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Plati-'Tudes Shorts: Top Game 7's - University of Colorado Athletics - CUBuffs.com

Plati-'Tudes Short No. 7 ... The seventh installment of CU's best or most exciting football games in its history as to when they occurred in week seven of any season.  We're running these over the second half of the spring on our "Throwback Thursdays" -- many are obvious, a few obscure, and no doubt some up for debate.  So here are the best game seven games in our history in my humble opinion:

GAME 7's

#1—1972: Colorado 20, Oklahoma 14 in Boulder.
Colorado was ranked by some as the No. 1 team in the nation in the preseason, officially No. 2 by the wire services after a spectacular '71 season; but Oklahoma State derailed the Buffaloes in Stillwater in week four (31-6); CU won its next two and entered the game ranked No. 9 with a 5-1 mark.  OU, on the other hand, came in at No. 2, undefeated (4-0), fresh off a 27-0 whitewashing of No. 10 Texas in Dallas and had allowed just two field goals in outscoring its opponents, 196-6.  And with Keith Jackson (calling his first game at Folsom) and Bud Wilkinson on hand for a national ABC broadcast, it provided one of the greatest atmospheres in school history at the time – and the game lived up to its billing in front of a state record crowd of 52,022 (Mile High Stadium at the time was 50,657).  Points and yards were tough to come by in the first half, as Oklahoma took a 7-0 lead into halftime and with a slight 137-109 edge in yards.  But the Buffaloes came alive in the third quarter: after driving to the OU 11 on their first possession, it ended with a fumble; the second possession ended much better, with Gary Campbell taking the pitch from Ken Johnson and rumbling 43 yards for a score to cut the lead to 7-6 (the extra point was wide).  OU was then stuffed in three plays and muffed the punt snap; Cullen Bryant made an interception and set CU up at the Sooner 18, where six plays later, Johnson connected with Jon Keyworth on a 3-yard TD pass.  Bo Matthews ran over right guard for the 2-point conversion and CU turned a seven-point deficit into a lead by the same margin, 14-7, with 4:02 left in the quarter.  After another three-and-out by the Sooners, Fred Lima made good on his missed PAT by nailing a 33-yard field goal early in the fourth, and two series later, a John Stearns pick set the Buffs up at the OU 24 and Lima would add another 33-yard boot and CU built a 20-7 lead.  The Sooners scored a late TD to account to the final 20-14 score, as CU recovered an onside kick: game over.  CU flipped the battle on offense, outgaining OU 323-238 in the game, which included a 214-101 second half edge.  In the end, the Buffs scored a season-high 20 points against one of the stingiest defenses in modern college football history (OU allowed 74 points in 12 games).

Epilogue: CU finished 8-4, falling at Missouri and then to No. 3 Nebraska and in the Gator Bowl to No. 6 Auburn; the loss to the Buffaloes was the Sooners only setback of the season, as they initially won the Big Eight title (eventually shared with Nebraska after NCAA penalties), finished 11-1 and No. 2 after defeating Penn State in the Sugar Bowl; OU could never catch USC which won the national title with a 12-0 mark.  It was Chuck Fairbanks' sixth and final season as head coach at Oklahoma, with offensive coordinator Barry Switzer taking over after Fairbanks became head coach of the New England Patriots.  We all know what would happen six years later …

Runner-Up—1986: Colorado 20, Nebraska 10 in Boulder.
Referred to as "The Turning Point" inside the program, the Buffs ended six straight losing seasons in 1985 by going 7-5, but had opened '86 with an 0-4 start (three of the losses by eight combined points).  After eking out a 17-12 win at Missouri and then a 31-3 slaughter of Iowa State, things had reversed a bit – but CU, in Bill McCartney's fifth season as head coach, was still looking for that signature win, and his first over a ranked team. On October 25, third-ranked Nebraska rolled into Boulder, a prohibitive favorite with a 6-0 record and owning an average 25-point margin of victory.  But the Buffaloes weren't intimidated from the start: after each team came up empty on their first two drives, CU took over at the NU 46.  Two offside penalties on the Cornhuskers placed the ball on the N36, but O.C. Oliver was thrown for a 3-yard loss.  The play call was a reverse, and it worked to perfection, with Jeff "Soupy" Campbell racing down the west sideline 39 yards for a touchdown.  With 4:30 left in the half, Dave DeLine drilled a career-long 57-yard field goal to put the Buffs up 10-0, of which that score remained at halftime.  Late in the third, Nebraska turned a CU fumble deep in its own territory into a quick score, and the sellout crowd of 52,440 was getting anxious.  CU earned a quick first down at its own 49 to end the period, and one of the great plays in CU history awaited.  To open the fourth quarter against an unsuspecting NU defense, Mark Hatcher pitched the ball to Oliver, who on the halfback option threw downfield to Lance Carl who had beaten the coverage, the play resulting in a 51-yard score.  The teams then swapped field goals, but the Huskers never had the ball the rest of the way without always being two scores behind.  Barry Remington's interception with 16 seconds to go made for the students (and others) to rush the field, and after it took about 10 minutes to clear it, Hatcher took a knee and the Buffaloes gave Coach Mac his first of many signature wins.  The win snapped a 23-game losing streak to ranked teams, and was CU's first win over a top five team since 1972 (the aforementioned win over Oklahoma).  ABC worked with Denver's KMGH to broadcast the last moments of the game live, as Bob Beattie was on hand in the press box and was able to finagle the hook-up (Beattie, CU's former ski coach, was a regular on the network's Wide World of Sports).

Honorable Mention—1966: Colorado 13, Oklahoma 0 at Norman.
CU's first win over Oklahoma with Eddie Crowder as head coach, as the former Sooner quarterback takes his third CU team into Norman and shuts out his alma mater—only OU's second shutout loss at home to a conference opponent over 20 seasons.  The Buffs got on the board on their third possession, a 12-play, 48-yard drive capped by fullback Estes Banks going over left tackle on a 1-yard plunge; Frank Rogers' PAT put CU up 7-0 with 2:59 left in quarter number one.  Two drives later, Rogers connects on a 34-yard field goal which gave CU a 10-0 lead which held up at halftime.  With under five minutes left in the third, Rogers capped a 10-play drive with a 42-yard field goal to extend the lead to 13-0.  On the first play in the final stanza, OU had a 4th-and-1 at the CU 13, but Dick Anderson stuffed Ron Shotts at the line of scrimmage and CU took over on downs.  The Sooners threatened again on their next drive, and on a 4th-and-3 at the CU 31, Hale Irwin picked off the ball and returned it 45 yards.  Irwin made another interception at the CU 23 to end the Sooners next threat, and Charlie Greer polished things off with a pick on OU's final attempt to get on the board at CU's 3-yard line.  A stifling Buff defense held the Sooners to just 3.8 yards per play and forced six turnovers, and engineered the second (and to this date, last) shutout against OU in the 59-game history of the series.

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2020-05-28 17:40:26Z
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