This will not be a pleasant conversation.
You might not like it.
But if you are a college football fan in the Rocky Mountain region, you need to hear this.
On Saturday night in Fort Collins, the Colorado Buffaloes beat the Colorado State Rams 28-9 in front of a packed house.
If that doesn't sound like an entertaining score, it is because it was not an entertaining game.
This was a sloppy game filled with penalties and mistakes.
Colorado State was clearly not ready for prime time. They managed to gain just 340 total yards and score only nine points on a defense that was allowing 392 yards and 27 points per game.
Quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi looked uncomfortable all night, throwing two head scratching interceptions that torpedoed any chances that the Rams might have to keep this close. He ended up going 22/39 for just 209 yards. This, after he had taken to social media back in August and chirped about wanting revenge on the Buffs after their overtime comeback a year ago.
Wide receiver Tory Horton had also joined in the social media nonsense, but then barely played, due to a groin injury. His two catches for 24 yards were hardly noticeable.
Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell made some noise last season when he called out Colorado coach Deion Sanders for wearing his sunglasses at his press conferences, and then his Rams gave the Buffs all they wanted on the field.
However, Norvell made no such noise this year, either on or off the field. The Rams could not execute, nor could they keep themselves from committing stupid undisciplined penalties. Norvell's squad was flagged 10 times for 94 yards. He clearly has a long way to go with this group.
To the victors go the spoils and Colorado was definitely the winner on Saturday night.
And yet...this is also a team that also executes poorly and commits far too many undisciplined penalties themselves.
The Buffs went just 5/11 on third down conversions and actually out-undisciplined the Rams by committing 12 penalties for 114 yards.
This is coming from a team that was talking about wanting to make a push for the CFB Playoff this season.
Based on what we have seen so far, this squad will be hard pressed to even make it to a bowl game.
Their blowout loss to the unranked Nebraska Cornhuskers shined a light on their lack of program development. The final score of 28-10 did not even accurately reflect the gap between the two teams.
And they do tend to focus on unimportant things like social media clicks and silly trash talk. In fact, following the game on Saturday, Buffs quarterback Shedeur Sanders refused to shake hands with Fowler-Nicolosi citing his trash talk on social media.
Clearly the rule for this team is that they are the only ones allowed to trash talk. That rule is for thee, but not for me.
Now the Rocky Mountain showdown will take a five-year hiatus.
The rivalry will be put on the shelf until the 2029 season, when the two schools have agreed to a home and home series in consecutive years.
And while many local college football fans will be disappointed that this rivalry will be put on hold, let me offer an alternate opinion.
This isn't a hiatus.
It's a much-needed timeout.
These are two football programs that still appear to be largely mediocre but spend too much time thumping their chests and acting like they are on the verge of greatness.
Don't believe the hype.
For the past three decades the class of college football in this area has been a military academy located in Colorado Springs.
And it really hasn't even been all that close.
So, let's not mourn the loss of this below average in-state rivalry for a few short seasons.
Let's instead focus on getting both of these programs back in the realm of being nationally ranked, and actually producing quality competitive teams when they do meet again.
It has now been eight years since both Colorado and Colorado State were in a bowl game in the same year. Since 2005, Colorado has been to just four postseason bowls and Colorado State has been in only seven.
If states like Kansas, Iowa and Utah can put together multiple competitive college football programs, why in the world can't we?
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