Colorado shows its lack of class

Jason Howland

And with one giant, unison voice the Cyclone crowd chanted, “OVER-RATED.”

A really good comeback to the worst display of conduct by any college team that I’ve witnessed.

As Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Bill Cowher would probably say it so eloquently, “It’s a debacle.”

For those of you who didn’t attend the Iowa State football game against Colorado, let me explain.

With the Buffaloes leading, 50-28, with just over two minutes left in the game, Colorado Head Coach Rick Neuheisel decided to attempt a two-point conversion instead of an extra point kick after a Colorado touchdown.

Let me re-emphasize that.

Colorado was leading by 22 points with just a scratch on the game clock left for time and they attempted to score a two-point conversion.

After the game Neuheisel said his reasoning was, “24 points is better than 23,” and he wanted to give Buffalo quarterback John Hessler some confidence.

Yeah, right.

To top off all of this, several members of the Colorado team taunted the crowd and pointed to the scoreboard.

This, of course, brought on a rousing “BOO!” by the Cyclone crowd and chants of “Jayhawks” (Colorado lost to Kansas in their previous game) and the ever-popular “OVER-RATED.”

Apparently the pollsters weren’t convinced, Colorado moved from No. 9 to No. 7 in the polls.

In addition to this taunting, one Colorado player wrote “Thank You” in big letters on their play board and then turned it to the crowd for all the Cyclone fans to see.

The team’s poor antics were so blatant, the referees even threw a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct.

A real class act, that Colorado team is.

Neuheisel tried to make amends during a postgame press conference for his team’s actions.

“I feel badly about the way the game ended in terms of the crowd and our players,” he said. “I think you just saw our frustrations get to us a little bit and it’s not something Colorado football is about.”

Hey coach, maybe they were frustrated they didn’t convert the extra two points.

Then again, maybe Neuheisel didn’t have a deep, dark ulterior motive for going for the extra two.

Maybe Colorado football players thought that “BOO!” is Iowan for “you guys are really good.”

Maybe not.

This is my last semester here at ISU, so I probably won’t be around when the Cyclones take on Colorado during the next few years. But I can almost bet the farm that Dan McCarney and his ISU football team will always show a lot more class than what was displayed by Colorado on Saturday.

Maybe a good thing did blossom from all this — Cyclone fans (the few hundred that were left) came together. A scent of “Hilton Magic” wavered in the air at Cyclone Stadium.

With all of the talk of college football teams running up scores to add votes in the polls, Iowa State fans got to see a prime example Saturday.

Who knows, maybe that extra two points would have put the Buffaloes at No. 6?


Jason Howland is a senior in journalism from Riceville. He is the sports editor of the Daily.