Plati-'Tudes: A Look Back At 1994
October 27, 2017 | Football, General
Welcome to a notes and comment column in its 17th year, penned by CU Associate Athletic Director David Plati, who is now in his 34th year as the Buffaloes’ director of sports information.
Plati-'Tudes No. 105 … Two P-'Tudes in two weeks? What's the world coming to … Thanks to all you who sent well-wishes as I deal with a circulatory/infection issue with my left leg. It's healing nicely—the folks down at Anschutz' Wound Clinic rock!
| Opening Trivia |
CU—Who was the last Buffalo to lead his team in scoring in an NBA game?
Music—The number one song on Nov. 19, 1994 was performed by a group that recently had a cameo in an insurance commercial. Name the song and the artists.
Name That Tune—From what song is this lyric passage from: "The scene was rockin', all were digging the sounds … Igor on chains, backed by his baying hounds."
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| Quick Hits |
Congrats to the CU women for sweeping the Pac-12 Cross Country championships, the Buffs winning their third straight team title and Dani Jones claiming the individual crown ... The men came up just short of a seventh straight title, as Stanford edged the Buffaloes by six points for the title ... There are many strong programs in most if not all of the Pac-12, but cross country might be the toughest, with six teams in the top 20 in both disciplines ... Hard to believe basketball season is just around the corner, but we're two weeks away from the season openers, with exhibitions even sooner … How about the women's soccer team; we're becoming "Goalie U" as we recorded our 12th shutout of the year with a 1-0 win at Oregon State on Oct. 26 … And let's not forget the women's volleyball team shutting out No. 19 USC 3-0 last week, its first win ever over the Trojans, and the success of both golf teams. The fall athletic season has been fairly successful to date.
| A Look Back At 1994 |
With the upcoming retirement of Rashaan Salaam's No. 19 jersey, I thought I'd take everyone for a ride and recall how the 1994 season unfolded. I've already recounted the Heisman weekend when I was privileged to escort Rashaan to New York for the ceremony (last December after he passed).
There's always been a debate among CU fans as to which team was the best in our history. In the post-World War II Era, the first wave almost always includes 1971, 1989, 1990, 1994 and 2001. I personally believe it's a toss-up between '89 and '94, followed closely by the other three; but the '89 and '94 teams had just a single blemish, and arguably had either gone undefeated, they could very well be in the conversation to be among college football's all-time greatest teams.
(The next wave is often narrowed down to 1956, 1961, 1967, 1975, 1992, 1995, 1996, 2002 and most recently, 2016; then one could make a case for any of the 1952, 1954, 1969, 1976 and 1991 squads to be thrown into that mix).
Shannon Clavelle and the Buffs trounced Oklahoma in 1994
The 1994 season was set up by the previous two: CU finished 9-2-1 and 13th in the final polls in 1992, after having spent much of the year in the top 10. In 1993, the Buffs climbed as high as No. 7 early in the year after blowing out Texas and Baylor before a controversial loss at Stanford followed by the Miami loss at home dropped CU to 2-2 and No. 20 (who could forget the horrible officiating by the now-defunct Big East crew in the latter—many might recall then-athletic director Bill Marolt going out on to the field to scream at them. He told them they were losing control of the game, and sure enough a few minutes later, a brawl broke out). Eventually falling to 4-3-1 and No. 23 in the polls after a narrow 21-17 loss to Nebraska, CU regrouped and won its last four to get to 8-3-1 and 16th in the rankings at the end of the year.
Defeating No. 24 Fresno State in the Aloha Bowl forecast what lied ahead; Salaam was named the game's MVP, rushing for 135 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries; QB Kordell Stewart had 174 yards of total offense; and on defense, ILB Ted Johnson racked up 11 tackles (10 solo) with CB Chris Hudson adding seven stops with two fumble recoveries and three pass breakups. All names that helped forge the success of the '94 team, which opened with an easy 48-13 in over Northeast Louisiana.
