Boulder, Colo. ? Fall is in the air. Texas is coming to town. The Big 12 is up for grabs.

Not too long ago, that would have made for a pretty exciting week at Colorado.

These days, though, there’s a growing sense that the struggling Buffaloes are spending as much time searching for wins as wondering what stroke of bad luck might hit them next.

The Buffs are 4-3, 1-3 in the Big 12 North, and because the division is so wretched this year, there is still actually some hope of a good ending to this season.

The reality, however, isn’t as rosy. The start of football season was supposed to signal a reprieve for a program under fire after the offseason rape and recruiting scandals that rocked the school.

But at his weekly news conference, coach Gary Barnett hardly sounded like a man at peace. In fact, he conceded not knowing which team is going to show up every Saturday.

“That’s sort of fun not knowing,” he said. “Well, I don’t know if ‘fun’ is the right word. Maybe interesting.”

Came to play

Last week’s game was certainly interesting. The Buffaloes were 191/2-point underdogs to No. 16 Texas A&M, but they came to play. With some new looks on offense, they put up 510 yards and led 26-23 with 65 seconds left.

Alas, the Aggies moved the ball 78 yards for a field goal to tie the game. A&M kicked a field goal in overtime and on the second play of Colorado’s possession, Bobby Purify lost a fumble that ended the game.

A few years ago, when the Buffs were conference champions and making a bid at the national title, a game like that would have gone down simply as a devastating loss. This week — indeed, this season — coming close to a team that good was pretty much portrayed as a victory.

“We gained a lot of confidence,” Barnett said. “It certainly was our best game. It certainly was in a hostile environment. It certainly was the best team we’ve played so far.”

Against the rest of the schedule, there hasn’t been as much to cheer about.

Only win over ISU

Colorado’s conference win came against lowly Iowa State and it didn’t come easily. The Buffs needed four field goals, including kicks of 54 and 60 yards from Mason Crosby, for a 19-14 win.

Much of the talk in Boulder is about the growing talent gap between CU and the rest of the conference, and the fact that the Buffs will have to recruit under less favorable conditions — mandated by the university in the wake of the scandal — doesn’t bode well.