It can't be an issue this week because when you roll into town promising a return to dominance and still haven't delivered a victory of significance in more than two years, the last thing you concentrate on is an opposing coach.

Even this one.

Even the guy from Seattle.

Colorado's football team is 0-2 to start the season and staring the final four games of a just-shoot-us-now stretch in the face. Gary Barnett once turned America's worst program into a Rose Bowl darling. Now, he's trying to build the Buffaloes into something, anything resembling a team that 10 years ago ranked among the country's most feared teams.

That isn't even the best team its own state today.

	Gary Barnett's Buffs lost their first two games by a total of nine points.

Barnett's task this week comes at home against No. 10 Washington, coached by Rick Neuheisel, the man who led CU's program from 1995-98 before bolting for the Huskies. Last season, in a game played with more emotion than you'll find on a Friday afternoon offering of "General Hospital," in a grudge match billed as more a competition of head coaches than teams, Washington emerged a 31-24 winner.

"I'm not even thinking about (Neuheisel) or any of that kind of stuff this week," Barnett said. "I know my team isn't. We're 0-2 and need a win. I have not heard one word about any of it. That's the truth. We've got more important things to concentrate on, like becoming a better team and not missing so many assignments.

"I really think the situation died after last year's game. It's no longer an issue in our program. People are looking forward to this year's game for all the right reasons, not the wrong ones."

You've heard the tale. Neuheisel left CU for a lot more green stuff in the Pacific Northwest hours before the national letter-of-intent day in 1998. Barnett, who turned Northwestern from a joke into a conference champion, who is responsible for the greatest miracle in Big Ten Conference history, left Chicago for his dream job in Boulder.

A place he spent eight years as an assistant under Bill McCartney.

A place he loves dearly.

The jabs began immediately. Neuheisel questioned the financial support CU offered its program. Barnett accused Neuheisel of trying to recruit CU players over to Washington and added some not-so-subtle implications that the blonde-hair boy wonder had run a haphazard program in Boulder.

Tension built. More accusations flew.

But it's not an issue now, and you really believe Barnett when he says so, because you really understand how much his team craves a W.

"I don't think it's about winning this game for our coach," said CU defensive end Brady McDonnell. "We just need to win, period. No matter who we're playing. This week isn't about (Neuheisel) or any of his assistants who were here. Being 0-2 takes its toll. It's a strain on everyone. All that other stuff is over. We've moved on."

Barnett is a man whose passions include history, who talk as easily about the Great Depression as he can the zone blitz. But the past can also test one's resolve, and it has been a decade since the likes of Darian Hagan and Eric Bieniemy and 23 other NFL-bound Buffaloes led CU to its only national championship.

Pressure is mounting around the Rockies. Barnett a few weeks ago became the first Colorado coach in 51 years to lose consecutive games to Colorado State, now officially the state's top program.

	Barnett's career record
	Year	School	W	L	T	Pct.
	1982	Ft. Lewis	4	5	1	.450
	1983	Ft. Lewis	4	6	0	.400
	1992	N'Western	3	8	0	.273
	1993	N'Western	2	9	0	.182
	1994	N'Western	3	7	1	.318
	1995	N'Western	10	2	0	.833
	1996	N'Western	9	3	0	.750
	1997	N'Western	5	7	0	.417
	1998	N'Western	3	9	0	.250
	1999	Colorado	7	5	0	.545
	Total	10 seasons	50	61	2	.451

His last meaningful victory, the kind that gets alums all teary-eyed, boosters prepared to write more checks and athletic directors shaking more hands: 1996, still at Northwestern, against Michigan.

"We're not where I would have hoped by now, but it takes time," Barnett said. "I still think we're one recruiting class away from being there."

He could be right. Colorado is nine points away from being 2-0 this season, having clawed and scratched to the end against CSU and USC. Its present includes a sensational freshman running back (Marcus Houston) and its future a promising freshman quarterback (Craig Ochs).

Barnett is about just enough discipline and much compassion. He understands the need for a firm hand and open heart.

He also knows about the next month's schedule, about following Washington with this: Kansas State, at Texas A&M, Texas.

Just-shoot-us-now.

"You don't have a chance to grow up playing these kind of a people in the same stretch," Barnett said. "Our goal is to not let the kids get discouraged. The schedule is there. It's not going away.

"We only lose two guys off offense and two guys off defense for next year. If we can just keep everyone together and everyone positive. If we can just learn how to finish out games ... hopefully, we'll start this week."

Against that other coach.

You know, what's-his-name.

Ed Graney covers college football for the San Diego Union Tribune and can be reached at ed.graney@uniontrib.com.