Folsom's Greatest Games #11 - Colorado vs. Oklahoma 2007

September 29, 2007 – Colorado 27, #4 Oklahoma 24

This was as exciting and unexpected as upsets get. It was homecoming, and Bob Stoops brought his undefeated, fourth-ranked Sooners to town. The Buffs were 23.5 point underdogs. For most of the afternoon, things went just about as expected. Hugh Charles gave the CU faithful something to cheer about with a second quarter touchdown that tied the score at 7, but Oklahoma reasserted control and held a 24-7 lead midway through the third quarter. 

The Buffalo comeback started with a field goal, but it picked up intensity after Ryan Walters intercepted a tipped Sam Bradford pass late in the third. Quarterback Cody Hawkins took CU down the field and cut the lead in half with a 4th-and-goal touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter. Suddenly there was a real sense of belief in the stadium. 

Jordon Dizon and the defense forced an Oklahoma punt, and Hawkins took the offense down into the OU red zone. Facing a 4th-and-2 from the 19, head coach Dan Hawkins decided to try a field goal to cut the lead to four with six-and-a-half minutes remaining. Kevin Eberhart missed the kick, and the comeback could easily have ended right there. But the CU defense intercepted Bradford again on the very next play, and had the Ball on the Sooner 43. 

Could the Buffs capitalize on this golden second chance? They could not. A holding penalty killed the drive and forced a CU punt with under five minutes remaining. But Oklahoma was feeling generous this afternoon, and they muffed the punt at the 16 yard-line to give the Buffs yet another golden opportunity. On second down, Hawkins found a wide-open Dusty Sprague in the end zone to tie the game at 24 with four minutes to go. 

After the defense again forced OU to punt, Chase McBride came up with a clutch 30-yard return that set the Buffs up at midfield with three minutes remaining. The offense then used up the entire clock to give Eberhart a shot at redemption from 45 yards out. This time he split the uprights, and the Buffs had run off 20 unanswered points to shock a national championship contender. 

In the aftermath, many compared this win to the 1986 upset of Nebraska. Dan Hawkins seemingly had his signature, program-changing victory. When the Buffs made it to a bowl game in 2007 after going 2-10 the previous season, it appeared as though the Oklahoma win truly was a turning point. It was not. Hawkins was no Bill McCartney, and CU soon entered another dark age. This game remains the last time the Buffs have defeated a top 5, top 10, or even a top 15 team. But none of that was knowable to the students who rushed the field that afternoon. In that moment, the sky was the limit and everything was right with the world.

Links:
YouTube video of the game
CU at the Game recap