How CSU’s Showdown Shellacking Has Raised Its Profile

Colorado State University’s beatdown of the University of Colorado during Sunday’s Rocky Mountain Showdown did more than raise the heat on CU coach Dan Hawkins. The game significantly raised CSU’s profile on the national stage, earning the Rams four votes in the first Associated Press Top 25 poll of the regular season, reports the Fort Collins Coloradoan.

The last time the Rams were ranked in the Top 25 was in the 2003 preseason poll, notes The Denver Post, when the team was sitting at number 23. Meanwhile, the Air Force Academy smoked Nicholls State 72-0 in Colorado Springs last weekend and heads into Saturday’s match up against the Minnesota Gophers with some national love of their own.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Air Force also received four votes to be among the nation’s top 25 teams, a nice hat tip for a program that continues to do well in its own house.

Back in Boulder, Hawkins is feeling the heat for the limp first half his team put up Sunday. He tells CUBuffs.com that his team’s emotions were just fine, but they “might” have been trumped by the Rams’ all-out assault on the Buffs in the first half, leading to an offensive domination of 265-63 yards.

I might have been wrong to pick CU as the winner going into the game. It might rain tomorrow. But “might” isn’t the right word to judge whether the Rams’ shellacking of the Buffs included an emotional domination. Try “certainly” or “definitely,” coach Hawk.