Saturday’s Colorado-Oklahoma game is a much-anticipated matchup of the Big 12’s two division leaders. The teams haven’t met since 1999, although they almost collided last year in the Big 12 championship.
It will be Oklahoma’s unmerciful defense against Colorado’s power running game, led by the nation’s leading rusher, Chris Brown.
But most of all, it will be a meeting of the minds. Colorado coach Gary Barnett and Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops are, if not the two best coaches in the league at the moment, certainly the two most intriguing sideline commanders.
Stoops has a national title and a reputation as a gambler who knows the odds better than the house. There’s little mystery to the straight-talking Stoops, unless you want to know about a particular injury or what trick play the Sooners will pull next.
Barnett, on the other hand, can be a hard guy to figure out. He’s still known mostly for the resurrection he conducted at Northwestern, leading the perennial Big Ten doormat to the Rose Bowl.
But the last two years, he’s revived Colorado’s program in midseason. This year’s run to the top of the Big 12 North is looking remarkably similar to last year’s Big 12 title run.
A year ago, Colorado had a heartbreaking loss in the season opener, looked totally outclassed in another loss, lost its starting quarterback and had an internal controversy between a player and a coach.
That’s all happened again this year. The Buffs opened the season with a 19-14 loss to rival Colorado State, recalling last year’s two-point opening loss to Fresno State.
Starting quarterback Craig Ochs went down to an injury, just like last year, and the Buffs looked terrible in a 40-3 loss to Southern Cal. Just like last year, when Ochs went down and the Buffs were throttled by Texas, 41-7.
Barnett deserves some credit, too, although he probably deserves some blame for the slow starts the last two seasons. He’s not perfect and certainly has his detractors in the Colorado media.
Two seasons ago his motivational tricks — including a threat to remove the logos from the Buffs’ helmets — couldn’t revive a 3-8 season. But this season the Buffs look as if they’re ticketed for the Big 12 title game again.
Even if Colorado turns in a USC-like performance on Saturday, which is a possibility given OU’s speed demons and goblins on defense, recent history says you can never count out these Buffs.