QB Kordell Stewart in the 1995 Fiesta Bowl
If I had to rank the top games of 1994, here's my order:
6. Colorado 45, Oklahoma 7 (October 15). After living through years of beat downs by the Sooners and with CU's largest margin of victory ever against OU being 17 (three times in the five games leading up to this one), it was fun to finally be on end of a true shellacking. Salaam rushed for 161 yards and four touchdowns and didn't play beyond the 7-minute mark of the third quarter, while the CU defense forced five turnovers and limited OU to 265 yards (the Sooners averted being shut out by scoring with 23 seconds remaining against the Buff second-teamers). CU was now 6-0.
5. Colorado 55, Wisconsin 17 (September 17). When former business manager Jon Burianek scheduled this game in the late 1980s, Wisconsin was a perennial middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team. But by the time the game rolled around, they were the defending Big Ten and Rose Bowl champions. The only game Salaam didn't run for 100 yards during the regular season (86), he scored on four short touchdown runs (from 1, 3, 2 and 4 yards).
4. Colorado 41, Notre Dame 24 (Fiesta Bowl, January 2). The proverbial "the game was not as close as the score indicated," the Buffs crushed the Fighting Irish in Bill McCartney's last game. The Buffs built a 31-3 lead late in the second quarter and put it on cruise control from there. Salaam was contained to 83 yards (he had gained about 10-12 pounds from the Heisman banquet circuit), but still scored three touchdowns. Stewart was the game's MVP with ridiculous numbers: seven rushes for 143 yards and touchdown along with 11-of-20 passing for 205 and another score. DT Shannon Clavelle recorded three quarterback sacks and surprised everyone postgame announcing that he would forego his senior year and turn professional along with Salaam. (Mac once told me that this was his most enjoyable bowl game; CU had hired Rick Neuheisel as its next head coach, and all the recruiting was turned over to him; Mac could just concentrate on the game plan.)
3. Colorado 34, Texas 31 (October 1). A week in the nation's spotlight after the "Miracle in Michigan" (see below), we rose to No. 5 in the nation but had to travel to No. 16 Texas. It was "just" 88 degrees but the humidity was awful, players needed I.V.'s at halftime, including Rashaan, who ran 35 times for 317 yards and caught five passes for 45 more for a school-record 362 total yards, still a record to this day. We had leads of 21-10 and 31-21 and dominated the game (506-320 edge in yards), but couldn't shake the Longhorns, who tied the game with 4:49 to play. Stewart led a 13-play, 73-yard drive to set up a game-winning field goal – remember in 1994, there was no overtime, so if missed, the game would have ended in a tie. But Neil Voskeritchian split the uprights with a 24-yarder and we escaped.
2. Colorado 41, Iowa State 20 (November 19). In my career, several individual plays stand out: the Darian Hagan to J.J. Flannigan pitch on a 70-yard TD against Nebraska in '89; the Greg Biekert 2-point defensive conversion versus the Huskers in '91; Steve Rosga's 105-yard interception return against Oklahoma State in '96; the last two plays in the '81 homecoming game over the Cowboys; and maybe 10 from the 62-36 win over Nebraska in '01. But for sheer excitement and the moment that was created, for Salaam to race 67 yards around the right side for a TD against Iowa State to go over 2,000 yards tops the list (can't you still hear Larry Zimmer's call where he inserted " … He's got 2,000! … " in the middle of it?). Stewart sets the Big 8 career total offense mark and of course Mac announces postgame he's retiring. Found that one out on the photo deck where Marolt took me early in the fourth quarter to tell me what was going to happen postgame, and right after he told me, Rashaan made his run.
1. Colorado 27, Michigan 26 (September 24). I've probably written about this ad nauseam … but Buff fans don't mind. Still get chills whenever I see the highlights. Which you can see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Nt6HjqtJt8&t=9s. I have always been impressed with the set-up by Keith Jackson and Bob Griese; almost like they had the script in front of them. Zimmer felt bad the whole week after because he couldn't tell right away that Michael Westbrook caught the pass and that Jackson did; a week later at Texas, ABC did the game again with the same crew, and KOA was located right next to them for the booth assignment (we were outside on the deck, actually). Jackson leans over the partition and yells, "Hey, Zimmer, great call on the catch at Michigan last week." Larry responds, "Thanks, but I didn't know who caught it, and you did." Jackson: "I didn't either. Remember, we had cameramen all over the stadium, and one told the producer that 81 (Westbrook's number) caught it and he relayed it to me."The other wins came at Missouri (38-23, which followed the Michigan and Texas games, the last time the Buffs played three straight games on the road), Kansas State (35-21), Oklahoma State (17-3) and Kansas (51-26).
