This One’s For Peggy … and For the Rest of Us

—

This One’s for Peggy … and For the Rest of Us

—

Saturday, October 22, 2016.

A sunny autumn day in the San Francisco Bay area, with an afternoon temperature in the mid-60s.

For the residents of Palo Alto, it was a fine day for sailing, hiking or antiquing. Or, for some 44,535 Stanford fans, a chance to take in a football game between the 5-2 Colorado Buffaloes and the 4-2 Stanford Cardinal.

The game was a rock fight. The Colorado offense was sluggish all afternoon. The Buffs failed to convert opportunities, with CU kickers missing three-of-four field goal attempts. The Stanford offense, meanwhile, was stymied, with the Buff defense forcing four turnovers.

In the end, Colorado emerged with a victory, posting a win with a unique score of 10-5 (the Buffs took a safety in the final seconds, rather than risk a punt being blocked out of the end zone).

The win propelled the Buffs into the national rankings, setting the stage for a run to a 10-2 regular season record, and a berth in the Pac-12 championship game.

The victory over Stanford also gave Colorado a 6-2 overall record, with the Buffs achieving bowl-eligibility for the first time in nine seasons.

October 22, 2016.

The last time CU took the field with five wins … and emerged with six.

Since that Stanford game, eight years ago, Colorado had taken the field 11 times with a chance to pick up a victory and a bowl berth – three times in 2017, seven times in 2018, and once in 2019 – with each opportunity ending in a loss.

To say that the Buff Nation has been aching to get back to six wins … to get back to bowl eligibility … to get back to national relevance … is an understatement.

When Vegas set CU’s over/under for victories in the 2024 season at 5.5, the message for the Buffs heading into the game against Cincinnati was tantalizingly clear … a bowl was the goal.

And the Buffs delivered, taking down the Bearcats, 34-23, to raise their season record to 6-2 … and get CU to bowl eligibility.

Before a sold-out “Blackout” crowd of 53,202, the Buffs showcased a team which was not only good, but one which has the potential to be very good.

The Colorado offense scored on all four of its first half possessions, actually scoring twice on its opening series, with CU’s first touchdown of the game called back due a taunting call on wide receiver Jimmy Horn on his way to the end zone. The Buffs’ third first half touchdown, coming with three seconds to play before the break – a 34-yard touchdown pass from Shedeur Sanders to an inexplicably wide open Travis Hunter – gave the Buffs a 24-14 advantage at halftime.

The Colorado defense did its part as well. Forcing a quick three-and-out on the game’s opening possession helped to set the tone for the night, with a stop on fourth-and-one near midfield with less than a minute before the break allowing the Buff offense a chance at a two-score lead at halftime.

The game went back-and-forth for much of the first half, and while Cincinnati did pull within one score, at 31-23, with less than four minutes remaining in the game, the outcome never truly seemed in doubt. When kicker Alejandro Mata snuck a 47-yard field goal over the crossbar with 1:39 to play to restore a two-score lead, it was time to celebrate.

Buff fans should savor this moment, some eight years in the making. Yes, CU did earn a bowl bid during the COVID season of 2020, but the 4-2 record came with a series of asterisks.

This season, bowl eligibility has been earned with a sixth win. Coach Prime has brought the program – in less than two full seasons – from being a laughingly stock to being a legitimately good team. The offense is clicking, with even the anemic Buff rushing attack generating over 100 yards in each of the past two games. The defense is sound, able to make timely stops and keep the opposition out of the end zone. Even CU’s special teams (the kickoff specialists’ inability to kick the ball out of the end zone notwithstanding) has been solid, with Mata nine-of-12 on field goal attempts, including seven straight.

With a bowl bid secured, loftier goals for the program will now be openly discussed (though I still heartily recommend taking the next two weeks – CU has a bye next weekend – just enjoying seeing a “6” next to CU’s win total). Last season’s November collapse, against three ranked teams and two road games against more-than-worthy opponents in Washington State and Utah, are a thing of the past. The monkey is off CU’s back.

But now … CU has four regular season games remaining, and will not play a ranked team the in November.

In fact, all four of CU’s November opponents found frustrating ways to lose on Saturday … a feat with which the Buff Nation is all too familiar. CU’s November slate:

• November 9th – at Texas Tech … The Red Raiders held a 34-21 lead on the road against TCU with 11 minutes remaining in the game, but lost, 35-34, when the Horned Frogs scored on an 84-yard pass to take the lead. Texas Tech (5-3, 3-2) must now travel to Ames to face No. 10 Iowa State before returning home to play Colorado;
• November 16th – Utah … The Utes lost their fourth straight game Saturday, falling to hapless Houston, 17-14, on a 43-yard field goal as time expired. Former CU kicker Cole Becker went o-for-2 against the Cougars, adding to the misery. The Utes (4-4, 1-4), who haven’t scored more than 20 points in any of their four losses, will face No. 11 BYU before heading to Boulder;
• November 23rd – at Kansas (in Kansas City) … The Jayhawks (2-6, 1-4) had a 27-26 lead, and possession of the ball, with four minutes to play against hated rival Kansas State, but fumbled near midfield. A 51-yard field goal by the No. 16 Wildcats with less than two minutes remaining gave Kansas State its 16th-straight win over dejected and defeated Kansas;
• November 29th – Oklahoma State … One of the preseason favorites to win the Big 12, the Cowboys – ranked 13th in the nation after a 3-0 start in non-conference play – are now 0-5 in Big 12 games (3-5 overall) after a 38-28 loss to Baylor. The Bears hadn’t won a conference home game since in two years, but Oklahoma State couldn’t prevent its first five-game losing streak since 2014.

Allow me to be the first to say that, while Colorado may well be favored in all four of its November Big 12 games, you don’t have to squint that hard to envision scenarios in which the Buffs could lose any of these games.

Instead of being concerned about the future, let’s relish the present, including the Buffs giving Peggy an early 100th birthday present.

—

Peggy Compom, in case you have been living off the grid the past few seasons, and just jumped back on this morning, has become the face of the Buff Nation, and the driving force behind CU’s drive for six wins and bowl eligibility.

Peggy’s story …

Coppom is one-half of the famed CU twins with Betty Hoover, who passed away in 2020. While Peggy has been solo for a bit, she keeps the memory of her sister alive and well. They’ve been avid supporters of CU athletics for over eight decades.

Coppom has only missed a few CU football games since her family moved from the high plains of eastern Colorado to Boulder to escape the Dust Bowl in 1939. She became a season ticket holder in 1966, witnessing some of the greatest moments in Colorado history.

Since August, Coach Prime has vowed that the Buffs would return to a bowl game with Peggy this year. After the Buffs beat the Bearcats, Coach Prime called 99-year-old super fan Peggy in front of the whole team to tell her she’s going to a bowl game. “Now we want to make sure she goes to the best bowl possible, that means a lot to us, it really does,” Coach Prime said in his press conference.

This win, Colorado’s sixth on the season (God, how I love typing that!), is certainly worth celebrating.

After 11 misses with five wins and a chance to go to a bowl game over the past eight campaigns, the Buffs finally – finally! – have broken through with a bowl-clinching victory.

Eight years of misses.

Until now … Colorado 34, Cincinnati 23.

This one is certainly for Peggy … but it’s also for the rest of us.

–

—

Coach Prime’s call to Peggy in the locker room after beating Cincinnati … 

Coach Prime delivered for Peggy 🙌 pic.twitter.com/6ZqyB2Weh5

— Colorado Buffaloes Football (@CUBuffsFootball) October 27, 2024

—–

This post, about the Cincinnati game, from the 2024 Season, is filed under Article.
You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment.