Monday, Aug. 25, 2003 | 9:27 a.m.
For intensity on the first full weekend of the college football season, it's hard to top the battle for a Rocky Mountain High between bitter in-state rivals Colorado and Colorado State.
But just when the annual head knocker between the Buffaloes and Rams seems on the verge of surpassing Coors Light as Colorado's chief by-product, forces are at work that could end the rivalry at its very zenith.
CSU and CU apparently are having trouble deciding in what form the game should continue beyond 2005 -- if at all.
Most believe Colorado's fear of losing to its in-state kid brother -- little-guy CSU, the class of the Mountain West Conference, has won three of the past four from the Big 12's Buffs -- is at the heart of the discord.
Money is running a close second.
Colorado, justified in figuring it was too good for CSU, did not even schedule the Rams from 1959-82. But that was then and this is now, and since coaching maestro Sonny Lubick has taken over at Fort Collins, the Rams have handed out just as many lumps as they have absorbed since the dormant rivalry heated up again over the past nine years.
But this is the last season the game will be played in Denver, a neutral site. When it moves to the Buffs' Folsom Field next season, Colorado will pay CSU a $400,000 guarantee. The next year, when the game would switch to CSU's Hughes Stadium, which seats only 30,000, the Rams would be hard pressed to match the up-front money.
So for the series to survive, CSU most likely will have to settle for playing Colorado on a neutral site -- provided one could be arranged -- every other year, while Colorado would gain a big edge by never having to go to Fort Collins.
It remains to be seen if the Rams would want to continue butting horns with the Buffaloes on those terms. Then there's the fact that Colorado usually plays a difficult preseason schedule each year, which only gets more difficult if CSU stays on it.
As Colorado associate athletic director Jon Burianek told Denver Post columnist Mark Kiszla, "It's difficult to see in the next 25 years CU and CSU playing 25 times."
Big men on campus
Starting 11
Division I Lite
Each week during the college season the Sun will rank the top 10 teams among the non-BCS conferences -- Mountain West, Conference USA, WAC, Sun Belt and Mid-American. Division I Lite, if you will. The first installment of the rankings follows, with conference affiliations in parentheses:
1. Colorado State (MWC): Quarterback Bradlee Van Pelt talks a good game, plays a better one.
2. TCU (USA): Horned Frogs will bite you on defense.
3. Fresno State (WAC): Bulldogs closed last year with five straight wins, beat Georgia Tech in bowl game.
4. Miami, Ohio (MAC): QB Ben Roethlisberger will assume departed Byron Leftwich's role as the MAC's Big Man (6-5, 245) on Campus.
5. New Mexico (MWC): Defensive-minded Lobos have won 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 games in coach Rocky Long's first five years. See a trend here?
6. Marshall (MAC): These guys seem to go 11-2 every year.
7. Toledo (MAC): UNLV's season-opening opponent foe faces Syracuse of the Big East Sept. 27.
8. Air Force (MWC) Gutsy Wishbone quarterback Harridge gives pesky Falcons a Chance.
9. Hawaii (WAC): Prolific passer Timmy Chang leads Warriors pinball-game offense.
10. BYU (MWC): Entire starting defense back from last year's woefully disappoining 5-7 team.
Games we'd like to see
In this space each week, the Sun will present a college football dream match-up, with statistics and highlights generated by Lance Haffner Games' 3-in-1 computer football program.
1968 Ohio State vs. 2002 Ohio State
The two Buckeyes' national champions square off as Woody Hayes' three yards and a cloud of dust undefeated 1968 team takes on their 2002 namesakes coached by Jim Tressel. Balance and timely passing carry the day, as Craig Krenzel completes 10 of 21 passes for 182 yards, including a pair of 13-yard touchdown strikes to Michael Jenkins, as the 2002 Buckeyes post a 26-15 victory against the gang from 1968. Jim Otis bulls for 123 yards on 21 carries to pace '68 to a statistical advantage (341 yards to 269), but option specialist Rex Kern's inability to throw the ball down the field (5-16-1, 51 yards) limits the 1968 Bucks' attempts to battle back back after falling behind 14-6 at halftime.
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