Colorado State's Rocky Mountain Showdown Win Guarantees Little

So the Colorado State football squad is in for a banner season following its season--opening 31-17 win in the Rocky Mountain Showdown?
Not so fast, Ram Nation.
As impressive as the comeback win was, it guarantees CSU very little going forward.
In fact, the last three seasons in which Rams beat the Buffs, they finished with losing records:

• In 2012, CSU followed a 22-17 season-opening victory over CU with six straight losses and wound up 4-8.
• In 2009, the Rams' 23-17 win over the Buffs was followed by two more victories, but a nine-loss tailspin ensued for a 3-9 finish.
• In 2006, CSU's 14-10 Rocky Mountain Showdown triumph gave the Rams a 2-0 record, but they proceeded to drop eight of their final 10 games to wind up 4-8.

As for the Buffs, a loss to the Rams most definitely doesn't bode well for the season to come.
Since the rivalry more or less resumed on a annual basis in 1983, CU has lost to CSU seven times. In those seven seasons, the Buffs have only gone on to post a winning season twice (7-5 in 1999 & 9-5 in 2002).
In the aforementioned 2006, '09 and '12 seasons -- which featured CU's three most recent losses to CSU prior to this year -- the Buffs finished an aggregate 6-30.

An Inequitable Tale of 3 Franchises

With Wednesday's news that former Minnesota Vikings' center Mick Tingelhoff is the Pro Football Hall of Fame Senior Committee's lone 2015 player nominee, I had to call an immediate time-out to do a little historical research.
As a six-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro selection who never missed a start in 240 games, Tingelhoff certainly has HOF credentials, but whether or not he receives the required 80 percent vote next winter to earn enshrinement to Canton is actually sort of irrelevant for our purposes here.
Bear with me.
Here's a comparison -- a tale of the tape if you will -- of three franchises who entered the pro football ranks in the early 1960s:

• Seasons: Team A 54, Team B 54, Team C 53
• Regular-season win percentage: Team C .541 (431-365-10), Team A .526 (432-378-10), Team B .463 (376-436-8)
• Division titles: Team C 18, Team A 13, Team B 10
• Playoff berths: Team C 27, Team A 20, Team B 17
• Postseason win percentage: Team A .526 (20-18), Team B .483 (14-15), Team C .413 (19-27)
• Conference/league championship game appearances: Team A 9, Team C 9, Team B 8
• Super Bowl appearances: Team A 7, Team B 4, Team C 4
• Super Bowl wins: Team A 2, Team B 0, Team C 0
• Hall-of-Fame selections (primary contributors): Team C 12, Team B 9, Team A 4

Now here's a side-by-side-by-side snapshot of the same three franchises from 1983-98:

• Seasons: 16
• Regular-season win percentage: Team A .633 (161-93-1), Team B .535 (136-119), Team C .555 (141-114)
• Division titles: Team A 7, Team B 6, Team C 4
• Playoff  berths: Team A 10, Team B 9, Team C 9
• Postseason win percentage: Team A .636 (22-14), Team B .550 (11-9), Team C .357 (5-9)
• Conference championship game appearances: Team A 6, Team B 5, Team C 2
• Super Bowl appearances: Team A 5, Team B 4, Team C 0
• Super Bowl wins: Team A 2, Team B 0, Team C 0
• HOF primary contributors from this period: Team B 6, Team C 5, Team A 3

Your franchises revealed: A (Denver Broncos), B (Buffalo Bills) and C (you guessed it, the Vikings).
As for significance of the 1983-98 span, just call it the Elway Era.
And as for the point here, the above inequity between the numbers in categories 1-8 and No. 9 says all that needs to be said.

Preseason precursors for Broncos?

Some quick notes on the Denver Broncos' preseason history before the Orange & Blue kick off the 2014 exhibition season tonight against the Seahawks.

• In the 44 seasons since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger, the Broncos have had 21 winning preseasons. They followed those 21 with a winning regular season 15 times.
• Conversely, the Broncos have had 27 winning regular seasons during that span. They finished above. 500 in the preseason in 17 of those years.
• The Broncos have had four uneaten preseasons -- going 4-0 in 1982, 2000 and 2005. They were a combined 25-15 in those three ensuing regular seasons, notching winning records in two of the three.
• Since the merger, the Broncos have had eight regular seasons in which they've won six or fewer games. They had winning preseasons in half of those eight years.
• In the Broncos' seven Super Bowl seasons, they've had four winning preseasons and finished .500 or better in all seven exhibition seasons -- including last year's 2-2 mark -- going a combined 20-12 overall.
• Finally, the franchise hasn't experienced a winning preseason since 2006 -- easily their longest drought since '70.

What does it all mean? As you can see, not much.
These games are, after all, called exhibitions for a reason.