FORT COLLINS — These are the games that bring definition to a career.

Can a coach be successful in big games? Do the players rise to the occasion, walk to the sideline and triumphantly carry away the trophy?

So far, Izzy Matthews knows no such joy when it comes to the Centennial Cup, the prize given annually to the victor of the Rocky Mountain Showdown. Friday marks the 90th time in their history Colorado State and Colorado will play football (7:34 p.m.; CBSSN) and the ninth consecutive year at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

The series will remain in Denver for two more games, then move to Fort Collins in 2020 before taking a two-year break, the first interruption since 1993-94. The past six games have seen increasing attendance, reaching 73,932 last year, the largest crowd since 76,219 attended the 2003 game. With numbers released by both schools Thursday, it will take a late walk-up crowd to hit 70,000; CSU announced in the afternoon 28,027 tickets sold (8,672 to students), a figure below last year’s sales for the school.

The Buffs own the overall series 65-22-2, but all Matthews, CSU’s senior running back, cares about is the past three meetings.

He’s played in all of them. He’s seen the Rams lose in overtime. He’s been marched off the field as a sophomore. He dejectedly headed to the locker room as a junior after a tough loss, one that had plenty of spark for CSU in the second half but no ignition.

“It’s personal this year. I haven’t beaten them since I’ve been here, everyone knows that,” Matthews said. “Our class has never beaten them, and it honestly would be kind of a disgrace to leave here 0-4. That’s important to us. It’s important to leave a legacy, leave a mark.”

Matthews gets it, and he’s not even a Colorado kid. All it took him to buy into the rivalry was the downtrodden feeling in the community and on campus after that first loss. But since the Rams broke an eight-game losing streak to CU in 1999, every four-year senior to don a Colorado State uniform has known victory at least once.

He’s heard from some that once is all it would take. Heck, it’s been said to him if the Rams only win one game all year, at least make it the Buffs. That, he said, is not the way he is wired. He wants to win every game, and while that is no longer possible after stumbling out of the gates with Hawaii, he’d like to win the rest.

Bisi Johnson is a Colorado kid, and his true feelings would be dotted with “a few cuss words,” but to just to make it clear: This game matters.

“It means a lot. It gives you 364 more days to talk whatever you want to talk about the other side,” he said. “Honestly, as I was thinking about it, you become part of this tradition, even if you’re out of state. Some of those guys, they take it very seriously whether they’re from whereever or from Colorado.”

Talk doesn’t mean much. It doesn’t win games, that’s for sure. Colorado State talked a good game against Hawaii, confident in the offensive and defensive systems in place for the opener. The defense never really clicked, not after giving up 43 points. The offense didn’t really gain footing until late, scoring 27 points in the second half.

CSU head coach Mike Bobo wants to win the game, too. In three years, he’s never beaten Colorado. In the past two years, his Rams don’t own a win over any rival, Wyoming and Air Force included. It’s a downward trend, as was last week’s performance. Yet every game presents an opportunity to alter a season.

Sure enough, he’d like to change that narrative about his team, his program this time around, but saying so doesn’t make it so.

“It’s not going to be words that are going to win the game, it’s going to be action,” Bobo said. “It’s not going to be something that’s said, it’s going to be demanding action in practice.

“Saying we want to win the game bad or we need to win the game bad, that’s not going to do anything. It’s action.”

For one, Matthews understands that message

“This year, if I’m not crawling off the field at the end of the day, I’m not going to feel like I did enough,” he said.

Mike Brohard: 970-635-3633, mbrohard@reporter-herald.com and twitter.com/mbrohard