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Buffs shock No. 21 West Virginia in OT

Placekicker Goodman wins it with boot, given scholarship

By B.G. Brooks, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published September 18, 2008 at 9:35 p.m.

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CU fans hoist a Buffs player aloft after the team's overtime victory against West Virginia on Thursday night at Folsom Field in Boulder.

Chris Schneider © The Rocky

CU fans hoist a Buffs player aloft after the team's overtime victory against West Virginia on Thursday night at Folsom Field in Boulder.

CU's Rodney Stewart runs in the fourth quarter against No. 31 West Virginia on Thursday at Folsom Field in Boulder.

Photo by Chris Schneider © The Rocky

CU's Rodney Stewart runs in the fourth quarter against No. 31 West Virginia on Thursday at Folsom Field in Boulder.

Kickoff

CROWDER TRIBUTE

The Folsom Field crowd observed a moment of pregame silence for former CU head coach and athletic director Eddie Crowder, who died last week from complications of leukemia. He was 77.

In addition, "Eddie" was painted in white script inside black boxes at the 25-yard lines, and CU players had "Eddie" in script on the front of their helmets above the face masks.

The black shirts worn by CU's coaches and administrative staff also had "Eddie" in gold script on the left sleeves.

THE DeBERRY TREE

After West Virginia coach Bill Stewart served on former Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry's staff from 1990-93, he was hired as the head coach at Virginia Military Institute. But Stewart didn't hit it big in his three seasons at VMI, going 8-25.

After Rich Rodriguez left last winter for Michigan, Stewart was promoted by West Virginia after the Mountaineers slapped No. 3 Oklahoma 48-28 in the Fiesta Bowl.

Other head coaches who worked under DeBerry at Air Force include Wake Forest's Jim Grobe and current Air Force coach Troy Calhoun.

DYKES SIDELINED

CU senior safety D.J. Dykes did not start due to illness. Starting in his place, and making his first college start, was redshirt freshman Anthony Perkins, of Northglenn.

NUMBERS GAME

5,400 tickets were allotted to West Virginia for the game Thursday night. The Mountaineers sold 4,400 of them, making it one of the largest non-conference contingents to visit Folsom Field.

HE SAID IT

"We came out really excited and made some plays early on. But later we had some mental errors on both sides of the ball."

Rodney Stewart, CU freshman tailback

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Aric Goodman, the former walk-on placekicker dubbed "Money" by his teammates, lived up to his nickname Thursday night - and earned a scholarship in the process.

Goodman kicked a 25-yard field goal in overtime, pushing the Colorado Buffaloes past No. 21 West Virginia 17-14 at raucous Folsom Field.

When Goodman's kick sailed through the field's north uprights, several thousand black-clad CU students - they had dubbed it "blackout night" for

ESPN's national audience - in the crowd of 51,883 rushed the field and celebrated wildly.

"That's a great thing to be a part of . . . the longer it went, the better I felt about our guys," Buffaloes coach Dan Hawkins said.

CU remained unbeaten (3-0) while West Virginia (1-2) lost consecutive games for the first time since 2004, when the Mountaineers were beaten in their final two regular-season games and their bowl game.

The Buffs, who took a 14-0 first-quarter lead but blew another couple of scoring opportunities with turnovers, won the overtime coin toss and opted to play defense first.

West Virginia ran the ball six consecutive times to the 6-yard line, where, on fourth down, Pat McAfee's 23-yard field-goal attempt banged into the left upright and bounded away.

Goodman, a Cherry Creek High School graduate and 2007 transfer from Wyoming, said he was tempted not to watch McAfee's attempt because "it would be a little bit easier on my nerves."

But he finally relented, watched the kick go boink and figured CU quarterback Cody Hawkins, freshman tailback Rodney "Speedy" Stewart and the rest of the offense would position him for a game-winning kick.

It took the Buffs four plays to set up Goodman for the kick of his life. At Wyoming, he had missed a point-after attempt in overtime that cost the Cowboys the game, and he undoubtedly remembered.

"I just went out with the mentality that each kick's different," said Goodman, who was told after the game by Dan Hawkins he was going on scholarship. "You just go through your mental checklist and put it through."

But Goodman had help. The diminutive Stewart (5-foot-6, 180 pounds) gained 166 yards on 28 carries, the second most for a freshman in CU history, and the Buffs defense did its best to contain elusive West Virginia quarterback Pat White, who ran 19 times for 149 yards and two touchdowns.

