Friday Buff Bites - The Pac-12 Fixes Its Officiating, Previewing Ohio State

Recapping the last week in Buffs news. As we get further and further into the summer I may start adding more general college football posts to this. If you guys would rather I kept it Buffs centric let me know in the comments.

 Video: Colorado-Ohio State preview - Pac-12 Blog - ESPN - A video preview of the Colorado - Ohio State match-up.

 Pac-12 revamps its officiating - Pac-12 Blog - ESPN - Thank goodness.

Pereira fired 12 of the league's 44 officials -- an attrition rate of 27 percent -- while hiring 18 new ones (the extra officials account for the league's expansion). Here's another way he knew that the league's officiating had been -- get ready for another adjective -- "stagnant." According to Pereira, the NFL hasn't hired a Pac-12 official in seven years.

"I'm not saying it was horrible," Pereira said. "It was not what the conference deserved and to me it hasn't been what the conference desired."

 Scout.com: 2011 Pac 12 South Schedule Breakdown

Summary: Because Colorado wasn’t extending itself enough with a move to the Pac 12, it had to put together a bear of non-conference schedule. Going to Hawaii to start the season is no way to ease into the year, having to deal with the high-octane Warrior air show on its own turf, and the Colorado State rivalry game is almost always a war. Oh yeah, and then there’s that little trip to Ohio State to deal with before diving into Pac 12 play. On the plus side, that’s one of the games that Terrelle Pryor and four other Buckeyes will be suspended for, and it’s an even bigger bonus that the first game in the school’s Pac 12 history is at home against Washington State. That’s about as important a must win as they come with, arguably, the nastiest five-game stretch that anyone in college football has to deal with starting out with road trips to Stanford and Washington, a home "oasis" against Oregon, a date at Arizona State, and a home game against USC. If that wasn't enough the Buffs have to close out on the road at UCLA and Utah.

 The Big Picture: A split between the AQ and the non-AQ is inevitable - Dr. Saturday - NCAAF Blog - Yahoo! Sports - Interesting discussion about the future of college football. This gave me a great idea for a story for next week, stay tuned...

 Ohio State Confidential: Former Football Player Ray Small Speaks Candidly - Burnt Orange Nation - The back lash from current and former OSU players to Small has been pretty outstanding entertainment.

 2011 Season Preview: Golden Boys And The UCLA Bruins - SBNation.com - SBNation's Bill Connelly previews the 2011 UCLA Bruins football team. Does the QB drama end in Rick Neuheisel's fourth season?

 What's your Big 12 dream team look like? - Big 12 Blog - ESPN - Obviously not our conference anymore, but a decent read nonetheless.