Plati-'Tudes Shorts: Top Game 10s

Plati-'Tudes Short No. 10 ... The 10th installment of CU's best or most exciting football games in its history as to when they occurred in week 10 of any season. We're running these over the second half of the spring on our "Throwback Thursdays" -- many are obvious, a few obscure, and no doubt some up for debate. So here are the best "game ten" games in our history in my humble opinion:

GAME 10's

#1—1990: Colorado 27, Nebraska 12 at Lincoln.
It was a nasty day on the central plains: a high of 38 degrees, winds upward of 20 miles per hour and light rain throughout for the No. 9 Buffs visiting the No. 3 Huskers. It was little wonder why Eric Bieniemy couldn't hang on to the football. In the first three quarters, he fumbled five times, losing three, twice in Nebraska territory including at the 2-yard line on CU's first possession. But the resilient CU senior made amends and then some in the final 15 minutes, rushing 11 times for 52 yards and four touchdowns to rally the Buffs from a dozen down to a 27-12 win. Nebraska led 6-0 at halftime on a pair of field goals and doubled the lead to a dozen late in the third quarter with a 46-yard TD pass from Mickey Joseph to Johnny Mitchell. In that fourth quarter, CU outscored NU 27-0 and outgained the Huskers, 122-minus 4. Mike Pritchard made an acrobatic catch from Darian Hagan that gained 19 yards to the NU 1, where Bieniemy took it in to get the Buffs on the scoreboard with 14:43 to play. Joel Steed and Greg Biekert made key tackles to force the Huskers to punt, and with 8:37 left, Bieniemy scored on a 4th-and-goal from the NU 2, putting CU up for good at 13-12 (CU went for two and missed). The CU defense stuffed the Huskers again, setting up the key defensive play of the game: NU called a fake punt on a 4th-and-3 at its own 28, but David Gibbs sniffed it out and Rob Hutchins stepped up to stop Nebraska one-yard short. Five plays later, Bieniemy scored from three yards out and voila!; CU was up, 20-12. Alfred Williams sacked Joseph on fourth down ending the Huskers last gasp try, and Bieniemy added the clinching score with 1:31 to go. Those on the team will tell you the turning point really came in the locker room at halftime: Williams was one of the team leaders, but he wasn't always the most vocal (if you can imagine that!). But ask any of his teammates that day, his halftime speech, not suitable for family reading here, fired the team up (it had a lot to with a fan holding up a derogatory sign about CU's late quarterback, Sal Aunese). CU surged to No. 4 in the polls after the win, NU fell to No. 13.

Runner-Up—1969: Colorado 45, Kansas State 32 in Boulder.
With a Liberty Bowl invitation on the line, and an outside shot at sharing the Big Eight title, a win would guarantee CU a second trip to a bowl in three years – a program first (there were just nine bowls at the time); CU was 6-3, Kansas State 5-4. Bobby Anderson got the Buffs on the board with a 44-yard TD reception from Jim Bratten, and added another on the ground to help build a 28-14 halftime lead. But CU couldn't shake the Wildcats, who pulled to within 28-24 after three. Anderson capped a 15-play drive with a 1-yard TD burst with 10:55 left, and Dave Haney made good on a 32-yard field goal following an interception by Jim Cooch and CU was back in control, 38-24. Bratten closed the scoring with a keeper and completed 11-of-21 passes for a school record 251 yards and two touchdowns. Anderson needed exactly 100 yards to reach 1,000 for the regular season but KSU held him to just 54 on 18 attempts (he would eclipse the plateau with 254 against Alabama in the bowl game). Eric Harris had three pass deflections to set a CU season mark with 17, as the high-scoring affair created 15 new Big Eight records, and eight in the CU record book. In the end, CU finished third in the league with a 5-2 mark, as Nebraska and Missouri tied for the title after defeating Oklahoma and Kansas, respectively.

Honorable Mention—1971: Colorado 40, Oklahoma State 6 in Boulder.
The Buffs came in ranked No. 12 at 7-2 having rebounded from a loss at No. 1 Nebraska two weeks earlier with a win at Kansas; Oklahoma State was 4-3-1 and had no idea what was in store that day. Cliff Branch started the day's onslaught with a 64-yard TD run after taking a direct snap on the second play of the game; who knew the wildcat formation existed in 1971?! But the day would belong to Charlie Davis, who would rush for what is a still record 342 yards (on 34 carries); he went over the 1,000-yard mark for the season with a 67-yard TD run early in the second quarter; at the time, he was the third CU player to eclipse the plateau, and if the length rings a bell, 23 years later Rashaan Salaam went over the 2,000-yard mark with a 67-yard TD run – both were around the right side. Colorado built a 33-0 halftime lead in cruising to the win, with John Tarver (two) and Ken Johnson adding scoring runs, while Branch also threw a 48-yard TD pass to Bob Masten. In the end, CU held OSU to sub-100 totals in rushing (50 yards) and passing (74) for just 124 yards overall; the Buffaloes ran roughshod over the Cowboys, amassing a record 676 total yards (still third all-time), 505 on the ground (second at the time and still third as well; doing so on 67 carries, or 7.5 per rush).

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