The Colorado football team isn't going to the Big 12 Conference championship game in five weeks without a lot of help.

Sound familiar?

It should.

The Buffs — veterans in the program anyway — have been in this position before, trailing in the standings with November on the horizon. An almost unbelievable set of circumstances unfolded at the tail end of the 2004 and 2005 seasons allowing the Buffs to compete for the conference crown.

Both years involved plenty of mediocrity within the north division and the Buffs learning while sitting on their couches watching others lose that they would play in the title game. Both scenarios also involved Iowa State place-kicker Bret Culbertson missing key field goals to help the Buffs.

Culbertson is still around in case you're wondering. And he's made just eight of 15 field goal attempts this season.

CU is back in familiar territory after suffering consecutive losses in the past two weeks to north division rivals Kansas and Kansas State. Kansas holds what amounts to a three-game lead on the Buffs with a 3-0 conference record and the tiebreaker on their side.

Missouri and Kansas State also would have to suffer multiple setbacks for the Buffs to reach their goal. CU plays at Texas Tech on Saturday (10 a.m. ABC), a place it has never won, and will host Missouri the following week.

"It hurts your manhood, I guess you could say, hoping for somebody else to lose so you can get back up there," senior linebacker Jordon Dizon said. "But we still control our destiny somewhat. No matter if they win or lose, we still have to go out and win."

Dizon and others in the program said winning the conference championship remains the primary goal of the team, despite its position in the standings. If there is a team in the league that would believe in its chances with a .500 record at this point, it is the Buffs.

While they are willing to acknowledge their desire to win the north division, they aren't biting on bowl game talk just yet. Ask them about their bowl chances and you might hear crickets chirping.

At 4-4 overall and 2-2 in Big 12 play, CU must win three of its final four games to assure itself of a bowl game.

The Buffs know from Kansas' experience last year that winning six games — the minimum standard for bowl eligibility — would guarantee them nothing. The Jayhawks finished 6-6 last season and were home for the holidays.

"Right now we are playing in the Red Raider Bowl in Lubbock, and we're excited about it," coach Dan Hawkins said Tuesday, steadfastly refusing to delve into talk about the postseason.

Every Division I team begins the season with a bowl game listed among its top goals, and the Buffs are no different, even if they refuse to talk about it. A bowl appearance, no matter which one, would help the program in recruiting and it would also provide 15 additional practice sessions in December.

Those practices are coveted by every coach, but especially those building programs around a young core of players.

"I don't think anyone has made any plans to go home for Christmas, we're all about football right now and we're trying to win football games right now," freshman quarterback Cody Hawkins said. "We have to beat Texas Tech, then Missouri, we have got to beat Iowa State and we have to beat Nebraska. We're just trying to win football games and whatever happens, happens."

Senior cornerback Terrence Wheatley said the players with the most at stake — the senior class — are probably the most comfortable with the current situation. He said he knows from experience that younger players are more vulnerable to being overwhelmed by the big picture instead of taking it one game at a time.

"I've been around long enough that stranger things have happened to me," Wheatley said. "I think it was my sophomore year we went to the Big 12 Championship and everybody kind of wrote us off and things just fell in place that last week.

"You just never know, you have to take it game-by-game, day-by-day and just focus on what you need to do."