Brooks: For '90 Buffs, 'T' Is For Together In Texas
September 22, 2010 | Football, B.G. Brooks
To commemorate CU's national championship, secured that season in the Orange Bowl against Notre Dame, CUBuffs.com will take a look back at each game of the '90 season. Game stories that appeared in the Rocky Mountain News and were written by B.G. Brooks, now Contributing Editor for CUBuffs.com, will be reprinted each Wednesday on the website.
At 1-1-1 and in danger of seeing their national championship aspirations unravel, the Buffs wouldn't allow it. They overcame the Texas heat and a hostile Austin crowd to secure their second victory.
As CU rallied for 15 fourth-quarter points, a flame was ignited. Coach Bill McCartney credits Eric Bieniemy for providing the spark, recalling a galvanizing incident on the Buffs sidelines he said was inspired by the fiery senior tailback.
Bieniemy, said McCartney, had called out CU's offense and defense and was railing against the real possibility of losing to the Longhorns and living with the thought of a potential championship season dying in the season's first month.
Instead, the Buffs came to life on that evening in Austin.
When the offense trotted off the field after the first of Bieniemy's two fourth-quarter touchdowns, the defense awaited at the sideline and celebrated with Bieniemy & Co. After a defensive stand, the offense congregated on the sideline and reveled with Alfred Williams & Co.
A stirring comeback, capped by a Williams sack that produced a safety, earned a 29-22 victory. Nothing else in the next nine games would come easy for them, but the Buffs wouldn't lose again. The March to Miami was underway.
Buffs find their old touch
Big fourth quarter lifts CU over Texas
By B.G. Brooks
Rocky Mountain News
AUSTIN, Texas - The big-play magic of 1989 might never be recaptured in full, but Colorado's gasping Buffaloes reclaimed enough of it last night in muggy Memorial Stadium.
CU outlasted Texas 29-22, avoiding a loss that some of the Buffs said might have buried them before the season was even a month old.
Overcoming a third quarter in which No. 22-ranked UT dominated by limiting them to only five plays, the No. 20 Buffs scored 15 fourth-quarter points to improve to 2-1-1.
Defensively, CU was just as impressive, with Garry Howe's fourth-down sack of Longhorns quarterback Peter Gardere killing a UT drive at the CU 40-yard line with 3:14 to play.
But on this night, the Buffs' list of heroes was lengthy:
- Tailback Eric Bieniemy, dismissing a late-game ankle sprain, rushed for 99 yards on 26 carries and scored three touchdowns-including CU's last two;
- Fullback George Hemingway, utilized more than in any of the first three games, gained 76 yards on seven rushes and caught three passes for 54 yards-including a 38-yard touchdown;
- Quarterback Darian Hagan, maligned for his passing in the first three games, completed seven of 11 attempts for 160 yards and the TD to Hemingway;
- Punt returner Dave McCloughan ran back an Alex Waits kick 43 yards to set up CU's go-ahead TD with 5:47 left;
- Defensive Alfred Williams sacked Gardere in the end zone in the last minute, finally putting away the Horns (1-1).
If the Buffs appeared to be on a mission, that look was genuine.
 "We've been accused of being a talented team without motivation," said CU Bill McCartney. "All that did was hurt; it drove this team even harder. For us to come in here and win-I couldn't be prouder."
CU, which returns to Folsom Field Saturday to meet resurgent Washington, was forced to rally from a 22-14 deficit in the game's final quarter to beat a UT team that had won 17-13 two weeks ago at Penn State.
In that game, Horns placekicker Michael Pollak made three of four field goal attempts.
Last night he was 3-for-3 on kicks of 47, 25 and 22 yards.
And very early, it looked like the kind of game a kicker might win.
The Buffs overcame a pair of lost Hagan fumbles-their ninth and 10th turnovers of the season-to take a 14-13 halftime lead.
Hagan's first fumble, recovered by UT linebacker Brian Jones, resulted in a 6-yard Gardere-to-Kerry Cash TD pass.
The 6-foot-4 Cash went above McCloughan to make the catch in the back corner of the end zone.
But Hagan and Hemingway answered with their 38-yard scoring hookup to tie the score at 7-7.
Hagan's second lost fumble resulted in Pollak's first field goal and a 10-7 UT advantage. But CU's 75-yard, 11-play drive, capped by Bieniemy's 2-yard run, put the Buffs ahead 14-13 at the half.
The third quarter was colored burnt orange. UT kept possession for 12:17, allowing CU only five offensive plays, and took a 19-14 lead on a 2-yard run by freshman Phil Brown.
Then came an unplanned onside kick, which UT recovered.
"We wanted to squib-kick it to keep it out of the wind," said UT coach David McWilliams. "He just hit the top of the ball enough for a crazy bounce."
The Horns recovered, the Buffs reeled and fell behind 22-14 on Pollak's final field goal.
But Hagan answered by marching CU 60 yards in nine plays, and Bieniemy-who had limped off the field on the drive's fourth play-returned to burst through the middle for a 4-yard scoring run.
Hagan's two-point conversion pass for Mike Pritchard was incomplete, and UT still led 22-20.
The CU defense forced UT to punt, and McCloughan's 43-yard return gave the Buffs the momentum they sought.
"You always want to make the big plays," McCloughan said. "They kicked it to the right side of the field, and I got behind the wall. It turned into a big play."
Seven plays later, Bieniemy scored his third TD-on a 2-yard run-and Jim Harper's conversion gave CU a 27-22 lead with 5:47 remaining.
CU's defense was then burdened with halting Gardere and his offense.
The Buffs were up to it, allowing the Horns as far as the CU 40 before Howe collared Gardere on fourth down and returned possession to Hagan and the offense with 3:14 to play.
Following a Tom Rouen punt that rolled dead on the UT 3-yard line, Williams recorded the second of his two sacks-this one for the safety that ended the scoring and the Horns' hopes of a second straight victory.
"Obviously, I'm real proud of our players," McCartney said. "They reached real deep."
Next: Game 5 - Washington
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDUÂ