COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK 12: Rocky Mountain highs
I stood with other writers at the top of the ramp, next to the dressing room at Folsom Field, after the Oklahoma State-Colorado game. The Cowboys jogged right past us following their 30-17 victory.
OSU co-offensive coordinator Gunter Brewer stopped and asked me about the LSU-Troy game. Troy, which played at Stillwater in September, had taken a 31-3 lead at LSU but began a second-half comeback. Obviously, the score at some point had been announced at Folsom Field, if the OSU coaching staff knew about it.
I told Brewer what I knew, which is that LSU had taken a 33-31 lead late but the game, so far as I knew, wasn’t over. About that time, Mike Gundy came by and stopped to ask what was going on. He, too, seemed interested in LSU-Troy.
You know what happened in Baton Rouge. LSU won 40-31.
What we don’t know is why such interest in LSU-Troy. Sure, a Troy victory makes OSU look a little better, but frankly, what does that matter?
Maybe it had something to do with Les Miles coaching LSU. Except Brewer wasn’t with the Cowboys when Miles coached in Stillwater.
Were the OSU coaches pulling for a Troy victory? Were they hoping Miles wouldn’t - or would - suffer an embarrassing defeat? Are they just big college football fans who were interested in the most interesting game of the day?
I don’t know. But their interest in the game was interesting to me.
FLYING FRIENDLY SKIES
OSU’s crowd support in Boulder was very good; at least 5,000, maybe more. My Southwest flight home Sunday morning was full of Cowboy fans.
Former OSU tailback Richard Schwartz was on our flight. So were PGA golfers Bob Tway and Scott Verplank, fast friends and big Cowboy football fans.
Me and Scott Wright, our OSU writer, gobbled up one of the exit rows, with the extra leg room. On the other side of the aisle was the exit row with the window seat boasting huge leg room, with no seat in front of it. But the two seats next to that seat are regular leg room.
That row was vacant when Tway and Verplank came through, so Verplank ducked in and took the window seat. Tway sat on the aisle. Trouble is, Verplank is 5-foot-9; Tway is 6-foot-4. The wrong guy had the leg room.
Before the plane took off, Verplank noticed the discrepancy and offered to switch. Tway said OK.
Now you know why Verplank is so popular on U.S. team events, like the Ryder Cup. He’s a heck of a teammate.
TEN BIGGEST WINNERS OF THE WEEK
10. Brian Kelly: The Cincinnati coach is fast moving up the list of hot prospects. Still playing with a backup quarterback, Kelly’s Bearcats beat Louisville 28-20 to take the Big East lead and now host Pitt on Saturday night. If Cincy wins, it’s in the BCS.
9. Mid-American Conference: The MAC grabs the national stage for two nights, this week and next. Central Michigan’s 33-30 overtime victory at Northern Illinois sets up a Wednesday night meeting of MAC unbeatens between 14th-ranked Ball State and CMU, both 6-0 in the West Division. Then next Tuesday, Ball State hosts Western Michigan (6-1). Win both games, and it’s not kooky to think Ball State could sneak into BCS contention.
8. Maryland: You’re going to have to trust me on this one, but in the crazy ACC, the Terps emerged as the team most likely to win their division. Maryland’s 17-15 victory over North Carolina should lift the Terps to the Atlantic Division title. Only Maryland and Miami have as few as two ACC losses, but Miami still has two road games. If the home teams win out, Maryland and Virginia Tech will play in the ACC championship game.
7. Texas quarterbacks: Even when Texas Tech is idle, Lone Star State signal-callers dominate. Colt McCoy was fabulous in Texas’ rout at Kansas, and the week’s two 400-yard passers came from Texas. UTEP’s Trevor Vittatoe threw for 410 yards in a 36-10 rout of SMU, and Houston’s Case Keenum threw for 402 yards in a 70-30 thrashing of Tulsa.
6. Art Briles: The rookie Baylor coach pinned a 41-21 smackdown on rookie Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman. Briles was sitting just down the road at Houston U. Has to make people in Aggieland wonder if they hired the wrong guy.
5. Oregon: Injuries and quarterback problems are in the past; new black uniforms and the same old wild offense has propelled the Ducks to an 8-3 record. Oregon beat Arizona 55-45 and can reach the Holiday Bowl - and perhaps ruin their arch-rival’s Rose Bowl hopes - with a victory at Oregon State on Nov. 29.