Dan Hawkins said of Stewart, "You never know when those freshmen are going to grow up . . . and the exciting thing was, he didn't turn the ball over."

White, who had long runs of 44 and 39 yards, became the first visiting player in Folsom Field since 2004 to run for more than 100 yards, when Kansas State's Alan Webb, also a QB, ran for 103.

"Pat White made plays," Dan Hawkins said. "You're not going to shut down Michael Jordan; he's going to get some shots off."

West Virginia coach Bill Stewart called White "a lifeblood . . . he's the best we have."

CU's defensive game plan was to try to make White one-dimensional, controlling him on the run and making him pass. He completed 10-of-14 for 43 yards while CU quarterback Cody Hawkins hit on 22-of-33 for 179 yards and two first-quarter touchdowns. He was intercepted once and lost one second-half fumble that ended a drive that had taken the Buffs to the Mountaineers' 16-yard line.

Stewart, the most unheralded member of CU's highly touted 2008 tailback recruits (Darrell Scott and Ray Polk, who is redshirting, are the other two), also caught three passes for 16 yards.

"I just wanted to come out and play," Stewart said, adding, "I was figuring out where the holes were and, luckily, I was getting yards . . . it'll be something I can tell my kids about."

Goodman can, too, but even on a night when he was among CU's heroes, he didn't want to hear of a comparison with former All-American Buffs placekicker Mason Crosby.

"Don't mention my name and Mason's in the same sentence," he said. "He's doing stuff (with the Green Bay Packers) that I dream of."

But Goodman came to CU with his own dreams, and Thursday night, he lived them.

Comments

  • September 18, 2008

    10:34 p.m.

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    benn writes:

    woot! Go Buffs!

  • September 18, 2008

    10:44 p.m.

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    danirobi writes:

    Yeah Buffs! 3-0 baby!!

  • September 18, 2008

    11:44 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    DenverGold writes:

    Ok..CU won...hurrah!!! But, let's be realistic. In order for CU to be BCS quality...they need faster defensive players. Pat White and a few other speedy WV runners exposed the CU defensive players lack of speed...there were so many times that the CU defenders were grasping for thin air...and the tackling...the only real tackling was done when everyone was in a crowd. The one-on-one tackling was horrible for the most part.

    On the offensive side...CU needs a BCS-quality quarterback. Son Hawkins is a fair QB. However, he's not tall enough nor fast enough to be the difference in any contest. I don't see him playing QB in the NFL. Coach Hawkins needs to see that too and find himself a future NFL QB to lead his team to the BCS Championship.

    Saying all this...I am still a CU football fan and hope this 3-0 start isn't a fluke...it's still a long season...next is Florida State. GO BUFFS!!!

  • September 18, 2008

    11:57 p.m.

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    PokerOrGolfOrPokerOrGolf writes:

    Glad the Buffs got the win, but let's not put the blinders on to that play calling that nearly cost the Buffs the game. If the Buffs lost, this would have been the coaches fault. I understand they're not a pro offense, but come on. If ever there was a game where both coaches were playing not to lose, this was it. And how about no defensive adjustments by the Buffs? For the love of God put an eighth man in the box. WVU has a running back playing quarterback - if he wins the game 10% of the time throwing the ball, so be it. These aren't 8 year olds, the defense can process a few changes to the game plan. That being said -- beat FSU!

  • September 19, 2008

    6:19 a.m.

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    chuckyg writes:

    Go Buffs ......... 3 and 0 yea baby
    What a game..very fun to watch. To bad the announcers were bias.
    Lets beat FSU and maybe the BCS will see the light.

  • September 19, 2008

    8:09 a.m.

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    maverick7 writes:

    I agree with Chuckyg, ESPN had their biased towards WV, especailly having their sideline reporter on WV side the whole game. Only time they relented was when it was over she interviewed Hawk. Chris Fowler (sp?) is even a CU grad. I think its that east coast sports thing...Nothing much happens west of the Mississippi.
    CU was exposed in a few places, as mentioned, D speed, whoa they are slow or WV is just down right fast, maybe both! Tackling was another issue, wrap him up, don't try and knock him down. Run D needs to be worked, I thought Pass D was the weakess point. I guess we will see that when the Buffs play Mizzou.

  • September 19, 2008

    8:19 a.m.

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    Biff writes:

    WV is a very mediocre football team. The Buffs will be put in their place when the Big 12 schedule kicks in.

  • September 19, 2008

    8:27 a.m.

