Posts Tagged ‘Steve Vogel’

October 27th – @ Oklahoma State            #10 Oklahoma State 20, Colorado 14

Junior Craig Keenan made his first start at quarterback, replacing Colorado’s all-time passer Steve Vogel, as the Buffs took the field against a top ten opponent for the second week in a row. Colorado had played Nebraska tough, leading 7-3 after three quarters-  but not tough enough to post a win.

History doesn’t always repeat itself.

Sometimes it rhymes.

The headlines from the Denver Post the morning after the Oklahoma State game tell all that you need to know about the game: “Close, but …” and “Oklahoma State survives CU 20-14″.

The tried and true method for the Buffs had come through once again. A valiant defensive effort kept the Buffs in the game, but the offense could not capitalize on the opportunities afforded by their opponent.

Keenan completed 10-of-25 passes for 178 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown connection with wide receiver Ron Brown. Brown’s 141 yards on four catches gave him 529 total yards for the season and an impressive 25.9 yards per catch average. The Buffs running game, however, again proved to be the Buffs’ downfall. With the Colorado defense keeping the Buffs in the game,…

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October 20th – Boulder           #5 Nebraska 24, Colorado 7

All too soon for Buff fans, it was time again to face the Huskers.

Nebraska came into the contest ranked 5th in the nation, with the only blemish in the Huskers 5-1 record coming in a upset loss to Syracuse, 17-9, on the road. Since the non-conference loss, Nebraska had posted two Big Eight wins against Oklahoma State and Missouri, and was not looking for a difficult game against the 1-5 Buffs.

The game, however, did not turn out to be the rout the sellout crowd of 51,124 (including a good 20,000 red-clad Husker fans) expected to see.

You tell ‘em, Bill

 

The Husker red in the stands for the 1984 game was not new, nor unexpected. But don’t blame Colorado head coach Bill McCartney. During the summer leading up to the 1984 campaign, McCartney wrote a letter to all of the Buff season ticket holders, imploring the fans not to sell their tickets to Nebraska fans. The letter, which was published in the local papers and even received mention in Sports Illustrated, reminded season ticket holders that there would be no public sale of tickets for the Nebraska game. Season ticket…

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October 6th – @ Missouri           Missouri 52, Colorado 7

The Missouri Tigers posted their sixth consecutive win over the Buffs in fine fashion, routing the Buffs in Columbia. The loss to his alma mater had to be that much harder for head coach Bill McCartney, as the Tigers continued the domination of his new team.

Missouri scores against McCartney’s 1982-84 Buffs: 35-14, 59-20, and 52-7.

Missouri came into the game 1-3, but the record was deceiving. The Tigers’ three losses had come by a total of only nine points, including a 16-14 defeat by Notre Dame. The Tigers would have defeated the Irish (the same Irish who had routed the Buffs 55-14) had kicker Brad Burditt been successful on a 39-yard field goal attempt with only seven seconds left in the game.

If there was any justice, Colorado’s first appearance on regional television since 1978 would have been blacked out. Even the Missouri faithful were not interested in the rout. After hosting over 70,000 for Notre Dame the weekend before, Faurot Field drew only 38,662, for the Colorado game, the smallest Missouri home crowd in 21 years.

Lee Rouson did have his second 100+ yard game of the season, rushing for 109 yards…

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 September 29th – Boulder           #17 UCLA 33, Colorado 16

Colorado came into the UCLA game 0-3. Two close calls, against Michigan State and Oregon, had been followed by a rout at the hands of Notre Dame. The hope and optimism which had greated the 1984 campaign, on the heels of a 4-7 record in 1983, had been dimmed. Now, the Buffs had to face their first ranked team of the season, 17th-ranked UCLA.

The UCLA Bruins, though, came to Boulder licking wounds of their own. Unimpressive wins over San Diego State (18-15) and Long Beach State (23-17) had been followed by a 42-3 rout at the hands of the No. 1 ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers. That the Bruins were even ranked after such a sluggish start was likely a testament as much to the dominance of Nebraska as it was to the talents of the Pac-10 Bruins. Still, there may have been another reason. UCLA had started the 1983 campaign 0-3-1 before winning seven of their last eight games (behind quarterback Rick Neuheisel), including a rout of Big Ten champion Illinois in the Rose Bowl. This being the recent history, the ranking could have been on assumed late season potential.

