After 83 years, CU finally has chance to avenge 13-7 upset in Greeley
BOULDER» Although the schools are separated by only 60 miles, it has been a long time since the Colorado Buffaloes last played Northern Colorado in football.
In fact, it has been so long that in that last meeting, the Buffaloes weren’t the Buffaloes and Northern Colorado wasn’t Northern Colorado.
On Nov. 12, 1934, the Colorado State Teachers College Bears pulled off a 13-7 upset of favored CU in Greeley.
Dressed in silver and gold, CU had yet to come up with a name for its team. After the win, the Greeley Tribune had some fun with that, offering suggestions for CU’s nickname.
Basking in the upset win, the Greeley Tribune wrote the next day, “How about ‘Flatiron Flops’? What’s the matter with ‘Boulder Busts’? A name with territorial twang to it would be ‘Colorado Crumpets.’ ”
Despite the friendly advice, CU settled on the Buffaloes later that season.
On Saturday, the Buffaloes (2-0) will host the Bears (1-0) at Folsom Field. Revenge for the 1934 loss probably won’t be on anyone’s mind this week, but the Buffs are looking forward to playing an old regional rival.
“I know our guys are excited about playing them,” coach Mike MacIntyre said. “They know a lot of the guys on the team.”
Linebacker Derek McCartney, who grew up in Westminster and played at Faith Christian High School in Arvada, said he doesn’t know many players on the UNC roster but is nonetheless looking forward to the matchup.
“It’s always fun to play new teams, honestly,” he said. “You get new looks, and they run different things on offense, so you have to react differently and prepare differently.”
While the Bears, from the Football Championship Subdivision, will be heavy underdogs, MacIntyre said CU will be focused. UNC should be, as well. The Bears had last week off after a scheduled game at Florida was canceled because of Hurricane Irma.
“They’ll probably be a little fresher,” MacIntyre said. “Hopefully us playing a game (last week), we’ll still be in better rhythm maybe than they are; that’s what I hope.”
New streak starting.
Going into last year’s Pac-12 title game, the Buffaloes had forced a turnover in 25 consecutive games — every game under then-defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt to that point.
The Buffs failed to get a takeaway in that title game loss to Washington. They also failed to get one against Oklahoma State in the Alamo Bowl.
The Buffs have forced five turnovers this year, with three in the opener against Colorado State and two on Saturday against Texas State.
“We emphasize it every day,” first-year defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot said. “We work on it every day, we show it on video — the guys that do it and the guys that don’t do it.
“(Afolabi Laguda) had a great strip (against CSU); it’s a drill that we do every day, and then finishing on the interceptions and catching them is something we harp on with the players, too.”