Folsom's Greatest Games #3 - Colorado vs. Oklahoma 1972

October 21, 1972 – #9 Colorado 20, #2 Oklahoma 14

A top-ten matchup between two teams that were predicted to be in the national title picture is not normally also an opportunity for an enormous upset. Throw in a juicy cheating scandal and you’ve got the emotional powder keg that produced one of CU’s greatest triumphs ever.

In 1971, the Buffs had finished 3rd in the nation. The only two teams ranked ahead of them were the two teams that they had lost to: Oklahoma and Nebraska. This was CU’s first chance to get revenge on either, but it was not the matchup of unbeatens that had been forecast before the season. The Buffs, ranked #2 in the preseason polls (still a program best) suffered a shocking defeat to Oklahoma State in their Big 8 opener. Colorado rebounded with victories over Kansas State and #18 Iowa State to improve to 5-1 (2-1) and 9th in the country.

Oklahoma, on the other hand, was receiving nearly as many first place votes in the AP Poll as #1 USC, and they had outscored their opposition by a shocking margin of 196-6, including a 27-0 drubbing of Texas (who would finish the season #3 in the country) at Red River. Their wishbone offense was prolific; averaging 435 rushing yards per game. At kickoff, oddsmakers favored them by anywhere between 16 and 21 points over the Buffs.

For a game to be this high on the list, there needs to be something extra at stake beyond just wins and losses. In the case of this massive contest between top-10 teams, the secret ingredient was espionage. Mere months after Watergate, the Oklahoma Sooners were engaged in their own Nixonian scheme to try and gain an extra advantage.

Steve O’Shaughnessey, a former Oklahoma cornerback, was a CU law student in 1972. He had been spying on Buffs practices and sending reports to an Oklahoma assistant, who in turn reported to OU head coach Chuck Fairbanks. Two days before the big game, O’Shaughnessey was caught, “binoculars, notebook and all”, and Boulder was in an uproar. Eddie Crowder, a former Oklahoma player himself, refused to shake the hand of Fairbanks before the game. In short, it was personal.

On Saturday afternoon Folsom was packed with what Roy Blount Jr. of Sports Illustrated called “a horde of screaming hippies”. One of them was dressed as a buffalo head – not a full buffalo, just the head. It was 1972 in Boulder; don’t ask questions. The crowd of 52,022 was the largest ever for any sporting event in the state of Colorado. They would witness, said Frank Haraway of the Denver Post, “an avalanche of human effort” from their Buffaloes.

“Fired up” would be an inadequate descriptor of the Buffs on this day. They were out for blood. Frank Boggs of the Daily Oklahoman said they were “so aroused, their own goosebumps cast shadows on the Rockies.” Before the game, the normally reserved Crowder took a running leap into the CU huddle and jumped up and down with the team before they took the field. Earlier in the week he had told a Denver Post reporter “we’re going to kick the daylights out of them, but don’t you dare put that in the paper.”

Playing “like wild men”, the Buffs stifled the wishbone better than anyone had all season in the first half. Still, the Sooners led 7-0 at halftime by virtue of a 35 yard touchdown drive following a CU turnover – while also extending their remarkable run without allowing a touchdown to 18 consecutive quarters. In the third quarter the Buffaloes snapped that streak, as well as the wishbone.

The first touchdown allowed by Oklahoma all season came halfway through the third. CU’s Gary Campbell, pressed into service after star running back Charlie Davis fell victim to an ABC TV camera on Folsom’s dangerously tight sidelines, turned the stadium into a madhouse with an inspired, tackle-breaking 43 yard run. But barefooted CU kicker Fred Lima (who allegedly moonlighted as a sci-fi movie extra) missed his first extra point since junior high school, and Oklahoma still led 7-6.

That lead wouldn’t last long. OU turned it over deep in their own territory on their next possession, and Buffalo quarterback Ken Johnson fired a touchdown pass to future Denver Bronco Jon Keyworth for the lead. A successful two-point conversion made it 14-7. When the quarter’s stats were tallied, the Buffs had more points (14) than the Sooners had total yards (13).

Fred Lima rebounded from his missed PAT with two fourth quarter field goals to give CU a 20-7 lead. Oklahoma finally got their offense on track for a 73 yard touchdown drive to cut the deficit to 20-14 with just over a minute to play, but the Buffs recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock. The dragon had been slain, and it was time to celebrate in Boulder.

OU supporters seeking an explanation for this apparent sorcery quickly identified footwear as the culprit. After some rain the night before, Folsom’s artificial surface was still slick. Astroturf was a new commodity in those days, and different teams had different types of cleats to attempt to deal with it when it got wet. Oklahoma brought special cleats with them to prepare for such a scenario, but when the team found themselves slipping all over the field in warm-ups they decided to wear their regular cleats for the game – and proceeded to slip and slide all over the field. The Buffs wore a different type of special shoe, and they seemed to have slightly better traction. Fairbanks, to his credit, refused to blame the loss on the cleats – saying he saw both teams slipping. Crowder, still feeling spicy after the scandal and the victory, quipped: “With all they know about us, I thought they knew it rained here last night.”

In total, the Sooners rushed for only 163 yards – almost 300 less than their season average. Defensive end Bud Magrum was named National Defensive Player of the Week after collecting 14 tackles. It was a remarkable performance by the CU defense, and they celebrated in the locker room by throwing the defensive coaching staff into the showers with all their clothes on. Legendary CU safety (and future MLB All-Star) John “Bad Dude” Stearns, who had been there for the upset of Penn State two years earlier, exclaimed “I can’t contain myself! It’s the greatest thrill of my life!”

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said afterward that the “sleeping giant of the mountains awakened with a frightening roar.” Having seen the way CU dominated most of the game, the Daily Oklahoman considered that “maybe ‘upset’ is not a correct description.” Dan Creedon, writing for the hometown Daily Camera, summed up the full significance of what had taken place:

Saturday’s win, no doubt, will go down as the best ever for a CU grid team, and for the old-timers in the crowd, it had to erase the scars still remaining from the string of heart-breaking losses to Bud Wilkinson-coached Sooner teams here in the 1950’s. They had wiped out more than two decades of frustration against national championship caliber University of Oklahoma football teams, and in doing so, had muscled their way back into the race for Number One.

Oklahoma didn’t lose again in 1972 – finishing the season with the same #2 ranking with which they had entered this game. The CU loss was the only thing keeping them from at least a share of the title that year. 1972 would be the last hurrah at OU for Chuck Fairbanks, who left for the NFL after the season. Therefore, he was unable to get his revenge on the Buffs until they hired him seven years later; whereupon he proceeded to do his best to run the program into the ground.

CU, unfortunately, stumbled down the stretch to an 8-4 (4-3) final record and a #16 final ranking, which was considered a disappointment given the preseason expectations. Still, as a singular moment in time, this win ranks among the proudest in Buffs history, and it’s fair to wonder whether the ‘72 Sooners were the best squad ever beaten by any CU team. When you factor in the drama of the spying scandal, this one was just about as good as it gets. As the Colorado Daily put it, the Buffs had won not only glory, but justice.