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    davies writes:

    Who needs the BCS? Just keep playing, climb into the rankings, get into a medium-tier bowl (something bigger than the Kelloggs Meueslix Breakfast Cereal Bowl), win, and call it a great year.

  • September 19, 2008

    9:05 a.m.

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    GeeTee writes:

    Why was WVa rated #21 anyway?! East Carolina handed them a total butt-whipping two weeks ago!

    Go CU!

  • September 19, 2008

    10:05 a.m.

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    joggle writes:

    I thought CU's defense did pretty well. That was a tough thing to defend against since WV can play the option play so well and have a Heisman candidate quarterback.

    Just look at the stats: WV was 0-2 on 4th down, 3-13 on 3rd and got no points over the two turnovers despite good field position. And they were forced to attempt the field goal in overtime rather than go for a touchdown.

    Go Buffs!!

  • September 19, 2008

    10:08 a.m.

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    Buff4Life writes:

    I was at the game - it was a great win, but we have lots of work to do.

    For one, our play calling needs to be better. At one point in particular, we ran twice and gained around 15 yds in the process. Then the quater ended and it seemed so did our knowledge about how well we were running, so we came our passing on 1st down, then running on 2nd... and this seemed to be our M.O. I think Coach Hawk needs to start calling the plays. Or even Cody.

    Which leads me to the QB. No, he's not a top tier QB. Even in the Big XII, he's mediocre. But, he's a winner. And what I mean by this is unlike Joel Klatt (sorry, buddy, it is not all your fault, your shoulder got hammered b/c out line, um, stunk...), Cody is at his best in the 4th quarter and against the best teams. Which means he's got his noggin screwed on correctly. My guess is we win 8 this year and next spring will be a real QB contest between him and Hanson aka "the next Tebow".

    D-line is stellar. Those guys ROCK. Add 5* Colorado recruit Nick Kasa next year and it will be a 10+ win season. Oh, and as a Bear Creek HS alum, CU needs to get that stud O-lineman form there to commit as well.

    GO BUFFS!!!

    CU 21 FSU13

  • September 19, 2008

    10:30 a.m.

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    Willy writes:

    The second TD pass thrown by Cody was a thing of beauty - as good as you will ever see. I got very nervous after the two turnovers and the dropped interception, but the luck tuned when the WV Fieldgoal as missed. Good luck in Jacksonville, Buffs

  • September 19, 2008

    10:33 a.m.

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    Ted_in_Vegas writes:

    That headline leaves me feeling empty. The kid won a scholarship with the kick? THAT'S AWESOME!!!

    HOW ABOUT A LITTLE MORE TALK ABOUT HIS REWARD!!! What kind of deal was struck? How is the kid and his family responding to that turn of events?

    It's good news! Let's hear about it!

  • September 19, 2008

    11:53 a.m.

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    buffgold writes:

    I was at the game last night and I must say it was GREAT! I will also say that I was shocked at how poorly WVA managed the clock late in the game! They had two minutes left in the game and two time outs and they let the clock roll and didn't use a single time out in that stretch. That cost them a chance to win in regulation. The Buffs are STACKED at running back! We have two studs playing (Scott and Stewie) and we redshirted Polk. Memo to Coach: keep up the I formation and use less of the vanilla spread offense. If we can run the ball that well, we'll easily win 8 this year. GO BUFFS!!!

  • September 19, 2008

    1:39 p.m.

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    leatherneck writes:

    Looking forward to the rest of the season!!
    Go Buffs

  • September 19, 2008

    3:21 p.m.

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    arvada_mark writes:

    I was also at the game, & yes, good win. Great for recruiting. A freshman runs for 160-something, we got a soph QB, just good for some of those guys who might have to wait a few years to play at places like OU or Texas. They see how we're not affraid to play freshman, maybe it'll sway them our way.

    Also, I did not storm the field...I think once you turn 30, that stuff just isn't as fun as it used to be. I don't mind when they do that, but please, please save it for a more important win. That was a little overboard considering WVU is, well, not very good. It makes us look like we're desperate & that we've never won big games before. I didn't think it reflected on us in a positive manner. Just a thought.

  • September 20, 2008

    12:19 a.m.

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    huskerfantrappedincolorado writes:

    THE BUFFS SHOCK WEST VIRGINIA!???? Give me a break the title should have been west virginia chokes and the buffs catch a break.... man WV was moving that ball down the field with almost no problem.. bad coaching on wv side ,bad clock managment by wv PLAIN AND SIMPLE BUFFS GOT LUCKY!