Improved, but Unknown, Colorado Happy With Bid

It became official when the final gun sounded on Tennessee’s 30-0 victory over Vanderbilt Saturday, but only now, with the appearance of ticket advertisements in the local newspapers, has the reality begun to set in.

Colorado is in the Freedom Bowl.

This development has not exactly taken the nation’s sports fans by storm. Or even the Freedom Bowl selection committee, which was hoping for Tennessee but had to settle for the backup Buffaloes when the Volunteers earned a trip to the Sugar Bowl.

Washington, the other team in the Dec. 30 game at Anaheim Stadium, is a name the public can buy. Don James and the Huskies. Seven straight bowl appearances. Beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl last January. Thumped UCLA and USC this year.

But Colorado? Quick, what are the school colors? Name the head coach. Name a player-- any player.

In 1984, the Freedom Bowl raised more than a few impressed eyebrows when director Tom Starr booked a couple of Top 20 powers, Texas and Iowa. Not bad for a first-year bowl. But Matchup II has been greeted by indifference.

“We haven’t been blasted,” Starr said, “but we haven’t been told, ‘Great move,’ either.”

The pairing, though, is set and now the game must be sold. Wednesday, Starr played host to the Washington and Colorado athletic directors, showing them potential practice sites and introducing them to the local media at a news conference at Anaheim Stadium.

“You’ll like the Buffaloes,” said Mike Lude, Washington athletic director. “They changed their offense--they quit throwing the ball and went to the wishbone--and they play an aggressive defense.

“They’re undefeated against the Pac-10 (2-0 against Oregon and Arizona). I wish we could’ve gone undefeated in the Pac-10.”

Bill Marolt, the Colorado athletic director, said that “if we could’ve written a scenario for this season--for us to go 7-4 and go to a bowl--this would be the perfect ending.

“We have 6,000 alumni in the immediate Southern California area and 15,000 from San Francisco to San Diego. We recruit a lot from this area; we have 17 people (on the football roster) from California.

“This is the ideal bowl for us.”

Of course, Colorado has to be happy going anywhere. This will be the Buffaloes’ first bowl appearance since New Year’s Day 1977, when Colorado played in the Orange Bowl. Since then, the Buffaloes won just 14 games in seven years--including a 1-10 finish last season.

This year, Coach Bill McCartney scrapped the pass-oriented I-formation, switched to the wishbone and wound up 7-4, tied for third place in the Big-8 with Oklahoma State.

Marolt and Starr like to point out that Colorado’s four losses came against teams ranked, one time or another this season, in the Top 10: Oklahoma, Nebraska, Ohio State and Oklahoma State.

“We were leading Nebraska, 7-0, in Lincoln,” Marolt said of a game the Buffaloes eventually lost, 17-7. And we lost to Oklahoma State by only three (14-11).”

McCartney wound up Big-8 Coach of the Year, and Colorado finished in the top 10 in rushing offense. Still, mention Colorado football to the casual fan and he’ll probably get stuck after the Denver Broncos.

Starr says he’s working on that.

“Colorado went from 1-10 to 7-4,” Starr said. “We’re playing them up as the Cinderella team.”

The chore will be convincing local sports fans to show up at the ball Dec. 30.

Freedom Bowl Notes

Starr said ticket sales are “approaching 22,000,” including the 12,000 purchased by Colorado. Lude said Washington will order and attempt to sell 11,000. “We have 52,000 season-ticket holders and I think a lot of them are going to want to leave the cold for Southern California,” Lude said. . . . Marolt said Colorado sold 14,000 season tickets for the 1985 season, averaging 36,000 per game in attendance. “I think the chances are good that we’ll sell our entire allotment,” he said. “There’s a large interest in Denver for the Southern California area.’ . . . Colorado will arrive in Orange County on Christmas and will practice at UC Irvine. Washington will arrive Dec. 21 and practice at Golden West College. “We’re arriving early, quite frankly, because on the 19th, they’re closing all the dorms and the university service places,” Lude said. “We’d have to move to a hotel then anyway.”