Congrats to the recently resurfaced Dubbs for his call in the MICHIGAN vs UCF game - nailing the UCF score and only missing UM by 4pts. Honorable mention to MichLady who was also very close on both.
...on to Colorado.
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In 1849 my Mom?s family arrived by covered wagon in what would eventually become the City of Denver. Originally in New York, then on to the Canton, Ohio area ?the smarter family members pushed West, dropped off some of the real losers in Omaha, Nebraska and finally settled in Colorado.
My Dad?s family moved to Colorado during the ?Dust Bowl? days, leaving Joplin, Missour-ah, and landing in Denver just in time for the brunt of the Great Depression. It was while studying at the University of Colorado that my paternal grandfather met the love of his life and following his graduation, the two embarked on a ?storybook? 60years of marriage until the death of my grandmother due to a lifetime of drinking and smoking, and the subsequent passing of my grandfather at the age of 93, still fit as a fiddle, but having contracted Mesothelioma.
As a kid growing up in Denver, I knew about two teams ? the Denver Broncos and
Colorado Buffaloes (and Oakland Raiders, who are still loathed some 40yrs later). For CU, a program that started playing in 1890, the Bill Mallory-Chuck Fairbanks era was a forgettable one. Those were the games my Dad took me to ..driving up to Boulder to see the likes of Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska lay waste to the poor Buffaloes ? in contrast to the Broncos who won a lot, the Buffs never won, not when I went and not much in general.
But things started to change in 1982 with the arrival of Head Coach Bill McCartney who had spent eight years as an assistant for
MICHIGAN coach Bo Schembechler. With Bo as his mentor and Texas and SoCal as his recruiting grounds, McCartney started to build a program that in his 9th year won the National Title with a dramatic Orange Bowl win over the cocky and pompous ?Rocket? Ismail-lead Fighting Irish.
(For the record, I called the block in the back when it happened and was not at all surprised to see the return called back. Fuck Noter Dame!)
Then ?
IT happened.
The #7 ranked Colorado Buffaloes traveled to Ann Arbor to face the #4 ranked Michigan Wolverines on September 24, 1994. Having moved to Northern Michigan a few year prior and now a Senior at
MICHIGAN - though I was torn a bit - I wanted Michigan to win and figured that CU had its title and with only six seconds left in the game, it was over.
Bartending at Cottage Inn, I went in the back to pull beers for the inevitable and regular post-game rush and heard a sound that I will never forget, followed by utter silence. I came out of the back to see mouths wide open and folks staring up at the TVs over the bar with looks of complete shock on their faces. I glanced up at the TV and saw the CU team dog-piling in the endzone ?a picture I would later interview underneath in my current bosses? office, in 2006.
Graduating in the Spring of 1995 I moved back to Colorado and wound up living in Boulder. From August 1995 until September 1996 I heard a lot ?A LOT about The Hail Mary. A lot.
Then, after a year off in the match up,
MICHIGAN came to Boulder to play Colorado and once again ?with time running out, the Buffs had time for one more play. Kordell Stewart having gone on to become ?Slash? was replaced by Koy Detmer and Detmer?s pass, this time, fell to the ground in the north endzone of Folsom Field ?in front of the Visitors/
MICHIGAN section and
MICHIGAN won. The skies opened up almost immediately after and we all walked home in the pouring rain, fending off remarks and heckling from CU fans and repeating the basic, ?
IT?S GREAT TO BE ?..A MICHIGAN WOLVERINE!!?
The following Fall of 1997, Sporting News had Colorado ranked #1 in the nation and playing in Ann Arbor against what folks were calling a veteran, but somewhat pedestrian offense ?.combined with one of college football?s greatest defenses ever assembled. Poor CU didn?t cross the 50yd line until the second half and
MICHIGAN was on its way to the National Title this time. Hail Mary avenged ?twice. History is history?
So now, the unranked (2-0) Colorado Buffaloes once again come to Ann Arbor with sentimentality for that September evening in 1994 and hopes of the implausible repeating itself. Coincidentally,
MICHIGAN is once again ranked #4 heading into this game, but much has changed for both programs since that once-a-decade-miracle and Colorado is hoping to keep it close.
Favored by Vegas at
MICHIGAN -20.5 with an
Over/Under of 57 Total Points, some fear the new up tempo style brought over from Texas Tech might catch the
MICHIGAN team off-guard, and allow CU to get some early points. But CU hasn?t played a team like
MICHIGAN yet this year and while the program is headed in the right direction, the best high school player from Colorado last year and this are Wolverines (Kemp and McCaffrey).
....So tell stories of where you were, when ?.never forget that night for what it is in College Football lore ?post your predictions with some supportive analysis if you wish, but leave the woofing and barking for other threads.
I will be on the golf course very early on Saturday morning and in Section 13, right off the field. Hit me up if you?re going too.
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