Sports Illustrated cover after "The Catch"
The other wins came at Missouri (38-23, which followed the Michigan and Texas games, the last time the Buffs played three straight games on the road), Kansas State (35-21), Oklahoma State (17-3) and Kansas (51-26).
There was frustration of course. The 24-7 loss to Nebraska, the second time in six years the game featured two 8-0 teams ranked No. 2 vs. No. 3 in the polls, still frustrates many to this day. The offensive coaches never agreed on the game plan, which was to basically try to run it down the Huskers' throats. While Salaam managed a respectable 134 yards and CU's lone TD on 22 carries, most of the stats were even (Nebraska even had the only turnover). What was perplexing is that it wasn't one of Nebraska better secondaries, and yet with the Buff talent at wide receiver, the Buffs never tried a pass more than 15 yards or so downfield.
Now the competition to be the top Heisman candidate on our team was a three-way race for over half the season. After the Michigan game, good ol' Joe Williams ripped into me on sports talk radio for not starting an immediate campaign for Kordell. I blew a chance to get him to be the frontrunner, etc. The reasoning was simple: first we're just three weeks into the season, and while Stewart had a great game at Michigan (379 yards total offense), in the same game, Westbrook caught seven passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns, and Salaam ran for 141 yards and two scores … at the time the first opponent running back from a school other than Ohio State to rush for 100 yards in the Big House in like two decades. I couldn't split them apart at that time, and was vindicated in a week when Salaam ran for 317 in the heat at Texas.
Rashaan Salaam busts through the Iowa State defense
Salaam and Stewart did have a competition between them, mainly to push each other. In the win over Kansas State, the game was tied at 21 entering the fourth quarter. After Stewart picked up 2 yards on a 4th-and-1 from CU's own 38, we ran an option play to the west side of Folsom; Stewart had Salaam in his sights to pitch the ball, but kept it and raced 60 yards for the go-ahead score. Salaam razzed him on the bench for not pitching it to him; both finished in triple digits (Salaam 202, Stewart 127) and accounted for all five touchdowns in the game. The two finally separated after the Nebraska loss, and we held a "Breakfast with Rashaan" event for the national media the following week.
(A couple of days prior to the Iowa State game, Mac called me into his office; he an idea. One that no one would ever expect coming from him at that. "Plato, I want the scoreboard to update Rashaan's rushing yards after each carry. Get that done." Mac never wanted to single out anything like that before.)
So we got with the scoreboard folks, they created a special area for it, and one of my new freshman students, Zak Gilbert, was put in charge with communicating upstairs to their booth with the updated number, knowing he couldn't be a single yard off. He was on the money after all 29 carries. Rashaan started the game with 1,796 yards, so he needed 204. At halftime, he had 17 carries for 123 yards, so he had the ironic total of 1,919 going into the second half. He had nine more attempts for 50 yards in the third quarter, giving him 173 for the game and 1,969 for the season.
A 5-yard run to the Iowa State 40 on a carryover possession into the fourth quarter upped his totals to 178 and 1,974; the fans were getting more and more fired up, ready to flash over 10,000 "2,000" signs we had passed out. But on three straight option plays, Stewart kept the ball and gained 9, 8 and the 23 yards for the touchdown and a 27-13 CU lead. He now was zeroing in the Big 8 total offense mark. The next drive was all Salaam -- all two plays. The first gained 14 yards, now he's at 1,988, the next was for 67 around the right side and down the east sidelines, his teammates running alongside for the dog pile in the end zone. Here's Zimmer's call: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0467y9PoGO8.
