Cliff Grassmick / Staff Photographer)
So much for "The Rise."
It was fun ride, wasn't it? The clutch, emotional wins against teams that routinely beat up on the Colorado Buffaloes in recent years. The entirely unexpected berth in the Pac-12 title game and a trip to the Alamo Bowl. It was good stuff, a long-coveted sign Buffaloes football is back.
And indeed the program is back. Unfortunately it's no longer stirring recollections of the Bill McCartney-led glory years of the late 1980s and early 90s. Instead CU football is back in a manner much more akin to a mid-2000s sex scandal sort of way.