The Buffs no…

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 September 22nd – @ Notre Dame           Notre Dame 55, Colorado 14

Colorado traveled to the hallowed grounds of South Bend, Indiana, with heavy hearts. Thoughts of Ed Reinhardt had to be on the minds of the Buffs as they played Notre Dame beneath “Touchdown Jesus” for the first – and only – time in school history.

Notre Dame, as had been the case in 1983, came into the matchup against the Buffs unranked. Embattled Notre Dame head coach Gerry Faust had the Irish off to a 1-1 start, but this was hardly cause for celebration in South Bend. Notre Dame had been ranked seventh in the nation in the 1984 preseason Associated Press poll, but had promptly dropped out of the poll after falling 23-21 to Purdue in the season opener. The Irish did not look much better the following week against Michigan State, falling behind 17-3 in the first half before rallying to win, 24-20. Though the 1984 Colorado/Notre Dame game would be played at South Bend, there seemed some hope for the struggling Buffs to make a game of it against a less than dominant Fighting Irish squad.

For Colorado, though, 1984 was not like 1983, when the…

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 November 12 – @ Oklahoma           Oklahoma 41, Colorado 28

The final scores of the Nebraska games in the two years of the McCartney era had been somewhat misleading. The Buffs were at least in the game in the first half of each contest.

Conversely, the final score against Oklahoma in 1983, 41-28, would lead one to believe the Buffs made a respectable showing against the Sooners. After all, the Sooners had won the previous six contests against Colorado by an average score of 51-16. Yes, it was the Buffs out there on Owen field, before 75,008 Sooner faithful, with quarterback Steve Vogel, subbing for an injured Derek Marshall, overthrowing tight end Dave Hestera in the end zone with the Buffs having the chance to pull within seven points late in the fourth quarter. And yes, it was a pass from Vogel to Chris McLemore which came up an inch short on fourth down at the Sooner three-yard line with just over two minutes to play.

And yes, the headline in the Boulder Daily Camera the next morning did proclaim “Buffs make it close at OU, 41-28″.

Actually, though, it was never really that close. Oklahoma raced out to a 34-0 lead in the first half. If not for…

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October 15th – @ Iowa State          Iowa State 22, Colorado 10

Playing in a gusty wind, the Iowa State Cyclones blew away the bumbling Buffs, 22-10. The Iowa State homecoming crowd was sent home happy, as for the third straight game the Colorado offense had great difficulty in finding the opposition’s goal. Lee Rouson was switched from fullback to halfback for the game to add a spark. Rouson responded with 93 yards, but it took 29 carries to produce those yards. Steve Vogel was so ineffective at quarterback that Derek Marshall subbed in after Vogel went 3-for-16 passing in the second half.

Unlike the Notre Dame and Missouri games, the Buffs were in the game against the Cyclones throughout. The score was 13-10 late in the first half, with a 26-yard Tom Field field goal, and a 14-yard touchdown pass from Steve Vogel to Loy Alexander keeping the Buffs close. Cyclone quarterback David Archer, though, hit David Gantt for a 14-yard score and a 19-10 halftime lead for Iowa State (the PAT attempt was blocked).

After a scoreless third quarter, Colorado had a first-and-goal at the Iowa State nine yard line on the first series of the fourth quarter. The snap on a 25-yard field…

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Taking the LSAT

The University of Colorado had never played the University of Notre Dame in football.

This simple statement, in and of itself, was enough to raise anticipation level for the matchup between the Buffs and the Irish. 

Then there was this: heading into the October 1, 1983, Colorado/Notre Dame game in Boulder, Colorado was 2-1; Notre Dame 1-2. Now, throughout campus, there was excitement not only about the possibility of playing Notre Dame, but about the possibility of actually beating the Irish.

It would be safe to assume that I, as a fan of college football, and especially a fan of the (apparently) resurgent Colorado Buffaloes, would have done little else the week leading up to the game other than prepare for the historic encounter. Unfortunately, I had a large distraction keeping from focusing on the game – the Law School Admission Test.

The LSAT is a test taken in preparation for applying to the law school of your choice. Like the SAT, ACT, GRE, and MCAT, the LSAT brings with it a great deal of self-inflicted pressure. I had grown up wanting to be an attorney, and my double major of history and political science was not going to open many…

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