4. Vanderbilt: The major conferences’ longest bowl drought should end at 26 years. Vandy won 31-24 at Kentucky to become bowl eligible at 6-4.
3. Rodgers Brothers: Oregon State stayed in Rose Bowl range with a 34-21 victory over Cal, led by the Jacquizz and James Rodgers. Jacquizz ran for 144 yards and a touchdown, his seven 100-yard rushing game. James caught six passes for 50 yards, ran 18 yards for a touchdown and returned a kickoff 86 yards for a TD. It’s the fifth time this season the brothers have both scored in the same game.
2. Greg Schiano: The Rutgers coach once was a darling in the East. He might be again. Given up for dead, the Scarlet Knights have resurrected their season. They routed South Florida 49-16 to rise to 5-5 overall, 4-2 in the Big East. With only a home game against Louisville remaining in conference, Rutgers has a chance to tie for the league title. They probably can’t get to the BCS, but Rutgers is back in the bowl business.
1. Miami: The Hurricanes are back. Not to the late ‘80/early ’90s level, or the late ’90s/early ’00s level, but back as a force. Miami beat Virginia Tech to serve warning that the U. is not to be taken lightly.
SIREN SONG OF COLORADO
We had dinner Friday night in Westminster, just south of Boulder, with old pal Blake Jackson and his wife, Whitney. Both worked at The Oklahoma until May, when Whitney got a job with the Denver newspapers - the Post and Rocky Mountain News have a joint-operating agreement. Blake has gone to work for a PR firm in Denver, and they’re loving it.
Colorado has a lure for a lot of people. The mountains, the outdoors lifestyle, the sort of urban frontier to Greater Denver.
Comrade John Rohde grew up in Boulder and laments every trip back about the changes. When I first started going to games at CU, the drive from Denver to Boulder had lots of open country. There is none now.
Westminster and Louisville look like Southlake or some of those affluent Dallas suburbs where everything is shiny and new. Boulder has become one of the most expensive towns in America in which to live.
Rohde describes Boulder as “discovered” now. It was largely left alone when Rohde went to high school there in the 1970s.
Boulder is a beautiful town, but it’s crowded and expensive, and that’s a terrible combination.
FOLSOM FIELD BLUES
Maybe Folsom Field isn’t the most gorgeous setting in college football. But it can’t be far from the top of the list.
Sitting on the edge of the Rockies, Folsom Field is a grand old stadium, with old-style architecture of gray and brown stone that fits in superbly with the rest of the campus. It’s probably my favorite Big 12 stadium.
Heck, for fun, I’ll rank them:
1. Colorado’s Folsom Field: An easy pick for No. 2. Texas’ Royal-Memorial Stadium: The recent renovations produced a castle.
3. Oklahoma State’s Boone Pickens Stadium: Remarkable transformation, from the Big 12’s worst stadium to one of its best.
4. Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium: Urban setting - near downtown Lincoln and the state capitol - and a coliseum feel. Very impressive.
5. Oklahoma’s Owen Field: The new upper deck on the east side provided much-needed balance.
6. Iowa State’s Jack Trice Field: Hard to explain why, but Jack Trice just fits. Open on the ends, small upper decks on the side, built into a hill. Just a nice, welcoming place.
7. Missouri’s Faurot Field: Another nice setting. Pretty town, lots of trees. The hill with the big M beyond the end zone.
8. Texas Tech’s Jones Stadium: West side is a palace, east side still looks like the old days. I assume that will change.
9. Texas A&M’s Kyle Field: Just seems skewed. Three sides rise to the heavens, including the highest end zone upper deck I’ve ever seen. Then it’s open on the south end zone. Strange feeling.
10. Kansas State’s Snyder Stadium: Nice enough, I suppose, but sits out in the middle of a parking lot without much personality.
11. Kansas’ Memorial Stadium: In defense of KU, I haven’t been to a KU home game since the stadium underwent an upgrade.
12. Baylor’s Floyd Casey Stadium: Just not much there.
But despite a solid tradition, an inviting stadium and an always-interesting home schedule, Colorado doesn’t draw that well. The crowd of 46,092 for OSU was CU’s smallest of the year.