And on the next series, Stewart got the Big 8 mark.
Salaam would win the Heisman going away, leading the nation in rushing, scoring and all-purpose yards, and also claim the Walter Camp Trophy as the national player of the year and the Doak Walker Award as the top running back.
Meanwhile on defense, two other trophy candidates had emerged. Ted Johnson would finish second for the Butkus Award (nation's top linebacker); he had 147 tackles (92 solo, 10 for losses), 16 third down stops and three forced fumbles among his numbers; Illinois' Dana Howard edged him for the award. Chris Hudson, playing with a turf toe the entire year after being injured in the first week of the season, would go on to win the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation's top defensive back. He had 37 tackles, three interceptions and six pass deflections; those may sound pedestrian, but when in man coverage, he allowed all but three completions and no touchdowns.
(A funny story to the Thorpe Award: they actually let me know he was the winner the day before, but obviously I wasn't going to tell him and ruin the surprise. So we're in Orlando, and we decide to work out together at the hotel. We're on stationary bikes, and I asked what he was going to say if he wins, and he was so convinced he wasn't going to, so he hadn't prepared anything. I literally begged him to scribble some notes down, telling him, 'What if you win? Do you want to slink up there and sound like Ralph Kramden going hummina, hummina, hummina?' Of course, he had no idea who Ralph Kramden was … but he finally relented and prepared a few notes.)
So how special was CU's 1994 team? Ten of the 11 starters were drafted into the NFL (OT Tony Berti, WR Rae Carruth, TE Christian Fauria, OG Heath Irwin, OG Chris Naeole, Salaam, Stewart, C Bryan Stoltenberg, OT Derek West and Westbrook), with the 11th signing as a free agent (TE Matt Lepsis). All played, and three remained on NFL rosters some 11 years later. And the defense? Six of the starters wound up playing professionally as well: Clavelle, DT Darius Holland, Hudson, Johnson, OLB Greg Jones and ILB Matt Russell with two others landing in camps DT Kerry Hicks and DT Ryan Olson. That's a pretty special team when 77 percent of the starters wind up playing professionally.
| The P-'Tudes Mailbag |
Q: Any idea when the Pac-12 will release the 2018 football schedule?
A: They're in the process of working with the athletic directors right now, looking at various drafts, but don't likely expect any kind of formal announcement until either December or January. It was previously announced that due to some non-conference obligations by other schools, we will end the year playing at California instead of hosting Utah, which will be the week before. The non-conference schedule has long been set: CSU in Denver on Sept. 1, Nebraska in Lincoln on Sept. 8, and New Hampshire in Boulder on Sept. 15. In addition to the Utes, we will host Arizona State, Oregon State, UCLA and Washington State and travel to Arizona, USC and Washington.
| This P-'Tudes Number(s): 67 |
Rashaan Salaam went over the 2,000-yard mark with a 67-yard run against Iowa State in 1994. But did you know that in 1971, Charlie Davis went over the 1,000-yard mark with a 67-yard run against Oklahoma State?
| Trivia Answers |
CU—Almost a trick question—just happened on Wednesday, Oct. 25; Spencer Dinwiddie scored 22 points to lead six Nets' players in double figures as Brooklyn defeated Cleveland, 112-107.
Music—Boyz II Men, "I'll Make Love To You" ruled the top of the charts the day Rashaan Salaam hit the 2,000-yard mark. In fact, the song held the No. 1 spot beginning Sept. 3 until they knocked themselves out of the top spot with "On Bended Knee" on Dec. 3 (and was No. 1 on Dec. 10, when Rashaan won the Heisman).
Name That Tune—With Halloween coming up, "Monster Mash, from 1962 by Bobby Pickett. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNuVifA7DSU.
"Plati-'Tudes" features notes and stories that may not get much play from the mainstream media; offers Plati's or CU's take on issues raised by those who have an interest in the program; answers questions and concerns; and provides CU's point of view if we should disagree with what may have been written or broadcast. Have a question or want to know CU's take on something? E-mail Dave at david.plati@colorado.edu, and the subject may appear in the next Plati-'Tudes.