Should Colorado beat WVU Thursday night, it needs only to go 8-1 the rest of the way to win 10 games and fulfill Coach Dan Hawkins’ preseason guarantee of a 10-win season. That’d be a pretty neat story bec — What’s that? Taken out of context? Get out of here!

“The thing is, I never made that statement. Somebody put something on the Internet and everybody runs with it. When I talked about the expectation of excellence, what I talked about was the expectation of winning 10 games. But what came out was I guaranteed it and promised it. I didn’t say ’10 wins, no excuses.’ But why let the truth get in the way of a good story?

“But what I was talking about was having that expectation of excellence, having that expectation. ? I just don’t know how you go out and just be mediocre. I don’t know how to do that. I would say this – that since the day I came here, they said, ‘How long do you think it will take [to win]?’ I said, ‘Hey, I would be disappointed if we aren’t back in the thick of it next year.’ I would be. I’m just not a guy who believes in low standards and low expectations. I never have been that way, ever.”