It’s really simple for Coach Prime’s second group of Buffaloes. Keep winning and pray that one of Iowa State’s four opponents can take down the 17th-ranked Cyclones. A road game at Utah and a season-finale home matchup against No. 22 Kansas State still remain on ISU’s schedule. The Buffs need the Cats, or someone else, to downgrade the Cyclones.

Two upheavals opened the door to hope. Now the question becomes: can the Buffs open wide? There are four games remaining, three against the conference’s bottom dwellers, Utah, Kansas and Oklahoma State. An imminent future in Lubbock? The Texas Tech Red Raiders just upset previously undefeated Iowa State on the road. Tech is now bowl eligible and hungry for more.

The Big 12 was heralded in preseason as one of the most unpredictable Power Four conferences. It wasn’t disappointing. BYU is undefeated but still has to play Arizona State, currently 6-2, and Utah. The Utes are down this year after losing talented quarterback Cam Rising, but would love to play the role of spoiler against Colorado and BYU.

The Cougars in the preseason polls were ranked 13th out of the 16 teams in the conference, two spots behind the Buffs. Preseason prognosticators have been breathing down the Big 12 Conference with bottom dwellers expected to be in excellent position to play for the championship on Dec. 7 at Jerry’s World in Dallas.

All this craziness takes the old noggin back to the wild and crazy season of 1990. Hall of Fame coach Bill McCartney’s Buffs team started 1-1-1. That wasn’t the plan since the most respected national polls expected Colorado to contend for a national title after the tragic but magical “One Heartbeat” season of 1989.

Why Deion Sanders doesn’t want Colorado ranked to finish the season

Colorado opened the 1990 campaign with a tie against Tennessee in the Pigskin Classic. It was a “popping” party for future first-round NFL draft pick Mike Pritchard. The second game was at home against Stanford and a last-second touchdown by Eric Bieniemy prevented a disastrous upset. Game 3 was a disappointing loss to Illinois where the Buffs blew a 17-3 lead and lost 23-22.

I’ll never forget interviewing downtrodden Buffs in a tiny, crowded locker room in Champaign, Illinois, after the crushing loss. Nearly every player or coach interviewed solemnly proclaimed, “We need to forget this ‘national championship’ talk and focus on winning the Big Eight.” It was similar to how Coach Prime and his players went after Nebraska.

Longtime Buff fans know what happened next. Colorado won ten in a row, including a fifth down at Missouri, and defeated Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl for the school’s only national championship. It was a split decision. The Buffs won the AP poll and undefeated Georgia Tech won the UPI Coaches poll (shout out to Tom Osborne).

Deion Sanders asks if Texas Tech tradition is illegal ahead of showdown

Back then, there was no playoff system. Georgia Tech’s ACC champion status didn’t stop the Yellowjackets from taking their runner-up spot in the Orange Bowl to face top-ranked automatic Big 8 champion Colorado for a title game decisive. But the Orange Bowl committee wanted Notre Dame instead of Georgia Tech to be the Buffaloes’ opponent, because Notre Dame had a larger fan base and would earn more money and better television ratings. Money talks, yesterday and today.

Back to the present. Seeing Iowa State lose at home to Texas Tech and K-State losing on the road to Houston stirred up emotions in the 1990 team. It needed help, just like Prime’s team needs help. help now.

But let’s not go too far. Texas Tech is coming off the emotional high of its rally late in Ames. Third-year coach Joey McGuire’s team will be playing in front of rabid home fans and would like nothing better than to deflate CU’s dream of an “incredible season.”

There are others who try to deflate the team. Coach Prime allegedly harassed we talk a lot about academics this week off. “Discipline on the field, in the classroom and everywhere else builds champions”, a kind of rhetoric. This reminds your scribe of McCartney again. He always talks about “Love them after a tough loss, but humiliate them when they fly high.” »

The Buffs rush. Lady Luck also appeared. Buff fans are hoping the Red Raiders don’t become CU’s dream raiders.