TEMPE, Ariz. – Give round one of the Joey Harrington-Bobby Pesavento
battle to Harrington.
The two quarterbacks for their respective Fiesta Bowl teams dueled
over the weekend in an intense, all-out video game showdown.
But the game had nothing to do with football. In fact, it had nothing to do with sports.
The two seniors, who will grace the television screens of fans across the nation Tuesday at 1:30 p.m.(PST) on ABC, saddled up and took control of their video controllers and played….
Ms. Pac Man?
“We played Ms. Pac Man, which was no fair,” Pesavento said.
“He’s played that game his entire life so I had no chance.”
But Pesavento knows he’ll have the opportunity to redeem himself in the
Fiesta Bowl as he leads the third-ranked Colorado Buffaloes against the
second-ranked Oregon Ducks.
And in that environment, Pesavento will have a chance to come out
victorious. And really, that’s all he’s ever wanted with football: a chance.
The 6-foot-5, 225-pound signal caller entered his senior season as the
Buffs’ No. 2 quarterback behind sophomore starter Craig Ochs. In Pesavento’s junior season, he only saw action in five games but showed promise in that limited time, passing for 536 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions.
But he was content to enter his final college campaign with a headset on his head.
“I knew my role,” Pesavento said. “It’s my senior and I’m a
back-up. But then I had the opportunity and I knew I had to step up.”
You could say he “stepped up” all right. But really, he bypassed
stepping and just leapt his way up the college football ladder.
His first breakthrough game came when he replaced an injured Ochs and led Colorado to a 22-19 victory at Oklahoma State on Oct. 27 to give his team a 6-2 record. Then came a 38-24 win against Missouri, a 40-27 victory at Iowa State and then a bye week.
“We knew Bobby was a great quarterback,” Colorado tight end Daniel
Graham said. “We knew that if Craig ever got hurt that Bobby would come in andlead the team.”
The next game, on Nov. 23, would change the way people thought of
Pesavento and Colorado. On the day after Thanksgiving, the Buffaloes
continued to feast, stuffing top-ranked Nebraska 62-36 in a game that vaulted Colorado among the nation’s elite.
“I was watching the Nebraska game with my dad,” Pesavento said
this week. “I hadn’t seen the tape before that. It was a blur on the field. It didn’t seem like we scored that much.”
So when Colorado beat Texas, 39-37, in the Big 12 Championship on Dec. 1, it surprised few. But seeing Pesavento holding the Big 12 title trophy in his hands with an ear-to-ear smile could have been a surprising image for those that knew how far he had come.
On one hand, there’s Harrington, the Portland native who went two hours
south to play football for Oregon.
On the other hand, there’s Pesavento, the Schererville, Ind., native who spent his redshirt freshman and freshman seasons as a Miami of Ohio Red Hawk.
He didn’t start. He wasn’t happy there. So he left, and became the
quarterback at Fort Scott Community College where he played in one of the top junior college leagues in the nation.
His 2,444 yards and 22 touchdowns in the 10-game season were enough to
impress Colorado and the rest is, as they say, history.
“Bobby has played so well for us,” Colorado offensive coordinator
Shawn Watson said. “The best thing he does is manage our offense. He has the ability to find the big ball on every one of our routes. He has not missed on his efficiency.
“He has just been unbelievable.”
Funny Watson used that word, because during Sunday’s Media Day at Sun
Devil Stadium, Pesavento seemed to say “unbelievable” in every other
sentence.
He’s just soaking up the experience of being under the bright lights of
the media, and the sun, and doesn’t even appear to mind the constant
repetitiveness of the questions.
“It’s just the same thing over and over,” he said. “Is this a
dream? Do your pinch yourself? But it’s been fun. This week, just hanging out with the guys and seeing the sites of Scottsdale and Tempe. It’s all been fun.”
Well, maybe it wasn’t so fun losing to Harrington in that grueling game
of Ms. Pac Man. But he’ll have his chance for revenge soon enough.
And, if things go his way, he’ll end his zigzagged college football
career as Mr. Fiesta Bowl Champion.
Assistant sports editor Jeff Smith can be reached at
[email protected].
Winning through perseverence
Daily Emerald
December 29, 2001
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