Posts Tagged ‘Rashaan Salaam’

 

Back from the store

In Bozeman, I received updates from ABC and ESPN throughout the afternoon [concerning the 41-20 romp by 7th-ranked Colorado over Iowa State]. Frustration with the Buffs’ inability to put away ISU was quickly forgotten when the highlight of Rashaan Salaam’s touchdown run flashed across the screen. The play made for perfect theater. Salaam reached the 2,000 mark at home, running right in front of the CU bench, on a 67-yard touchdown run to clinch the win. If Salaam had not already clinched the Heisman, that highlight alone may have sealed the deal. It would be replayed numerous times in subsequent weeks as college football analysts debated the issue.

Content with the afternoon’s events, I went to the store with my wife, Lee. Some time later, we returned to find the answering machine blinking. It was Charlie B., my college roommate, calling from Nashville, Tennessee. “What is McCartney thinking?”, Charlie asked me by way of tape. “What is going on?”

Not understanding the message, and assuming Charlie was merely upset about Bill McCartney’s play-calling on the day, I returned the call. It was then that I learned the reason for the tone in Charlie’s voice.…

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November 19th – Boulder                       #7 Colorado 41, Iowa State 20

A game between a 9-1 team and an 0-9-1 to finish off the regular season would normally not bear much attention.  The 41-20 final score, after the Buffs nursed a 20-13 lead into the fourth quarter, would not have merited much notice nationally.  For local writers, though, the game presented a year’s worth of headlines.  “Christian Fauria snares six catches; becomes Big Eight all-time tight end reception leader” would have been apropos.  As would have been “CU posts 576 yards of offense, sets team record for season average -495.3?, or “Kordell Stewart becomes Big Eight all-time leader for total offense”. 

All worthy events, but they were all  overshadowed.  First by Rashaan Salaam, then by the team’s thirteen-year head coach.

Salaam was effective against Iowa State, rushing for almost 200 yards and a touchdown in the game’s first three quarters.  The Buffs, though, could not put away the winless Cyclones, leading only 20-13 at the start of the fourth quarter.  Salaam was still 13 yards shy of the 2000-yard mark as the Buffs, leading 27-13 after a 23-yard run by Kordell Stewart to open the quarter, faced a first-and-ten at the…

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Kansas

//posted 11.12.1994

November 12th – @ Kansas                                   #7 Colorado 51, Kansas 26

Kordell Stewart, who had the previous week become the first player in Big Eight history to pass for 6,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in a career, piled up 249 yards of total offense against the Jayhawks as the Buffs rolled to an easy 51-26 win.  Stewart’s 51-yard pass to Michael Westbrook in the game’s opening drive paved the way for a 17-yard touchdown run by Rashaan Salaam as the Buffs sprinted to an early 7-0 lead on their way to a 24-7 halftime cushion.

On the day, Colorado posted 639 yards on offense, the seventh highest total in team history.  Rashaan Salaam rushed for 232 yards and three scores in becoming the Buffs’ single-season record holder for rushing yards (passing Eric Bieniemy’s 1,628 yards in 1990), touchdowns (Bobby Anderson – 18 in 1969), and points (Byron “Whizzer” White – 122 in 1937).  Not to be outdone, two Buff receivers placed their names in the record books as well.  Michael Westbrook, who had six catches for 117 yards against Kansas, passed Charles Johnson (1991-93) to become the Buffs’ all-time leading receiver, while tight end Christian Fauria passed Dave Hestera (1981-83)…

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#19 Kansas State

//posted 10.22.1994

October 22nd – Boulder               #2 Colorado 35, #19 Kansas State 21

The Kansas State Wildcats were the real deal in 1994.  Coming off of a 9-2-1 season in 1993, KSU had re-established itself as the #3 team in the Big Eight in 1994.  The Wildcats only blemish coming into Boulder was a 17-6 loss to Nebraska, and K-State wanted nothing more than to knock off the 2nd-rated Buffs to make its own national statement. They almost did.

The 5:30 p.m. kickoff represented CU’s third nationally televised night home game of the season.  Not wanting to disappoint the ESPN audience, the Buffs took a 14-7 halftime lead behind a 53-yard touchdown scamper by Rashaan Salaam and an eight-yard run by Kordell Stewart.  But the Wildcats, led by quarterback Chad May, were not to go quietly into the night.

Twice in the third quarter, KSU rallied to tie the Buffs, the second time on running back J.J. Smith’s three-yard run with 11 seconds remaining in the quarter.  Smith’s score, his third of the game, tied the score at 21.  Entering the fourth quarter, CU knew that its season’s hopes rested on the final 15 minutes.

