Brooks: A Look Back At Last Year's West Virginia Game

(Note: This account of CU's 17-14 overtime win against West Virginia on Sept. 18, 2008 was written by former Rocky Mountain News staff writer B.G. Brooks, now the Contributing Editor for CUBuffs.com.)

by B.G. Brooks, Rocky Mountain News

BOULDER - Aric Goodman, the former walk-on placekicker dubbed "Money" by his teammates, lived up to his nickname on Thursday night - and earned a scholarship in the process.

Goodman kicked a 25-yard field goal in overtime, pushing the Colorado Buffaloes past No. 21 West Virginia 17-14 at raucous Folsom Field.

When Goodman's kick sailed through the field's north uprights, several thousand black-clad CU students - they had dubbed it "black out night" for ESPN's national audience - in the crowd of 51,883 rushed the field and celebrated wildly.

"That's a great thing to be a part of ... the longer it went, the better I felt about our guys," Buffaloes coach Dan Hawkins said.

CU remained unbeaten (3-0) while West Virginia (1-2) lost consecutive games for the first time since 2004, when the Mountaineers were defeated in their final two regular season games and their bowl game.

The Buffs, who took a 14-0 first-quarter lead but blew another couple of scoring opportunities with turnovers, won the overtime coin toss and opted to play defense first.

West Virginia ran the ball six consecutive times to the 6-yard line, where on fourth down Pat McAfee's 23-yard field goal attempt banged into the left upright and bounded away.

Goodman, a Cherry Creek High School graduate and 2007 transfer from Wyoming, said he was tempted not to watch McAfee's attempt because "it would be a little bit easier on my nerves."

But he finally relented, watched the kick go boink, and figured CU quarterback Cody Hawkins, freshman tailback Rodney ''Speedy'' Stewart and the rest of the offense would position him for a game-winning kick.

It took the Buffs four plays to set Goodman up for the kick of his life. At Wyoming, he had missed a PAT in overtime that cost the Cowboys the game, and he undoubtedly remembered.

"I just went out with the mentality that each kick's different," said Goodman, who was told after the game by Dan Hawkins he was going on scholarship. "You just go through your mental check list and put it through."

But Goodman had help; the diminutive Stewart (5-foot-6, 180 pounds) set a CU freshman rushing record with 166 yards on 28 carries and the Buffs defense did its best to contain elusive West Virginia quarterback Pat White, who ran 19 times for 148 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Dan Hawkins said of Stewart, "You never know when those freshmen are going to grow up ... and the exciting thing was, he didn't turn the ball over."

White, who had long runs of 44 and 39 yards, became the first visiting player in Folsom Field since 2004 to run for over 100 yards, or since Kansas State's Alan Webb, also a quarterback, ran for 103.

"Pat White made plays," Dan Hawkins said. "You're not going to shut down Michael Jordan; he's going to get some shots off."

West Virginia coach Bill Stewart called White "a lifeblood ... he's the best we have."

CU's defensive game plan was to try and make White one-dimensional, controlling him on the run and making him pass. He completed 10-of-14 for 43 yards while Cody Hawkins hit on 22-of-33 for 179 yards and a pair of first-quarter touchdowns. He was intercepted once and lost one second-half fumble that quashed a drive that had taken the Buffs to the Mountaineers' 16-yard line.

Stewart, the most unheralded member of CU's highly touted 2008 tailback recruits (Darrell Scott and Ray Polk, who is redshirtting, are the other two), also caught three passes for 16 yards.

"I just wanted to come out and play," Stewart said, adding, "I was figuring out where the holes were and luckily I was getting yards ... it'll be something I can tell my kids about."

Goodman can, too, but even on a night when he was among CU's heroes, he didn't want to hear of a comparison with former All-American Buffs placekicker Mason Crosby.

"Don't mention my name and Mason's in the same sentence," he said. "He's doing stuff (with the Green Bay Packers) that I dream of."

But Goodman came to CU with his own dreams, and Thursday night he lived them.