Fly Commercial: Poor Division IAA football players! As I reached my gate on Friday, October 19 as I head to Colorado to watch the Buffalos take on the undefeated Kansas Jayhawks, I noticed a ton of Northern Arizona football players hanging out in terminal 4. I decide to seek out and find their Assistant AD/Media Relations guru Steve Shaff. I found him at their gate along with another 80 plus as the team was heading to Salt Lake to play Weber State. I first couldn't believe they flew commercial. He said they had left at 6:30am from Flagstaff to catch their late morning flight (it was 11am when I ran into him). He said the airport in Flagstaff was big and long enough for commercial flights, but said that there was construction at the end of the runway as well as some high trees. He went on to say that they could land in Flag but just couldn't take off due to the construction. How wild is that!
Crazy!
Denver: Upon arriving into Denver I was really curious to see if the town would be wallpapered in Black and Purple as the Rockies team are waiting to play in the World Series at Coors Field on Wednesday. But from what I could see, it's still a Broncos town despite how bad they are this season. I saw a lot more fans wearing Bronco gear than Rockies.
Downtown: Boy has downtown Denver grown since my last visit. What a great downtown! You got Invesco and Coors Field and tons of bars as well as a huge mall, all within walking distance. They even have public transportation to boot! It's a really cool downtown. I still believe we missed the boat by not putting the University of Phoenix Stadium downtown. I love that you can walk everywhere! You know you are a big sports town when you have a ESPNSportsZone. It was packed with tons of college football fans as well as NFL fans.
Damn Steelers: I stayed at the Westin Tabor Center which is also where the Pittsburgh Steelers stayed for their Sunday night game against the Broncos. I am beginning to dislike Steeler fans more and more. They are so obnoxious and impolite. It was good to run into Craig Wolfley, brother of Ron (my radio partner for over 5 years and Cards Radio Analyst) who is Steelers Radio Color Analyst. If you have listened to our show over the last eight years, we have had Craig on many times! He sounds very similar to Ron and is always entertaining.
College Decisions: So did I make the right decision? Back in the spring of 1986, I visited both Colorado (Boulder) and Colorado State (Fort Collins) as I was accepted to attend both. I went on my visit during my high school spring break as I was in Colorado skiing with my family in Summit County (Breckenridge, Copper, Keystone, Vail—God's country!). When visiting both campuses, the weather was horrible-snow everywhere! And the student body was on break. So, I elected to cross off both schools from list. Mistake? Not sure! Ohio U was awesome!
The trip to Boulder: Pre-game was interesting as I didn't see a lot of tailgating, at least where I was hanging out. I hung out at the Harvest House at the Millennium Hotel. It was located about a half mile from the stadium. The entire hotel opened its property to host an incredible pre-game party. The Kansas Jayhawks Alumni Association had all their folks there wearing all their Red and Blue and plenty of "KU Chalk Talk" signs (still haven't figured out what is means). There were plenty of beer tents, food vendors and places to hang out to just tailgate. The Jayhawk band made an appearance as well as the cheerleaders. It was really cool to see all the KU passion. Their fans were actually really, really cool. No yelling or screaming. No pointing fingers at all the Colorado fans. I really think they just felt very priviledged to be undefeated.
Best College Stadium in the country: Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado ranks as my number one college football stadium of all time. Granted I have not attended every stadium in the United States, but have hit a bunch. The horseshoe shaped field with natural grass sits at an elevation of 5360 feet above sea level and is the third highest stadium in major college football, behind only Air Force and Wyoming.
Due to its location at the foot of the Flatirons and distinctive Tuscan architecture, CU-Boulder is often called one of the most beautiful campuses in the nation. I would have to agree!
Folsom Field is nestled behind trees and mountains that are ideal for a great college football atmosphere. The stadium is made up of tons bricks with parts the stadium brinks with growing ivy all over it. So cool! The Flatirons Mountains surround all of the site lines. It is just incredible!
