepped up at the end of games, and have just played for each other."
Colorado has won two of the previous three meetings with the Huskers. After each of those, the Buffs went on to play for the league crown. They beat Texas in 2001 and lost to Oklahoma in 2002. If CU is victorious today, and Missouri can win at Iowa State on Saturday, the Buffs would head to Kansas City, Mo., to play the Sooners for the title.
Colorado, which lost four of five games after getting off to a 3-0 start, has given itself a shot by surviving its last two challenges.
At Kansas on Nov. 6, the Buffaloes overcame a 14-0 deficit thanks to 41-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Dominque Brooks and a 48-yard interception return for a score by Stephone Robinson to prevail 30-21.
The next week, Monteilh snared a 64-yard TD pass from Joel Klatt with five seconds to play to deliver the Buffs a wild 38-31 win against Kansas State.
"We've had some ups and downs, but we've just come together the last two weeks," senior defensive tackle/end Matt McChesney said. "We emphasize finishing. It's four quarters, 60 minutes, and we'll go longer if that's what it takes."
Colorado first flashed its to-the-end attitude in a 27-24 season-opening victory against Colorado State. In the closing seconds of that game, the Buffaloes denied the Rams on first-and-goal, as freshman linebacker Jordon Dizon stopped former CU running back Marcus Houston for no gain. J.J. Billingsley and Lorenzo Sims then brought down Tristan Walker for a 2-yard loss on the final play.
The next week, Colorado beat Washington State 20-12 even though it managed just 125 yards of offense. With the Cougars having driven to the CU 4-yard line, Dizon forced a fumble that McChesney recovered with two seconds to play.
In late October, the Buffs were involved in another close battle at Texas A&M that ended with a 29-26 overtime loss when the Aggies recovered a rare fumble by tailback Bobby Purify.
"You have ups and downs every season. We've been through a lot this year, and we've held up pretty well," Monteilh said. "Hopefully, we're just starting to peak."
Colorado still ranks last in the Big 12 in total defense, yielding an average of 424.8 yards per game. But in the past two contests, that average is down to 357.
"We've been a pretty good run defense. We've had to bring our secondary along," said CU coach Gary Barnett, who lost free safety Billingsley to injury after just two games and has three sophomores starting in the defensive backfield. "I think initially we put too much stuff in for them, and the simpler we made it the better we seemed to play. Now, we seem to be playing more as a total defense."
Offensively, the Buffs got a boost against KSU from Purify, who rushed for two scores and 155 yards. The senior tailback produced his second-highest total of the season despite playing with two damaged shoulders. That effort earned him the seventh Buffalo Heart Award presented by CU "Fans Behind The Bench," given to the player deemed to have the most heart over the course of the season.
It also represented the latest display of determination by a group of players who for the past three games have played without their names on the backs of their jerseys.
The idea, of course, was that they were playing for the name that stretches across the front.
"We've had one game that was just a whuppin'," said senior guard Terrance Barreau, "so we've had to really focus and work hard."
For the Buffs to be standing where they are today is something that Barreau — a 24-year-old who spent three years at Air Force, six months serving in the Eastern European country of Kyrgyzstan and then a year in North Carolina before transferring to Colorado — doesn't take lightly.
"Training at the Air Force. ... Giving up isn't an option," he said. "This team has never given up."
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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