Colorado
Colorado State
BUFFS KNOCK OFF RAMS IN OFFENSIVE SHOOTOUT
August 31, 2003 | Football
DENVER-The 75th meeting between in-state rivals Colorado and Colorado State was televised nationally on ESPN, and the network dubbed it an "instant classic" after the pass-happy Buffaloes defeated the No. 23 Rams, 42-35.
In a game that had everything from more than the usual bulletin board material pregame to heavy rains and a 28-minute lightning delay in-game, CU sophomore quarterback Joel Klatt and the Buff receivers stole the show. Colorado amassed 402 yards passing, its most in almost four years, and Klatt's mastery of the two-minute offense enabled the Buffaloes to snap a four-game losing streak in season openers.
CSU took an early 7-0 lead, but the Buffs stormed back with 28 second quarter points, on the strength of a Bobby Purify 6-yard run and three Klatt touchdown passes that covered 137 yards: 82 yards to Derek McCoy on a 3rd-and-12 play call following the series CSU went back up, 14-7; 10 yards to D.J. Hackett, who made an acrobatic grab at the 2-yard line and somehow landed and then plowed into the end zone dragging a couple of defenders; and 45-yards to John Donahoe, coming with just 29 seconds left in the half. Hackett and McCoy would combine for 14 catches, 295 yards and three scores.
Stifled to three plays and out the first four drives of the second half, and with CSU having closed the gap to 28-21, Klatt and McCoy hooked up on a 78-yard touchdown pass to put the Buffs back ahead by two scores at 35-21. But the Rams fought back, tying the game with just 1:50 left when quarterback Bradlee Van Pelt, who had spent the better part of the three weeks leading up to the game providing material for CU's bulletin board, scored on a 30-yard run around the right side. Van Pelt accounted for 416 yards of total offense, the second player to ever top the 400-yard mark against CU and the first during the regular season, appeared to more than back up his talking.
But the modest Klatt marched the Buffaloes 75 yards in six plays, similar to a Van Pelt engineered drive in 2002 that rallied the Rams to a 19-14 win (that possession covered 84 yards in seven plays). Klatt completed all four of his passes on the drive, the first covering 25 yards to McCoy and the last 33 yards to Jeremy Bloom, which set CU up at the Ram 4-yard line.
After an illegal shift call on the Buffs, Purify scampered in with the game-winning touchdown with 40 seconds left in the game. CSU's last-ditch effort stalled at midfield as time ran out.
The teams combined for 741 passing yards, as the Rams gained 585 overall and CU 504. Heavy rains drenched fans and spectators alike in the third quarter; an impressive flash of lightning struck right when Klatt threw the ball to McCoy for CU's third quarter score, as the storm had settled over the stadium and led to a 28-minute suspension, sending the teams to the lockerroom.
QUOTE-"Any time anybody questions our heart and character, they're way out of bounds," CU head coach Gary Barnett, postgame in response to some remarks earlier in the week by CSU quarterback Bradlee Van Pelt.
NOTES-The 76,219 in attendance marked the largest crowd to ever witness a college sporting event in the state of Colorado; it was the second largest crowd ever in the three-year history of INVESCO Field at Mile High. The 82-yard touchdown pass from Klatt to McCoy was the 10th longest pass play in school history. Colorado's 28 points in the second quarter were its most since it scored 28 in the first quarter in the 62-36 win over Nebraska on Nov. 23, 2001; CU outscored CSU in the quarter, 28-7, but only outgained the Rams by 265-192 as the teams combined for 457 yards in the period (including 122 in the final 84 seconds of the half).
