Plati-'Tudes Shorts: Top Game 5's

Plati-'Tudes Short No. 5 ... The fifth installment of CU's best or most exciting football games in its history as to when they occurred in week five of any season. We're running these over the next three months on our "Throwback Thursdays" -- many are obvious, a few obscure, and no doubt some up for debate. The best game fives in our history in my humble opinion:

GAME 5's

#1—1967: Colorado 21, Nebraska 16 at Lincoln.
In was the 27th meeting between the neighboring schools, with Nebraska taking the series lead at 14-10-1 after winning five in a row. In 1966, the No. 7 Cornhuskers escaped Boulder with a 21-19 win, erasing a 12-point halftime deficit with two touchdowns in the final 11 minutes (and the game winner with 53 seconds left). So revenge was on the minds of the Buffaloes to say the least. Colorado opened the '67 season with four straight wins, including a 23-9 verdict the week before over No. 17 Missouri in Boulder, climbing to a No. 4 ranking – its highest ever in history at the time. CU traveled to Lincoln to take on the Huskers, technically ranked 13th (AP was in its last year of ranking just the top 10, but Nebraska was the third team listed receiving votes); NU was 3-1 and had lost the previous week at No. 8 Kansas, 10-0. Nebraska scored early to take a 7-0 lead, but CU stormed back with two second quarter TDs to lead 14-7 at halftime; Larry Plantz scored on a 6-yard run and Dick Anderson teamed with Mike Veeder on a 70-yard interception return for a score (Anderson picked the ball at the CU 30, ran it back to the NU 45 where he lateralled to Veeder who took it home). The Huskers pulled to within 14-13 on their first possession of the second half, but Anderson blocked the extra point attempt. Later in the quarter with NU driving to the CU 33, Jeff Raymond intercepted a pass and returned it 76 yards for a touchdown. Nebraska was able to add a field goal to close the scoring, but its last three possessions all ended in turnovers, including a second pick by Raymond at the CU 32 with two minutes to play. The Huskers outgained CU, 402-182, but the Buffs had a huge edge in return yards (217-25), and forced eight Nebraska turnovers. Anderson led CU with 13 tackles, adding the interception, a pass broken up and the blocked PAT; Raymond would go on to star in several St. Pauli Beer commercials in the 1970s and 1980s, and the Buffaloes climbed into the No. 3 spot in the polls after the win, CU's last versus Nebraska until 1986.

Runner-Up—1990: Colorado 20, Washington 14 in Boulder.
The last of five non-conferences games likely no team has played since (Tennessee-Stanford-Illinois-Texas-Washington). The No. 20 Buffaloes at 2-1-1 are coming off a 29-22 win at Texas, scoring the game's final 15 points and return home to face No. 12 Washington, the Huskies shellacking No. 5 USC at home the week before (31-0). The game was more or less a pick'em by the oddsmakers, and was a defensive battle in the first half that saw UW leading 7-3 at intermission, the Buffs getting on the board as the half ended on a 47-yard field goal by Jim Harper. The Huskies outgained CU, 101-98, in the half, as UW's top ranked defense against the run (allowing under 24 yards per game), and it was proving legit – though the Buffs had 50 rushing yards in the half, it took 23 attempts to gain that much. But the halftime adjustments were won by the CU coaching staff: the offensive line started to roll and the Buffs put 86 rushing yards on UW in the third quarter (more than it had allowed in the first three games combined), and two Darian Hagan touchdown runs had the Buffs ahead, 17-14 entering the final stanza. Harper added a 32-yard field goal early in the quarter that proved to be the final points of the game, but the Buff defense would have to answer the call twice down the stretch. The Huskies two final drives were stopped on interceptions, the first by Tim James after UW drove to the CU 20 with 10:59 remaining, and the second, after Washington took over at its own 23 and drove to the Buff 7 and had a first and goal with 90 seconds to go. On first down, Dwayne Davis broke up a pass in the end zone; on second, Alfred Williams batted one down at the line of scrimmage; on third down Deon Figures knocked the ball away in the end zone; and on fourth, with 59 ticks left on the clock, Figures intercepted the ball in the west corner of the end zone. Game over. CU finished with 183 yards rushing, 143 from Eric Bieniemy, while Figures led the defense with six solo tackles and two picks. But an issue had developed; Hagan was injured when he was sacked early in the fourth quarter and Charles Johnson came into finish the game and would start the next week – at Missouri.

Honorable Mention—2007: Colorado 27, Oklahoma 24 in Boulder.
Third-ranked Oklahoma rolled into Boulder with a 4-0 record that included a 51-13 thrashing of Miami-Fla., while the Buffaloes were 2-2 and looking to end a five-game losing streak against the Sooners. OU scored first late in the first quarter, capitalizing on an interception returned to the CU 11-yard line, but the Buffs tied the game on a 25-yard touchdown run by Hugh Charles two possessions later. Undaunted, Oklahoma methodically scored the next 17 points over the next 10 minutes of game time, with the last seven coming after another interception, and took a 24-7 lead with 12:23 left in the third quarter. But from that point on, the CU defense, already playing stellar and keeping the Buffs in the game, held OU to just 36 yards on 15 plays the rest of the game. Colorado slowly chipped away at the lead, Kevin Eberhart nailing a 41-yard field goal to cut the lead to 24-10. On its next possession, Cody Hawkins and Tyson DeVree connected on a 4-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter, slicing the deficit to 24-17. OU was forced to punt, CU countered with a missed field goal attempt and OU took over with 6:37 to go and it appeared the Buffs' hopes were fading. But D.J. Dykes intercepted the Sooners on the first play of the series, with CU taking over at the OU 43; that drive stalled after a holding penalty and CU was forced to punt. The Sooners muffed the punt and snapper Justin Drescher raced downfield in time to recover the ball at the OU 16. Three plays later, Hawkins found Dusty Sprague in the end zone and Eberhart's PAT kick tied the game at 24 with 3:58 to go. The CU defense held the potent OU offense to a sixth three-and-out and forced another Sooner punt; Chase McBride fielded the ball at the CU 19 and returned it to midfield with 2:51 remaining, and the near-sellout crowd at Folsom Field was sensing an upset. Hawkins found Kendrick Celestine for a 16-yard gain to the OU 35, and two Demetrius Sumler runs set CU up at the OU 28. With two seconds on the clock, Eberhart more than made up with his earlier miss and drilled a 45-yard field goal to give the Buffs the victory (it was the third longest field goal to win a game as time ran out in school history). Oklahoma went on to win the Big 12 title, while the Buffaloes clubbed Nebraska in the regular season finale to earn a berth in the Independence Bowl opposite Alabama.

A Hall of Famer winning helping CU win in Lincoln in the 1960s, a Thorpe Award winner taking down the Huskies or CU topping No. 3 OU in 2007? Which is your favorite Game 5??? ???????@DavidPlati chimes in ?? https://t.co/l1iWsPJATP
— Colorado Buffaloes Football (@CUBuffsFootball) May 14, 2020

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