Van Pelt, Rams spike Buffs in 2002 Showdown

This season marks the final time for the Rocky Mountain Showdown in Denver. This is the final story of a five-week series as we look back at some of the best Mile High moments for Colorado State in the rivalry.

The play lives on, and Bradlee Van Pelt isn't so sure that's a good thing.

It was one moment in a brilliant Colorado State career with a great backstory. He was a transfer from Michigan State, a program uninterested in him as quarterback. Early on, the Rams weren't all that keen on the idea, either. He was asked to move to running back, and he refused. So he persisted and eventually passed for 6,271 yards as a Ram, rushing for 2,274 more and ranks No. 3 in school history in total offense (8,579). He was the offensive player of the year in the Mountain West in 2002 and 2003.

And yet, one play lives on, thanks to YouTube.com

"It's amazing. People find this clip on YouTube and it's new to them," Van Pelt said. "I'm like, I was 21 or 22 at the time. I'm like guys …"

Coming off a win over Virginia on the road, the next step in the 2002 season was against Colorado, which was ranked No. 6 in the country. At the end of a defensive battle, it was the Rams who prevailed 19-14, with Van Pelt putting the final touches on the scoring and providing a timeless memory.

On first down at the CU 23-yard line, Van Pelt faked a pitch left, kept the ball and burst off the end. Then he cut back to the middle of the field, and as he closed in on the goal line, he saw a defender approaching.

Roderick Sneed was closing in, and as Van Pelt was looking, his body started to turn, basically backing into the end zone. Sneed reached out and grabbed Van Pelt's face mask a bit.

Then it happened. Van Pelt spiked the ball of the side of Sneed's helmet.

"It was a pure reaction. Most people won't know this, but this is many years ago. Some of the details get left out," he said. "I was a running quarterback, high school as well, and I scored many touchdowns. I always, besides that one time – I can't think of one other time – where I, A, back-peddled into the end zone, or B, I didn't flip the ball to the referee. I was taught that, and you go back and celebrate with your team. It was not about Bradlee or about celebration for my accomplishments.

"Roderick Sneed – that is lost – was reaching out and he got ahold of my facemask, and that's what prompted me to have a reaction to hit him. Again, I'm still surprised I did it. Literally, it happened in the blink of an eye, and I was as surprised as anybody else. That was not my attitude when I played football was to spike balls on people's heads. I might have been tough, but that wasn't my demeanor."

As glorious a moment as that is to Colorado State fans – and you will still see Van Pelt jerseys in the crowd on game day at Canvas Stadium – Colorado fans felt it was deplorable. Lest we all forget, there was no flag thrown on the play.

"That was overrated," then CSU coach Sonny Lubick said. "I didn't think that much of it. We didn't get penalized. Everybody made a big thing after that. If we got penalized, I would have been so damn mad at him. He's in the end zone a couple of a yards and the guy's still hanging on him."

Truth was, Colorado State still had to hang on, too.

The Rams blanked Colorado for three quarters, but the Buffs found life on a Jeremy Bloom punt return, backed by a drive which led to a go-ahead touchdown with 9:39 remaining. David Vickers, who had been a linebacker up until the season, was enjoying the switch to strong safety, where he was still able to employ his run-stuffing ability. He had 13 tackles in the game, but pass coverage was something he was still learning on the job. And the Buffs were coming his way.

The Buffaloes drove down the field, and with 25 seconds remaining, faced a fourth-down snap in the red zone.

"On that play, it was something we hadn't seen. We didn't practice it at all," Vickers said. "It was a little wrinkle they threw in, and if I remember, the Z came in motion. It was a blitz, so I knew the ball had to be thrown relatively fast. We blitzed off the edge, and the wide receiver was able to get inside. I shouldn't have let him get inside. I just knew I had to get one arm on him and one to slap at the ball. I had to try to make the window a lot smaller and close it down. I knew I had safety help on top, so I knew it had to be thrown perfect."

The window was small. The ball had to clear a linebacker, and a sliver of light was found between the two safeties, one CU receiver John Donahoe had to dive toward. A bit too far, too, and the ball fell to the ground.

"I felt euphoria. All the hard work and beating our in-state rival was sweet," Vickers said. "Being that's your senior year, that was a good moment."

The Rams were flying high, coupled with the win over Virginia the week prior. Van Pelt was still hyped, telling reporters on the field the Rams had just proved the Buffs were not that good. Before long, interview policies around Fort Collins started to change, allowing for a 10-minute cooling-off period.

And of course, they wanted to know about the spike. Some still do.

"I find it funny at times, but at other times, I question why it lives on," Van Pelt said. "I don't know whether any more if it was a funny episode, a serious episode. I believe during that era, it felt like a turning point, that CSU was undeniably on eye-to-eye level with CU. It's hard to say that's still the case. At that moment, it felt like a turning point."

The spike will always live on, and deep down, Van Pelt knows as much. For Lubick, the play is barely a blip on what he remembers about his quarterback, or what the quarterback meant for the program.

If not for Van Pelt, the Rams don't win 10 games that year, nor do they win the Mountain West championship.

"He was different in the fact he was a competitor," Lubick said. "Everybody knows that. He wanted to win. People sometimes, until we all got to know everybody, you could see it, he had a great burning, burning desire. He wanted to be the best. A lot of people like to win, but a lot of them don't have the courage or the toughness he had. He was a tough son of a gun."

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