Boulder, Colo. ? It doesn’t make or break anybody’s season, and certainly the mood of the entire state doesn’t hinge on the outcome.

But to say the traditional season-opening meeting between Colorado and Colorado State is just another game – well, that wouldn’t be quite right, either.

This rivalry, the 76th version of which will be played today, has instigated a near-riot among fans, generated some decent trash talk between players and has often set the tone for the season to come for both programs.

“I don’t think jobs are at stake for this ballgame,” CSU coach Sonny Lubick said. “But if you lose it three, four, five times in a row, I’m sure there could be problems for you.”

Gary Barnett knows.

The Colorado coach is more or less expected to win this game every year.

CU is, after all, the bigger school (approximately 29,000 to CSU’s 25,000), in a bigger conference (Big 12 vs. Mountain West) and supposedly gets first pick when it comes to the top players in the region. But when the Buffs lost three of four between 1999 and 2002, suddenly Barnett realized what a big deal the game could be.

When the next schedule came out, he put “Colorado State” in red letters, the same way he and his predecessors had long done with Nebraska.

“If we lose, there’s a little bit of moaning, a little bit of ‘Whoa is me’ around campus for a few days and it’s not a good feeling,” Barnett said. “If we win, it’s ‘That’s great, now what are we going to do next week?'”