I loved the concourse with all the TVs, tons of bathrooms and again bricks everywhere. I guess I love brick buildings! No lines and plenty of choices at the concession stands too. I was really shocked to see that the prices were not outrageous. I can't remember the last time I could buy a large Diet Coke for just three bucks!
The stadium holds just over 51,000.
By the way, Autzen Stadium, the home the Oregon Ducks is my No. 2. My third is a tie between Nebraska and Notre Dame.
The game: On this beautiful late Saturday afternoon the weather was glorious as it was sunny and 70 plus degrees. The weather report said high of 72 low in the low 40's with snow on its way. And when left on Sunday morning, a snow storm was blanketing Denver.
The game itself was a yawner at least for the first half. KU led at the half 3-0. Colorado had a shot to tie the game heading into intermission but missed a field goal.
Who would have expected KU to be undefeated at this point of the season and the Buffalos and Cornhuskers to be both 4-4. I remember the days when it was Colorado and Nebraska going at it until the final game of the season. The winner of that game normally won the division and were heading to a big bowl. This year that game is in Boulder will most likely mean something, say 6-6 and a trip to either the Texas Bowl or even Insight Bowl in Tempe. I guess Golden Buff fans now look at their season like many other schools, just beat your rival. And in this case, Colorado needs to beat Nebraska to at least say their season wasn't a total disappointment.
It's hard to imagine that Colorado beat No. 4 Oklahoma 27-24 earlier this season. This is a young team that did not look good on Saturday. However, they did hold the Jayhawks to just 19 points. KU entered the contest averaging 50 points a game. Remaining on the Buffs schedule are road games to Texas Tech and Iowa State and home games against a hot Missouri team and Nebraska.
KU on the other hand is 7-0 overall and 3-0 in the Big 12 and heading to a big bowl game unless they collapse. They really seemed to have a swagger about them in the fourth quarter despite Colorado's last ditch efforts to upset them. It's hard to believe that this is the same school that's gone 7-43 on the road since 1997. Saturday's win was their first back-to-back road victories since 1995. And, this is a wild stat: Kansas is the last unbeaten team in the conference this late in the season since 1968.
You could have argued that KU wasn't that good about three weeks ago. They beat winless Florida International, two MAC teams and I-AA Southeastern Louisiana. But boy what three weeks can do. They won at Kansas State and beat up on Texas and just won in Boulder.
KU should
win the Big 12 North. Its only road games left are Texas A&M and Oklahoma State. They do host Nebraska and Iowa State and have a neutral game at the end of the season in Kansas City with Missouri.
A Big 12 Championship win on December 1st could mean a trip for the Jayhawks in the Fiesta Bowl.
Side notes:
I got a scare when I realized I lost my laptop on Friday evening. In all the excitement, I left my bag in the cab from the airport. Thank goodness for Freedom Cab of Denver! I called the company, described the bag and where I might have left it and sure enough they found it and delivered it back to me at my hotel in about 2 hours after I called them. When I called I told the dispatcher that I would give a hundred bucks if returned. Sure enough, that worked! I paid the guy a nice crisp C-note. It shows that money definitely talks. I am still an idiot for leaving in the cab!
Bar of choice: Poor Bar of Denver – Highly recommend it! Great bar on Market Street. It's actually across the street from a new Maloney's opening up. However, if you are a Yankee fan, do not enter. It's a huge Red Sox pub.
Denver airport: I always thought DIA was so far from downtown Denver. That is not the case. It was a $40 cab ride. It’s about the same distance from North Scottsdale or Peoria to Sky Harbor. No brainer.
NAU: Junior defensive back Cyrus Igono recorded an interception, recovered a fumble and a blocked punt to help Northern Arizona post a 29-20 victory over Weber State ate Stewart Stadium Saturday.
Email me at roc@thefan1060.com with your Top 3 College Football Stadiums.
