HOUSTON - Besides the scoreboard, which was ugly all by itself, the lasting image of Colorado’s latest debacle at the Big 12 title game will be that of Joel Klatt lying face down, motionless in the end zone.

Flattened. Steamrolled. Embarrassed.

The Colorado quarterback was victimized by a vicious hit, a helmet to the chin in the third quarter of Saturday’s 70-3 loss to Texas, adding injury to insult in one of the worst losses in the history of the program.

“It was a pretty numbing game,” coach Gary Barnett said. “Actually, numb would be a good feeling right now.”

Klatt, who staggered off the field with a concussion, was taken to the hospital where he was to stay overnight for observation.

The rest of the Buffs shuffled onto the bus and tried to figure out where everything went wrong.

There is, of course, no real turning point in a 70-3 game. So instead, Barnett chose to focus on last month.

“For some reason, we could not overcome that loss to Iowa State,” he said, harkening back to a 30-16 defeat that started the Buffs on their three-game losing streak.

Before that loss, CU looked like a legitimate contender, if not for the national championship, then at least for the division title it won anyway and maybe a decent bowl to go with it.

Since then, Colorado has been outscored 100-6 by Nebraska and Texas, two games in which it can fairly be said that the Buffs barely showed up.

“Something’s been mentally wrong with our team,” tight end Joe Klopfenstein said. “But we haven’t been able to pinpoint what it is.”

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That they haven’t is disturbing, not only because of the result Saturday, but because of what it bodes for the very uncertain future.

Barnett, who basically conceded he can’t feel the pulse of his own team, has one year left on his contract and is still waiting for an extension that seemed certain to be coming when the Buffs were 7-2 and rolling toward the Big 12 North. Now, that seems less sure.

Either way, Barnett has been outrecruited for the last few years by Nebraska, which based on the results of last week’s game, seems to be emerging as the new “power” in that weak division.

On Saturday, he got badly outcoached for the second straight week.

“I hated to see the score get like it did for him,” said Barnett’s friend, Texas coach Mack Brown.

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If Barnett returns, the strength of this year’s offense — Klatt and Klopfenstein — will both be gone. All-star kicker Mason Crosby, who had a 31-yarder blocked, is staying and most of a pretty strong defense will return, too.

But the Buffs need more.

They will hang another banner this season for making the Big 12 title game for the fourth time in five years, but they’re not fooling anyone with that anymore.

Last year, they lost 42-3 to Oklahoma. This year, they trailed 42-3 at halftime.

“We all know this is a pretty fragile existence,” Barnett said. “We’ve all known all along it’s fragile. What happened to us today is a great example of that.”