Dec 4, 2005 4:45 pm US/Mountain
CU's On The Road To Nowhere After 70-3 Loss
By Eddie Pells, AP Sports Writer
HOUSTON, Texas (AP) ―
70-3.
Let it sit there for a moment. Let it linger. No need to watch the game again. And certainly no need to watch it for a first time if the moment was missed on Saturday.
Simply take the scoreboard's word for it: Texas 70, Colorado 3.
The Buffs lost by the kind of score usually reserved in college football for early September, when the New Mexico States and Maines and Northern Arizonas come rolling into town, ready to collect their checks and give the so-called big-time schools, like Colorado, their nice little tune-ups and ego boosts.
But 70-3?
In December?
In the Big 12 title game?
Maybe that Big 12 title game is where the debunking of one myth concerning Colorado needs to start.
The Buffs and coach Gary Barnett take great pride in having made that title game for four of the last five years. Heck, even Texas can't say that.
But 70-3 on top of 42-3 in the game last year on top of 30-3 last week to Nebraska is not the sign of a program on the move.
Sure, the thinking went, Colorado was destined to lose to Texas, but the Buffs would be part of the big show on a championship Saturday, playing to a big TV audience the only game in town. Some of those kids out there would watch, they'd like the way the uniforms looked and they'd want to help this underdog program take the next step. Right?
It's hard to think so after 70-3.
Maybe the most disturbing part about 70-3, about the three-game losing streak, abomson.
It's probably too nice a trip for any team that loses 70-3, but they'll start preparing for the trip, nonetheless.
In the interim, Barnett's long-term future will be decided. He is due a contract extension. When the smoke settles from 70-3 and a state audit of his football camp is released next week, calmer heads will prevail. They'll all sit down and work out the final details.
Odds remain that despite this terrible last few weeks, Barnett will return, mostly because the cash- and talent-strapped program can't afford to do anything else.
The irony is that, whether he is heading into a new future with Colorado or about to leave it in the past, it is on-the-field problems that dog Barnett now.
After two solid years of using the time between the lines to escape from his troubles, the football field may be the last place he wants to go these days and seemingly the last place his players want to be, either.
It showed on Saturday during a dispirited effort against an opponent that was undoubtedly superior, but couldn't have been THAT much better.
It showed during 70-3.
(© 2005 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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