Detmer Leads Colorado in Holiday Bowl, 33-21

SAN DIEGO —  In a game in which Ty Detmer has most of the records, little brother Koy Detmer stepped up and made his mark Monday night.

Detmer completed 25 of 45 passes for 371 yards and three touchdowns to lead Colorado to a 33-21 victory over Washington in the Holiday Bowl in front of 54,479 at Jack Murphy Stadium.

None of Detmer’s numbers were Holiday Bowl records because Ty has most of those, but Koy is looking forward to mentioning that he is 1-0 in the Holday Bowl and Ty is 0-2-1.

“I’m going to harass him a little about that,” Koy Detmer said. “I didn’t say anything to him [before the game] because I wanted to make sure I got the win.”

It took a half, but Colorado finally solved the question of how to stop Washington’s Corey Dillon. Dillon rushed for 140 yards--but 109 were gained in the first half.

“We got behind and we needed to score faster, so we couldn’t really go to him like we would like to do,” Washington Coach Jim Lambright said.

The main thing Colorado did to stop Dillon was to keep the Washington offense on the sideline. Detmer led Colorado on three long second-half drives that resulted in only nine second-half points, but kept Dillon on the sideline and put Washington in a position of playing catch-up with freshman quarterback Brock Huard.

That formula of safe passes didn’t make for exciting football, but it secured the victory for eighth-ranked Colorado (10-2).

In contrast, the first half was a frenetic collection of big plays.

Trailing, 14-0, and stymied on offense, Detmer looked at an eight-man front on second and 11 at the Colorado 24. He threw a perfect pass 42 yards in the air to Rae Carruth, who had beaten freshman Jermaine Smith and ran in for the touchdown.

“I saw them playing bump man-on-man and I licked my chops,” Detmer said. “I changed the play [at the line], I signaled to him by grabbing my facemask. He made a great play.”

The Buffaloes tied it in an equally spectacular play. Huard had been efficient all game, but when he tried to pass to his right with a little more than 11 minutes to play in the half, Nick Ziegler put his left hand up and blocked it. Then he caught it and rambled 31 yards for a touchdown.

Tied at 14-14, it seemed Colorado had taken the momentum.

Jerome Pathon took it back.

Back, as in 86 yards back for a touchdown with the ensuing kickoff.

Then Detmer headed up a six-play, 79-yard drive, culminating in a seven-yard touchdown pass to Darrin Chiaverini to tie the game, 21-21. Chiaverini also had a 39-yard reception in the drive.

Jeremy Aldrich’s 42-yard field goal gave Colorado its first lead, 24-21, with 1:50 to play in the half. The Buffaloes increased their lead to 33-21 on a four-yard touchdown pass to Carruth midway through the fourth quarter.

In the first quarter, Dillon carried the ball on six of Washington’s first eight plays before diving in from the two to cap Washington’s 65-yard drive. His runs of 15 and 25 yards might have resulted in touchdowns had he survived being pushed out of bounds.

Two possessions later, shortly after a Detmer pitch to Herchell Troutman was wide and recovered by the Huskies, Dillon broke off-tackle to the left for 12 yards to spot Washington (9-3) a 14-0 lead with 3:11 left in the first quarter.