The House Of Heat

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine...


The Vitals
Name: University of Colorado
Location: Boulder, CO
Established: 1876
Enrollment: 28,624
Motto: “let your light shine”
Colors: Silver and Gold
Mascot: Ralphie (live) and Chip (costume)
Stadium: Folsom Field, capacity 53,750
Conference: Big XII

The University of Colorado was founded in 1876 in Boulder, Colorado at the base of the Flatiron mountains because the settlers were just too damn lazy to make the uphill trek. The campus features uniform Italian Rural architecture, boasting a light-colored sandstone and steep sloped, red-tiled roofs that give it a classic Ahwatukee look and feel, sans the garage doors.

The CU folks won't get that joke, but anyone who's been to the Took will find it hilarious.) The campus really is beautiful and Boulder's a great city, highlighted by the Pearl Street Mall, which is like Mill Avenue but instead of kids bumming change they have mimes and street performers. Well, scratch that, they have bums in Boulder too.

Notable Alumni
espn's Chris Fowler
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of South Park
Rae Carruth, noted wide receiver and murderer
Rashaan Salaam, 1994 Heisman Trophy winner
Skier/footballer/dreamboat Jeremy Bloom
Chauncey Billups, 2004 NBA Finals MVP
Robert Redford
Dr. James Naismith, inventor of basketball
Second Lady Lynne Cheney
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia

Tradition
Colorado boasts one of the best traditions in all of college football, the running of Mascot Ralphie before each half at home games. Ralphie is in select company as one of the few live mascots in college football, joining Texas’ steer Bevo, Georgia’s UGA the bulldog, Auburn’s War Eagle (Tigers anyone? –ed.) and LSU’s Mikey the Tiger. Current mascot Ralphie IV can reach speeds of more than 30 mph, and happens to be female since the neckerchief-clad chaps found it too difficult to keep up with and control a male buffalo. It has been discussed that Ralphie may make the trip to Tempe and run on Frank Kush Field, but no official decision has been made. You know who really needs to let a live mascot run on the field during games? Florida.


If you thought it was bad that ASU has changed from the Owls to the Bulldogs to the Sun Devils, check this out:

Prior to 1934, CU athletic teams usually were referred to as the “Silver and Gold,” but other nicknames teams were sometimes called included Silver Helmets, Yellow Jackets, Hornets, Arapahoes, Big Horns, Grizzlies and Frontiersmen. The student newspaper decided to sponsor a national contest in the summer of 1934, with a $5 prize to go to the author of the winning selection.

The schools official colors are silver and gold referencing the state's rich mineral deposits, but black was substituted for silver since the original colors didn't match well on uniforms.

Wow, they even have their own Whizzer White! Wilford “Whizzer” White attended Arizona State College from 1947-1950 and has his #33 retired at Sun Devil Stadium, but Byron “Whizzer” White played football and basketball for Colorado in the 1930s. Weird. Both are considered to be among the all-time elite athletes of their respective alma maters.

Athletics
Although they have run up against recent struggles in the wake of Rick Neuheisel and Gary Barnett’s NCAA violations, the Colorado footballers have had a fair amount of success in recent years. They won the Big XII Championship in 2001 and made their only appearance in the BCS, falling to Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl. That was the first in a run where CU won 4 out of 5 Big XII North Championships, although 2001 was their only outright conference title in that span.

The glory days of Colorado football happened under coach Bill McCartney in the late 1980s, where they won three straight Big 8 Conference Championships in 1989, 1990, and 1991 behind a powerful option attack. Know who Sal Aunese is. For every reader that doesn't acknowledge Sal's legacy, revere him, and weep a bit after watching the linked video, I will personally barbecue a basket full of puppies- not that you'll care, because you obviously brokered your soul in exchange for dirty motel sex with an underage orphan boy years ago. Anyway, the team leader and starting quarterback contracted stomach cancer and passed away in 1989, but the team’s spirit was unconquered as they dedicated their season to his memory and won a share of the National Championship by defeating Notre Dame in the 1990 Orange Bowl.

