Detmer Passes Test, Leads Colorado, 37-19

Koy Detmer said he felt more nervous than he did in his freshman debut. The gritty senior didn’t show it Saturday.

Detmer passed for three touchdowns and ran for another, and No. 5 Colorado opened its season with a 37-19 romp over Washington State.

Detmer, showing no ill effects from the surgically repaired right knee that sidelined him for the last six games of the 1995 season, completed 20 of 33 passes for 254 yards.

“I think I felt more nervous for this one [than for his freshman debut] because a lot of expectations were there--for me and for the team,” Detmer said.

“I wasn’t really concerned about the knee. I was just anxious about getting back in the flow of things. I felt kind of like a freshman again, starting over. I made some first-game mistakes, with reads and being a little off the mark on some passes, but that’s going to happen in a first game. I’m just happy to be back in there and get the win.”

He threw touchdown passes of seven yards to James Kidd, 43 yards to Chris Anderson and 25 yards to Herchell Troutman to stake the Buffaloes to a 31-6 lead early in the third quarter.

After a 34-yard scramble later in the quarter, a winded Detmer left the game and, with John Hessler in, Colorado got a 27-yard field goal from Jason Lesley.

Lesley added a 48-yard field goal in the fourth quarter, making it 37-6.

Redshirt freshman Jeremy Weisinger had Colorado on the verge of another score, but Weisinger fumbled on fourth down and 6-foot-7, 280-pound defensive end Dorian Boose rumbled 94 yards for a Washington State score with 4:44 to play.

The Cougars recovered the ensuing on-side kick, and Ryan Leaf passed seven yards to Chad Carpenter for a touchdown with 2:30 remaining.

“Koy got so nervous before the game he didn’t eat anything and when he made the long run he about passed out,” Colorado Coach Rick Neuheisel said. “He was light-headed, and that’s why we didn’t put him back in the game. I thought he did a good job.”

Washington State managed only nine first downs and 168 total yards, including only five yards rushing in 21 attempts.

“I thought our defense played inspired football,” Neuheisel said.