NCAA Football
So after last years horrible season, I fully expected the Colorado State Rams to manhandle the Colorado Buffaloes. I mean, after going 1 and 11 with that only win coming over the Washington State Cougars (a win over WSU should only count as a half a win), a brand new coach in his first game, you would just guess that it would take a few games to get into sync. Boy was I wrong.
I got to Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium a little over two hours before kick off. Non-Photographers might ask, 2 Hours??? Why so early. Traffic, getting to the media room, setting up, making sure everything is synced up with the internet, catch up with photographers you have not seen in a while, walk through of the stadium, eat, etc… Lots to do. The photo room was on the field level, but the sideline arm bands, media guides, media food were all up on the 4th floor in the press box. And no stat updates at halftime or post game in the photo room. That kind of sucked.
Game started and it was clear from the start, the Buffs were here to play. The first score came on an 82 yard touchdown pass early in the first. Add a 22 yard field goal and the Buffs ended the first leading the Rams 10-0. In the second, the Buffaloes added another touchdown and field goal and the Rams finally got on the board with a field goal and touchdown of their own. With a couple minutes left in the first half, I headed to the Photo Room to download and transmit my photos to Corbis and NewSport.
Coming out of the tunnel for the second half, the action had already started, and the Buffs were just setting up to punt the ball. Just as I set my exposure for the second half, they kicked the ball, and as I looked through the viewfinder, here came a Colorado State player on a 74 yard punt return touchdown. This injected the Rams with some energy, and they ended up out scoring the Buffaloes in the 3rd quarter 14 to 3. That gave the Rams a 24 to 23 lead over the Colorado Buffaloes going into the 4th quarter.
The Buffs regained the lead with a 52 yard field goal, but the big play came next as the Buffaloes recovered a Colorado State fumble and ran it back 53 yards for a touchdown. The Rams scored again on a field goal, but that was all they could muster in the 4th. The Buffaloes drove a nail in the Rams coffin with a 75 yard touchdown pass with just over three and a half minutes left in the game. The Buffs won the Rocky Mountain Showdown 41-27. Well.. That was a good start to the season. Can the Buffs keep it going? Game day is now 5 days away. What a start to the 2013 NCAA Football season.
Here is my 10 Shot from the game. Photos from this game are available through Corbis and NewSport.
Unfortunately, I had no clear shot of Ralphie running the field. If it would have been easy, I would have gone to the upper deck and shot down onto the field showing the 59,000+ fans cheering as Ralphie took the field, but getting to the upper deck from field level is quite a task. Maybe next year I will do a remote camera.
As I took the next shot, the Denver Post’s Aaron Ontiveroz was on the other end of the field shooting the play and his shot of this play ended up on the front page of the Denver Post Monday morning, with me clear in focus shooting Henderson heading to the end zone.