The Buffs averaged 48,809 fans this season. Colorado sold 22,603 season tickets this year, some 15,000 fewer than OSU. Cowboy athletic director Mike Holder doesn’t think 37,000 is enough, but it’s pretty impressive when compared to Colorado.
PARKING PROBLEMS
Will Rogers is one of the world’s most convenient airports. But its parking situation has deteriorated into an absolute mess.
Poor planning and poor management are to blame. The shuttle system is a disaster. You can’t park and walk easily anymore, with the never-ending expansion of the parking garage. And with the outdoor lot now expanding out to what seems like Airport Road, more people are parking in the garage, so it fills up and you can’t get in.
It’s almost enough to make me consider off-airport parking.
And then I flew into Denver International Airport. I rented a car from E-Z Rental, which shares a lot with Fast-Trac Parking. We hopped a shuttle, and I swear, it was 10 miles out to the rental agency. It would be like flying into Will Rogers and renting a car at I-35 and 19th street in Moore.
I kept thinking, what are these Coloradoans doing, parking this far from the airport?
I softened my stance a little on Will Rogers.
REALITY RANKINGS
1. Florida: Won’t be No. 1 next week. Hosting The Citadel will add nothing to the Gators’ resume’.
2. Alabama: Great coaching job by Nick Saban. As Barry Switzer said on FOX, “You’ve got to hand it to the guy.”
3. Texas: Helpless feeling, hoping OU wins two straight.
4. Southern Cal: I like USC, but frankly, I’m getting a little tired of hearing how many pro prospects the Trojans have. Who cares?
5. Texas Tech: Tech will probably be No. 1 with a victory in Norman.
6. Penn State: Don’t say a word. Nittany Lions’ performance, to this point, is as good as OU’s.
7. Oklahoma: Sooners will soar with two more victories.
8. Georgia: I can’t explain it, either, but the Bulldogs have a bunch of solid wins.
9. Ohio State: Game against Michigan a rare mismatch.
10. Utah: Only arch-rival BYU stands between Utes and the BCS.
11. Oklahoma State: Bucking for best season ever.
12. Boise State: Biggest BYU fan this side of the Tabernacle.
13. Oregon: New black uniforms. Can’t be any worse.
14. Missouri: Mizzou quietly licking its wounds, gearing up for Big 12 title game.
15. Oregon State: A Rose Bowl rematch with Penn State? Ooh.
\ TURNPIKE GOUGING
To get from the airport to Boulder on Friday evening, we hopped on a tollway that bypasses Denver and drops you off just south of Boulder.
We were on it for about 25 miles. Paid three toals. Cost: $6.50.
Maybe it was worth it. Traffic was non-existent, and traffic would have been a bear had we swung over to Denver and up.
But urban turnpikes are one of my pet peeves. Like the Kilpatrick in Oklahoma City and the Creek in Tulsa. We need more freeways in metro areas, but only if people are going to use them. Turnpikes in metro areas just keep people away and don’t alleviate the traffic crush.
I know that the Kilpatrick is more heavily traveled now than it was when first constructed, and maybe more commuters will use that turnpike from Denver International Airport, but those tolls are a major detriment.
The Creek Turnpike covers 33 miles; drive the length and it will cost you $2.45. The Kilpatrick is 25 miles long; its toll is $2. Drive about the same distance on the E-470 Tollway in Denver, and it’s $6.50.
TEN BIGGEST LOSERS OF THE WEEK
10. Florida State: The Seminoles suffered their second conference home loss this season, 27-17 to Boston College, thanks in part to five suspended wide receivers. Florida State is 4-3 in the ACC and can reach the league title game only this way: win at Maryland on Saturday, have Wake Forest lose at home to Boston College and Boston College lose at home to Maryland. That’s a lot of road teams winning.
9. Tommy Tuberville: Auburn put up a good fight against Georgia before losing 17-13, but now the Tigers have to beat Alabama just to stay bowl eligible and maybe save Tuberville’s job.
