Buffs, NU Battle for Bowl Eligibility Page 1 of 2
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Buffs, NU battle for bowl eligibility Page 1 of 2 Buffs, NU battle for bowl eligibility Today could be Callahan's last game with Huskers By Kyle Ringo Camera Sports Writer Friday, November 23, 2007 It's been a wacky college football season, filled with upsets, surprises in the polls and traditional powers falling on hard times. The Nebraska Cornhuskers visit Boulder today, and for the second time in five seasons they are led by a coaching staff that figures to coach its final game in Folsom Field in front of a national television audience (10 a.m., KMGH-Channel 7). Former NU coach Frank Solich was fired after the 2003 rivalry game here, giving way to coach Bill Callahan, who has been under fire for two months for his team's poor performance. Next to Notre Dame, no other tradition-rich program has suffered more this fall in a season that will be remembered as one of the most unpredictable of the modern era. As bad as it's been for the Cornhuskers, they still have a chance to earn bowl eligibility with a victory today. It would be the 38th season in the past 39 the program has qualified for a bowl. Nebraska's fall fits well into this did-you-see-that season. It is coming off a victory over Kansas State in which its offense scored 73 points in quarterback Joe Ganz's second start. The win was immediately preceded by a record-setting loss in which a once-proud defense known as the Blackshirts gave up an astonishing 76 points to Kansas. While the Conrhuskers have been consistently defenseless since blowing out Nevada in the season opener, the Colorado Buffaloes have been a shining example of inconsistency. The Buffs have blamed much of their problems on youth and a lack of depth, and they must overcome those challenges again this morning on a day in which the senior class will be honored amid frigid temperatures and expected snowfall.CU, Nebraska and Kansas State all have five wins and need a victory to become bowl eligible. Two of the three could achieve that goal, meaning one would be left out of the postseason if the conference does not have two teams playing in BCS games. CU also enters the game with a chance to earn a bowl berth and avoid the first back-to-back losing seasons in the past 23 years. But the Buffs are not exactly stampeding downhill into what could be a slugfest. They have lost four of their past five games, forfeiting the momentum that had fans dreaming of Big 12 Championships and a bowl game after a midseason win over then-No. 3 Oklahoma. The Buffs are coming off a loss at Iowa State that served as a microcosm of the entire season. They surged to a 21-0 lead only to fall behind before a desperate rally fell short at the end. http://www.buffzone.com/news/2007/nov/23/buffs-nu-battle-for-bowl-eligibility/?printer... 11/29/2007 Buffs, NU battle for bowl eligibility Page 2 of 2 The common denominators in the four losses have been costly turnovers, surrendering big passing plays and an inability to stop the run. The Buffs have given up at least 169 yards on the ground in each of those four losses. "Our game plan is always to stop the run," senior linebacker and Butkus Award candidate Jordon Dizon said. "We've struggled a little bit there these last four or five games. We've got to stop the run. "We've been playing some good teams with great passing games and if you let them establish the run, it hurts you big time." That will be true once again today. Nebraska features one of the conference's best tailbacks in Marlon Lucky and the Cornhuskers also have been challenging opponents down the field with an experienced receiving corps. They have completed 18 passes of 20 or more yards in the past two games. The Buffs will be playing without senior All-Big 12 cornerback Terrence Wheatley, who has a broken foot, and they could be without safety Ryan Walters as well. While CU must stop the run, it might be able to win the game on the ground. Nebraska features the nation's 114th ranked rushing defense, which is allowing an average of 228 yards per game on the ground. It has been the thorn in the Huskers' side all season. There is no guarantee the winner of today's matchup of two 5-6 teams will receive an invitation to a bowl game. Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, the Big 12 Conference has seven bowl-eligible teams and contracts with eight bowl games. The Big 12 could have two teams playing in Bowl Championship Series games, which would open an extra spot, but if only one conference team plays in a BCS game there could be nine bowl-eligible teams with eight bowl bids. CU, Nebraska and Kansas State all have five wins and need a victory to become bowl eligible. Two of the three could achieve that goal, meaning one would be left out of the postseason if the conference does not have two teams playing in BCS games. But both teams would be happy to win today against a bitter rival and let the rest sort itself out. © 2006 Daily Camera and Boulder Publishing, LLC. http://www.buffzone.com/news/2007/nov/23/buffs-nu-battle-for-bowl-eligibility/?printer... 11/29/2007 Woelk: One last chance for CU to get some swagger for offseason Page 1 of 2 Woelk: One last chance for CU to get some swagger for offseason By Neill Woelk Friday, November 23, 2007 Conventional wisdom would suggest that the Colorado football program will be headed in one of two directions after today's matchup against Nebraska. In terms of the immediate future, that's not an incorrect assessment. A win means bowl eligibility, an enthusiastic finish for fans and a good attitude for players when they begin their offseason workouts. A loss means you can erase all of the above and plug in the opposite. But conventional wisdom doesn't take into account the long haul — and in terms of the big picture, today's game is more about the ongoing rebuilding process that Dan Hawkins started nearly two years ago. Certainly, a win would expedite that process. A loss would no doubt throw up a detour. But win or lose, Hawkins' rebuilding efforts will continue to move forward. Despite the crowing from fans that will accompany a win or the moaning from the same over a loss, the bottom line is this: One game won't make or break that process. Want to know what the Buffs need more of than any of the trappings that come with the postseason? It's one of Hawkins' favorite terms, that intangible he calls "swagger." It's that combination of confidence, cockiness and self-assurance that takes players and teams to the next level — and it's what the Buffs don't have. Not yet. Not on a day-to-day, week-to-week, game-to-game basis. Swagger is the ability to shrug off bad breaks. It's the mental mind-set that comes with long-term success, the cockiness that good programs exude every time they step on the field. Most of all, it's something that's created over time, not overnight. It must be ingrained through experience. It can't be taught on the practice field. And when a team has it, when a team possesses that swagger, it knows how to draw upon it when difficulttimes arise. No doubt, Hawk has tried to accelerate the process. It's why he takes fourth-down gambles when conventional wisdom and common sense would dictate otherwise. It's why he goes for broke when http://www.buffzone.com/news/2007/nov/23/one-last-chance-for-cu-to-get-some-swagge... 11/29/2007 Woelk: One last chance for CU to get some swagger for offseason Page 2 of 2 playing it safe would seem to be the logical route. Success breeds success. Confidence breeds confidence. And every time Hawkins has seen the chance to instill in his players a little of that confidence, he's jumped at the chance. He's tried to give them successful moments in times of adversity, the kind of moments that serve as a foundation. It's been a season of gambles — and not all of them have paid off. What Hawkins knows is that this is not a program that has experienced a great deal of success in the last four years. Start with the recruiting ordeal, move on to a pair of embarrassing Big 12 title game losses and continue with a 2-10 finish last season. Every positive moment has had an exponential polar opposite. Simply, these Buffs are still a team that flinches when things go wrong. When adversity hits, these Buffs still have a tendency to wince, waiting for the next punch to land instead of throwing one of their own. It's why Hawkins has pushed the envelope, perhaps more than has been prudent. No doubt, how this season is judged will hinge greatly upon what happens today at Folsom Field. As Hawkins allowed earlier in the week, "No question, there's a lot of things at stake." This is, after all, the coach who said when the year began that he'd consider six wins and a bowl bid a measure of success.