Steve Smith writing in the Lincoln Journal Star:

The college game has always been more important in small states, which are hours (and, often, worlds) away from major-league cities and, therefore, the major-league mind-set. If you want to test that theory, ask 10 Nebraskans on the street who the Huskers’ big rival is. Eleven will say Oklahoma.

That’s partly a result of all those cataclysmic NU-OU showdowns over the years. But it’s also because we can recognize and understand the Sooners and their fans. Like Nebraska, OU represents a small state and has a passionate border-to-border following that only college football can cultivate. We can grasp Kansas State and its backers in that manner, too, though to a lesser degree. That, in our estimation, is how good college football rivalries are born.

Tomorrow’s opponent? We play ’em every year and have for years, but we don’t really get ’em. They’re tucked away in the Denver metroplex, and, like the Miami Hurricanes, they attract a breed of follower cut from that acerbic NFL mold. For a decent-sized chunk of CU backers, the biggest game of the week is today in Dallas, not Friday in Boulder.

Having lived in Boulder and Denver, I’ll take it further than Smith. Football is simply not that important in Colorado. I mean how could it be, when you can play hacky sack and ultimate frisbee nine months out of the year?