The highly publicized Rocky Mountain Showdown between the Colorado Buffaloes and Colorado State Rams football teams was played this past weekend. Many called it the last Rocky Mountain Showdown until 2029.
Yet, this week the Buffs and Rams will battle it out once more, just on a different playing field. The schools trade in the artificial turf for Taraflex and the in-state rivalry will continue
The last time these two faced each other was in a similarly split series just last year. The Buffaloes and Rams opened with a game in Boulder, which went down to the wire in a five-set match that the Rams took on enemy grounds. The Buffs went up 2-0, but the Rams clawed back to complete the reverse sweep.
The next day, the series took a complete 180. The Buffs dropped the first two sets, and in a complete reflection of what the Rams had done on the road the day before, the Buffs came back to complete the reverse sweep in five sets on opposing soil. Both squads proved that a high-energy, entertaining rivalry between the two schools does not have to be reserved for football.
Overall, the green and gold Rams own the series. Their current record versus Colorado is 27-18 including a dominant 17-7 record versus the Buffs in Fort Collins.
However, the series has recently trended ever so slightly in the black and gold’s favor. In the last 10 matches, the Buffs have won six. Along with the most recent victory, the positive trend in the last seven years also includes the most recent sweep which the Buffs achieved in Fort Collins in 2021.
Looking ahead to Thursday night’s game, the Buffaloes will have a lot to prove. With 13 freshmen and sophomores, this team is mostly made up of young talent with no NCAA tournament experience. As the team narrowly missed out on the tournament bubble last year, primarily due to troubles on the road, it’s not unreasonable for the expectations to be set to get over that hump, especially when the athletic department showed its faith in current head coach Jesse Mahoney this offseason with a contract extension.
The black and gold lost four major contributors last year to graduation and transfer, and a young corps of primarily sophomores are now having to lead the way. Outside hitter Ana Burilović leads the team with 153 kills and 16 service aces and middle blocker Cayla Payne leads the team with 40 blocks.
The Buffs’ season in general has reflected their youth. With new starters at almost every position, communication issues, defensive troubles and on-the-fly adjustments have plagued the black and gold to lead them to an unpredictable 6-4 start.
“Ultimately, there has to be some intentionality of what you do in practice,” Mahoney said after a troubling loss to Northern Colorado. “There has to be some consequence to not having that intentionality, and we’ll create that.”
The first game of this year’s volleyball Rocky Mountain Showdown will kick off Thursday, at 7 p.m. MT in Fort Collins before the series returns to Boulder on Friday, also at 7 p.m. MT.
Cover photo by Cogan Nguyen/Sko Buffs Sports
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