University of Colorado football won a nail-biter against in-state rival Colorado State Saturday night 27-24, which is not something the Buffs were able to do last year.

“I think you keep seeing our team grow up,” head Coach Mike MacIntyre said.

Nothing sums up Colorado’s win against CSU better than that. In a game where CU never really got rolling and momentum continually flipped back and forth, the Buffs finally showed it is not the same team that let so many wins slip through its fingers last season.

Last year the theme defining CU football had been that it was a team that was not ready to win. Last year the Buffs lost late against Oregon State and in double overtime against both California and UCLA. Most recently CU lost in its final minutes to Hawaii. The Buffs were just were not ready to breakthrough. The team could not find a way to win. Tonight, the Buffs found a way.

“Last year we fought and fought and fought,” MacIntyre said. “We couldn’t find a way to win it. Tonight we found a way to win it. … I think you’re seeing us grow up in front of your faces.”

Typically when people think about big plays in football, images of quarterbacks leading last-minute drives come to mind. That was not the case in the Rocky Mountain Showdown, where the plays that defined the game came from CU’s defense.

Jimmie Gilbert was ejected for targeting in the first overtime play. In the past CU would have been bothered by such plays. Tonight, instead of breaking, the Buffs’ stepped up their defense.

“[Our defense] could have hung their head after we got the penalty and now [CSU] get the ball moved down to the 12-yard line and we have to stop them,” MacIntyre said. “And they bowed up and did it. … Our guys found their character and their work ethic and their trust in each other. They found an extra energy and that’s a will to win and they’ve learned to do that.”

On first-and-10 from the 12-yard line, CSU turned to its running game. The Rams had been dominating the Buffs by running the ball all night. The Rams rushed for 218 yards. After the Gilbert penalty, CSU needed just 12 more yards to score, which would have forced CU to match with a touchdown.

On first down, CU’s defensive line “bowed up,” as MacIntyre put it, and gave up just one yard. On second down, the Rams ran again, and CU stepped up its defense again. On third down, the most pivotal defensive play of the game, CSU threw into the flat. Colorado State running back Jasen Oden caught the ball and almost beat senior cornerback Kenneth Crawley, but Crawley had other plans. The senior grabbed Oden by the jersey and held on as two more Buffs flew in to assist on the tackle. On the next play Colorado found a way to block CSU’s kick and four plays over the game was over.

The Buffs’ defense has been the target of criticism for years. Time and time again opposing offenses have torched this defense when it mattered most. In overtime against Cal and UCLA, Colorado’s defense did not hold. In both games the unit gave up overtime touchdowns that led to losses. That was not the case against CSU.

The defense that took the field against the Rams was a defense that refused to accept a loss. It was a defense that found a way to win. Looking back on this game, MacIntyre’s comments ring true and CU’s defensive stand is a defining image. Tonight the Buffs grew up.

Contact CU Independent Football Writer Sean Kelly at Sean.d.Kelly@colorado.edu.