8. Charlie Weis: Notre Dame won, 27-21 over Navy, which I guess is some kind of moral victory, since the Midshipmen beat the Irish a year ago. But Weis took over the play-calling duties this week, and it didn’t help. Notre Dame threw for just 110 yards, and I swear this happened. The CBS announcers were talking about Weis, saying he guaranteed quarterback Jimmy Claussen wouldn’t throw an interception this week. Before the drive was over, interception, Navy. In the final two minutes, the Middies scored two touchdowns and recovered two onside kicks and almost stole a victory.
7. Steve Spurrier: Nick Saban went back to the scene of his greatest days and emerged a winner a week ago, his Alabama Crimson Tide winning in overtime at LSU. Spurrier went back to the scene of his greatest days and laid a dinosaur egg. South Carolina was completely swamped, 56-6 at Florida.
6. Kendall Hunter: The Oklahoma State tailback suffered a trio of setbacks in his bid to make All-American. First, he got hurt at Colorado, which could limit him in Bedlam. Second, he failed to post a big number against the Buffs; 102 yards on 11 carries. Finally, other tailbacks had big days, notably Iowa’s Shon Greene, who took over the national rushing lead with 211 yards on 30 carries against Purdue.
5. College football viewers in the present: Saturday was a dud day. Oregon State-Cal was a decent game. Minnesota-Wisconsin was OK, though with no stakes. Notre Dame-Navy got interesting. But Oklahoma-Texas Tech can’t get here soon enough.
4. College football viewers in the future: Looks like ESPN will get the BCS television package. Generally, I’m in favor of networks that televise the regular season to get the post-season. So I won’t miss FOX. I won’t miss those Sunday BCS announcements, where Barry Switzer has to join Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson and Michael Strahan and Terry Bradshaw, a quartet that couldn’t find Lubbock, Texas, if you spotted them the Palo Duro Canyon. But putting one of America’s great sporting series strictly on cable will cut off millions of fans.
3. Tulsa: Here’s the crazy stat of the week. Houston scored as many touchdowns (10) as it faced third downs (10). That’s a whole lot of first down and second down success. Next time someone tells you third downs are important, tell them sure, but not as important as first down and second down.
2. Greg Robinson: Syracuse was the school that fired its coach this week, joining Washington, Kansas State and Clemson as early chopping blocks. What’s the hurry? Is it too much to ask a school to wait until the season’s over? There is more honor in the cutthroat world of major league sports than on college campuses.
1. Troy: I can’t begin to comprehend the despair Larry Blakeney and his team must feel. Up 31-3 at LSU, one of those megapowers that will willingly play Troy but never AT Troy. On the verge of a victory that would trump those homefield triumphs over Missouri and Oklahoma State that helped put Troy on the map. Then it all came tumbling down with 37 straight LSU points; 30 in the fourth quarter.
REFEREES UNITE
Big 12 umpire Richard Brown was on my flight to Boulder. I’ve known Richard for years - his daughter is Britney Brown, the former OU point guard - and he’s a quality guy. Always enlightening to talk to.
Anyway, Richard is like most players and coaches. He doesn’t like night games on the road. The reason? It means more meetings.
Big 12 refs meet on Friday nights to watch tapes and discuss their craft. They resume meeting on Saturdays for as long as six hours. No golf. No drives up into the mountains. Intense study about team trends and rules and emphasis on certain situations.
An emphasis for 2008? More efficient replay review. I think it’s paying off. For instance, Zac Robinson’s 12-yard touchdown run against Colorado. He dove in the corner, always a hard play to call live. Robinson was awarded a touchdown, but officials thought it was worth reviewing.
When the replay was shown, Robinson’s touchdown was obvious. And referee Cooper Castleberry wasted little time. Once he saw the clear replay, he immediately confirmed the touchdown.
That’s my biggest complain about replay, its intrusiveness. Keep the game flowing, and that Big 12 crew did.
Related posts:
- COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK 8: Homecoming in Norman
- College Football Week 13: Legacies & Legacy Trail
- COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK 7: OU-Texas tales
- College Football Week 14: Controversy reigns
- College Football Week 5: The House That Boone Built & Brazilian food
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Airports and parking…. KCI is the best I have seen to park and catch the fight, KCI is also the best to return to. My only complaint about KCI is the long drive back into downtown or the southern suburbs. The closest airport I have used that has decent parking is Tulsa International.