The football teams for Colorado’s two biggest universities know where they’ll be spending Christmas week — at bowl games in warmer climes.
The University of Colorado Buffaloes and Colorado State Rams will each play a bowl game this year, after winning a majority of their regular season games. An outstanding question looms over the Buffaloes’ heads, however: Will they play a bowl game with a Heisman Trophy winner, awarded to the nation’s top college football player?
Travis Hunter, a two-way star who plays both wide receiver and cornerback for the Buffaloes, learned this week that he is a finalist for the Heisman. Only one other Buffs player has ever won the trophy, awarded annually in New York. That player was Rashaan Salaam, who won it in 1994.
Hunter, who followed Buffs head coach Deion Sanders from Jackson State University two years ago, is widely regarded as the favorite to win the honor. Hunter is headed for the National Football League after the bowl game, where he is projected to be a top draft pick, along with Shedeur Sanders, the son of coach Deion Sanders.
The Heisman Trophy presentation is on Saturday at 6 p.m. It will be televised on ESPN.
The Buffaloes might not know whether Hunter will win the trophy, but they do know their opponent in the bowl game: fellow Big 12 Conference member Brigham Young University. The Buffs take on BYU on Dec. 28 at 5:30 p.m. in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas. The game will be televised on ABC.
(AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
In Fort Collins, the CSU Rams also earned a berth to a bowl game by way of their 8-4 record. Coach Jay Norvell brought his team to the brink of playing in the Mountain West Conference title game, but UNLV won the right to play in that game via a conference record tiebreaker after the regular season ended.
The Rams will take some solace, however, in their inclusion in the Arizona Bow, where they will play Miami University, Ohio. Their game is set for Dec. 28 at 2:30 p.m. in Tucson. It will be televised on the CW Network. Snoop Dogg is hosting.