CU’s offense, which would account for 339…

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October 15th – Boulder                        #4 Colorado 45, #22 Oklahoma 7

It was now official.  What had been dreamed of since the “Miracle in Michigan” could now be spoken of openly.  The Rocky Mountain News banner headline after Colorado dismantled Oklahoma 45-7 before a national ESPN audience said it all:  “Buffs make a run for No. 1?.  Not to be outdone, the Denver Post headline proclaimed:  “Taking aim at No. 1?.

Before the Buffs took the field to set about defeating the Sooners by the largest margin in the history of the series, the players and fans all knew that the #1 team in the nation, Florida, had been defeated 36-33 by Auburn.  The 45-7 thrashing of the Sooners before a night game crowd of 53,199 proved to the nation that the undefeated Colorado Buffaloes had to be reckoned with on the national stage. CU dominated the game from the outset, and the line score for the first half look like a series of misprints.  The Buffs’ first three scores:

Salaam 7 yard run (Voskeritchian kick);

Salaam 7 yard run (Voskeritchian kick); and

Salaam 7 yard run (Voskeritchian kick).

For Colorado’s final score of the first half, the Buffs threw the…

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#16 Texas – On Oxygen

//posted 10.1.1994

No rest for the weary.  CU was 3-0, up to #5 in the polls, and the talk of the nation.  But the Texas Longhorns, 3-0 and ranked 16th, wanted their own share of the nation’s attention.  The Buffs only had seven days to celebrate and recuperate from the “Miracle at Michigan”, and to prepare for the showdown in Austin.

October 1st – @ Texas                          #5 Colorado 34, #16 Texas 31

Texas was more than anxious to take a crack at the #5 Buffs.  Undefeated on the young season, the 16th-ranked Longhorns were 3-0 for the first time since 1985.  Playing at home in front of a sell-out crowd of 77,809, Texas players looked to avenge the 36-14 pasting laid on them by the Buffs in 1993 season-opener.  Eight returning starters on offense and nine on defense gave Longhorn fans plenty of confidence that the media-drunk Buffs would leave Austin in a different mood than they had Ann Arbor.

But it was Texas and their fans that left the stadium displeased, as for the second week in a row, Colorado scratched out a last-second win against a ranked opponent on the opponent’s home field.  Junior place-kicker Neil Voskeritchian booted through a…

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September 24th – @ Michigan                               #7 Colorado 27, #4 Michigan 26

While there is much to be said about the final six seconds of the 1994 Colorado/Michigan game, the set-up is equally important. Both teams had the opportunity to dominate the game, but fell short. Momentum swayed back and forth before 106,427 fans, the largest crowd to witness a Colorado football game in school history. Midway through the second quarter, the Buffs were putting on a show for the Wolverine faithful. Up 14-3, CU threatened to make the game a rout after Kordell Stewart hit Michael Westbrook on a 27-yard touchdown with 7:54 remaining in the half.

But for the next two full quarters it was all Michigan. Wolverine running back Tim Biakabutuka scored on a four yard run to pull UM to within 14-9 with 1:14 before halftime. Going for a two point conversion to pull the Wolverines to within a field goal of the Buffs, quarterback Todd Collins was intercepted by Buffs’ linebacker Matt Russell, preserving a five point lead for Colorado.

The third quarter was a nightmare for the Buffs, as Michigan posted 17 unanswered points to take a 26-14 lead. Less than five minutes into…

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Badger Mania

The Wisconsin Badgers came to Boulder September 17th for a night game to be nationally televised by ESPN. 

The Badgers were also 1-0 on the 1994 season, having dispatched Eastern Michigan, 56-0.  Wisconsin, ranked 10th  in the nation, had been the feel-good story of 1993, having come from nowhere to post a 10-1-1 record.  Claiming a share of the Big 10 title for the first time in over three decades, the Badgers made their first trip to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl since 1962.  A 21-16 win over UCLA capped a magical year.

Out to prove that 1993 had been no fluke, the 1994 Wisconsin team was loaded.  Fifteen starters returned for head coach Barry Alvarez, who had turned around a program which had finished 1-10 only four years earlier.  Five All-Big Ten offensive players, including Big Ten MVP running back Brent Moss, returned to lead a potent attack.  Colorado would certainly have its hands full.

And that was just on the field.

Off the field, another battle was to take place, as the “Cheeseheads” from Wisconsin descended on Boulder. 

Amongst the most legendary of all tailgaters, the Wisconsin faithful took to Boulder like, well, foam to beer. …

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