A funny thing happened on the way to the national championship, the forever controversial 5th down situation. The Buffs were running a hurry-up offense late in the 4th quarter at Missouri and marching down the field quickly- so quickly, in fact, that the chain gangs were having a hard time keeping up. CU spiked the ball to stop the clock on second down but the sideline marker was never changed to reflect the loss of down. CU scored on the drive and won the game, but many critics point to this incident as the asterisk in Colorado’s championship. Nebraska fans all at once: cheater cheater pumpkin-eaters!

If there is one single play that Coloradoans will always remember, it’s the Miracle at Michigan. No time left, down by five, 64 yards from the end zone. In the Big House. Against the #4 Wolverines. Using periods for effect. Is. Kinda. Lame.


Like the Sun Devils, the Buffaloes have an abysmally bad basketball program but they've hired a new coach. Unlike the Sun Devils, CU has a monster ski team that has won 16 National Championships. This compare to the Snow Devils, an ASU club that does little more than throw huge keggers. Not to be outdone, Colorado has a more casual ski/snowboard organization for students called Boulder Freeride, that with over 3,000 students is larger than CU's Greek system.

Rivalries
It's hard to beat a rivalry of the University of _________ vs. __________ State University. Colorado has always been considered the more elite of the two schools, both in athletics and academics, and they're always sure to point it out their Colorado State counterparts. Their natural rivalry is unique in that they are in different conferences, but their football teams still face off every year at Denver's Invesco Field. The all-time series is a bit lopsided in CU's favor at 59-20-2, but CSU has made small strides in recent years winning four of the last eight. Arizona State has caught a scheduling break both last year and this year by facing the Buffs the week following their highly emotional rivalry game.

Like most of the other teams in the Big XII North and the old Big 8 Conference, Colorado hss a strong dislike for the University of Nebraska, especially after their three National Championships in the mid-1990s. Nebraska's chief rivalry with Oklahoma has waned in recent years after the teams were put into different divisions, and since then the Huskers have begun to return the resentment to their neighbors to the West. The two teams play every year on Thanksgiving weekend, and the game often carries implications on the Conference Championship. Since the formation of the Big XII in 1996, these two teams have combined to win eight of the possible ten Division Championships.

Head to Head
Even though the two states kiss at the four corners, last year’s match up was the first between ASU and Colorado. The Sun Devils won 23-3 on the wings of Rudy Carpenter’s newly broken throwing hand. Last year's storyline was about former Koetter assistant Dan Hawkins taking over as Colorado Head Coach and poaching Mark Helfrich from the ASU staff to be offensive coordinator at CU. It didn't make much difference last year and it sure won't make much difference this year either now that Koetter's ship has sailed.

Phil Steele Says…
Nine starters back on offense will help the Buffs immensely after they averaged a lowly 16.3 points per game last year. Four of last year's losses were close by Steele's standards, but CU was surprisingly +8 in turnovers. Steele expects their defense to be in the top half of the Big XII, returning six starters from a unit that allowed only 341 yards per game, the lowest average for a Colorado squad in eight years. Even though their schedule contains seven teams that were bowl eligible last year, Steele thinks they have a shot at bowl eligibility.

I Say…
Nine starters on offense are nice and all, but the most important position on the field is a mess. Bernard Jackson, the incumbent quarterback, was bumped down to third on the depth chart by the end of spring practice by redshirt freshman Cody Hawkins and JuCo transfer Nick Nelson, who are #s 1 and 2, respectively. No matter how well the coach's son knows the offense he'll receive a trial by fire having to start his career against Colorado State at Invesco and the play in Sun Devil Stadium in an early season night game where the crowd will be big and well-lubricated. Phil Steele seems to think that the offense will improve based on the you can only go one direction from last year philosophy, but I don't think a ton of improvement will occur with an unproven QB. Yes, they'll probably do better, but improving from 16.3 points per game doesn't mean that you'll set the world on fire. They may have a shot at bowl eligibility since they're in the Big XII North, but I don't think their chances of defeating ASU in Tempe are too good. Losing all-everything kicker Mason Crosby won't help, either.

And don’t think for one second that I’ll pass up the opportunity to post this:


Related websites
The University’s official website
CU's official athletics website
NetBuffs, an unofficial athletic site and message board
The College Football Data Warehouse Page
The Wikipedia page

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