You can't pretend that play didn't matter. It serves as an indelible memory in our national collective college football conscience. The play, circa 1981 is still important. The Bluegrass miracle is still important. The Miracle in Michigan is important not to just CU fans, but all college football fans.
You can downplay the success those teams had in 1994, either. Ours was a one-loss team (11-1). A team that put something like 21 players in the NFL.
Michigan was a thing back then. While we've slid to the cellar, you have to acknowledge that Michigan--since what, 1997?--has slipped to mediocrity. I'm certain that with "Harbs" (JFC), you'll pull yourself back to previous glory. But in 1994, those were to top 10 teams, and that decade was a high point in Michigan's history (regardless of a disappointing 1994 campaign).
When you see CU, you see a bad football team. I get that. CU has been very bad for a decade. But what we, as fans, see is a team that has won a conference title every decade since the 1940s. Few teams can claim the same. We remember our team's national championship and our Heisman. I know that Michigan can claim the same accomplishments, and despite your recent mediocrity, it binds you as fans. When I graduated, I think CU ranked 12th in all time wins. We've slipped considerably since then. We're not a blue-blood, but we're historically better than an "also ran".
But forget what we see as fans. Let's talk about our players. They believe that now is the time. Their time. They believe the rise is real (as do we as fans). It's a storybook statement if the team can prove to the nation that the rise is real in The Big House. One of our great team moments happened there, and it seems fitting. If the uniforms are similar, even better. This isn't about likelihood (I get that it's against the odds--that's what makes this so much fun). It's about making a statement. You should be flattered that the team wants to make it in Ann Arbor of all places. For football, it beats the **** out of Eugene, for instance.
So this isn't some sort of psychological warfare. It's about CU's football team, what they believe, and what they want to accomplish.