Nebraska QB Joe Ganz wants to do what the Buffs did to him last year:

"It's an absolute redemption game for me, for the seniors, for everyone who was a part of it last year," Ganz told the Lincoln Journal-Star. "That's one thing on our mind ... to see how they'll like it, sitting at home, watching everyone else play, like we did last year. That's one thing on our mind. ... We have to come out and play our best football because we want to do everything we can to keep them out of a bowl like we did last year."

Bo Pelini wants Joe Ganz to shut up:

"I wish Joe would just worry about Joe," he said.

I think coach Pelini should have used this line on Nebraska OL Matt Slauson who went off yesterday and gives the Buffs plenty of bulletin board material.

As a somewhat native of Colorado, I have an extreme distaste for them," Slauson said Tuesday. "I wouldn't mind keeping them out of a bowl just like they did to us last year and just like they did to us in '04."

 "I have an extreme distaste for them. They recruit guys there for one reason, and that's to beat Nebraska. If you take that away from them, they have nothing."

"They're in the Big 12 and when you think Big 12 schools you think Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska," Slauson said. "(The Buffs) seem irrelevant. Boy, that's bulletin-board material."

Thanks bud. Yep, those Nebraska Cornhuskers are full of class.

It looks like Buffs starting senior safety Ryan Walters will not play (very doubtful) Friday after suffering a knee and ankle injury on the first play of the Oklahoma State game. That means two freshmen will be patrolling the safety positions: Anthony Perkins and Patrick Mahnke. The good thing for the Buffs is that Perkins has seen a lot of playing time and Mahnke played the whole game last week for Walters.

Neil Woelk of the Daily Camera says don't worry CU fans, the Buffs know the Nebraska game is important. But he also says this game is not as important as it once was as the Buffs used the game as a measuring stick and frankly, the Huskers aren't that good:

But in all honesty, beating Nebraska these days doesn't carry the same status that it did even six or seven years ago. It is in no way, shape or form a measuring stick of playing against the best.

Rather, the last few years it's become a way for Colorado to salvage a season -- and that's not what CU should be pursuing as an "end all."

The Huskers may indeed be an upper-tier team again someday. This year, though, they have just one victory -- against Kansas -- that would be considered a "quality" win. Otherwise, they're a team also trying to catch the big boys in the Big 12.

Nebraska wide receiver coach Ted Gilmore met with University of Wyoming officials yesterday to interview for their head coaching vacancy.

Tim Griffin of ESPN highlights all of the rivalry games this week in the Big 12.

The Buffs men's basketball team beat the Lafayette Leopards last night in Boulder 73 - 59 after, once again, running away with it in the second half. The Buffs are sure lucky to have sophomore G Cory Higgins on the team right now. Higgins had 24 points last night as he led all scorers. Three other CU players were in double digits last night: freshman Nate Tomlinson (10), freshman Austin Dufault (11) and junior Dwight Thorne (14). The Buffs shot another strong percentage last night (52.1%) while their opponent only connected on 35.1%. The Buffs did a good job of guarding the Lafayette three-point shooters as the Leopards only made 5 of 21 attempts. Still, Colorado was out-rebounded by a 35 - 30 margin which continues to be the Buffs Achilles heel. The Buffs also turned the ball over 19 times which is something Bzdelik wants his team to improve on.

The next game for the Buffs is on the road against Stanford.

The 2008 Big 12 All-Academic Teams were announced yesterday. Five Buffs made the first team and one made the second team:

First Team (3.20+ GPA)

Name, School Class Major Hometown
Jake Behrens, Colorado So. Accounting Omaha, Neb.
George Hypolite, Colorado Sr. Ethnic Studies & Women's Studies Los Angeles, Calif.
Travis Sandersfeld, Colorado Fr. Business Limon, Colo.
Devin Shanahan, Colorado Jr. Economics Highlands Ranch, Colo.
Nate Solder, Colorado So. Biology Buena Vista, Colo.

Second Team (3.00 to 3.19 GPA)

Name, School Class Major Hometown
Patrick Devenny, Colorado Jr. Marketing Roseville, Calif.

Graham Harrell has a 4.0 GPA. I didn't know that. Other notables who made the first team include Sam Bradford, DeMarco Murray, Todd Reesing, Chase Daniel, Joe Ganz and Colt McCoy.

Those of you looking for something to do Friday night after the Buffs game should head up to Keystone for a free show by awesome local band Devotchka.  Should be a good time.   Next week is Girl Talk and if you haven't seen him before you need not miss it. - Woodrow

Devotchka - The Last Beat of My Heart

Well, well, well. A couple hours from now, CU will take try and save their season. A win and there is a great chance the Buffs will be bowling and, with a good chance of beating Iowa State and a punchers chance at beating Nebraska, the Buffs could actually get to that 7 win mark. What does seven wins mean? Improvement and progress even though we might not see it on the field. 7 is better than 6. And even though we can't see improvement on the field, 99.6% of this teams offense is generated by freshman and sophomores. 99.6%. That unenviable for any coach. Throw in a couple of big injuries and Buffs fans can put a pretty nice spin on this year, even with blow out losses to Missouri and Texas. Lose this game, no bowl game, no marked sign of improvement and a questioning fan base. Fair or unfair, that is what will happen. Some of the criticism will be fair, some will be unfair but it will all be in the direction of desired results. Buffs fans don't want to keep saying, "next year." This is also a big game for recruiting. If the Buffs can string together 2 wins in a row and 3 in the last 4 going back to the Kansas State game, interest begins to go up for the Buffs. Lose, the Buffs have 5 commits which is not a strong base in the Big 12. Not saying they will lose any of the them but concern will grow about increasing that number to 15 or 18 commits. Not to sound doom and gloom on all of you but this is a spring board/pivotal/must win/really freaking big game that must be won. It's a game that I believe the Buffs should win. Texas A&M has beat Army, New Mexico and Iowa State on the year. Do you think the Buffs are better than those teams? The Aggies have lost to Arkansas St. and Kansas State. Yes, A&M has been accumulating stats like a fat kid accumulates Halloween candy but that is not the substance of this Aggie team. This Aggie team is young, slow and very beatable.

Nothing new here, just pleading for the Buffs to look at how they played Kansas State and they will win. So "Keys" will be really similar to that game. In honor of offensive coordinator Helfrich's wish, let's simplify:

Stop the Tex Ags Rushing Attack: The Buffs can give up two touchdown passes to Jerrod Johnson and still win the game. What the Buffs can't do is let the A&M rushing game get going. A&M is the worst rushing team in the Big 12. With the health of leading rusher Mike Goodson up in the air, A&M is an even worse rushing offense. The Buffs need to shut it down early and force Johnson to throw the ball a ton. I like the way our defense matches up with A&M. I think the CB's can keep pace with the Aggies WR's and with a little extra commitment to LB's at the line of scrimmage, I believe the Buffs can get to Johnson. But if CU starts giving up big runs, look for the CU defense to struggle against the pass as well. Stopping the run, limits a team's momentum and it also forces a young team like Texas A&M into long 2nd and 3rd down situation where the Buffs can start the turnover train.

the other keys to the game and prediction after the jump...

Continue reading this post »

It looks like BuffZag had good sources as Shane Harris-Tunks, an intriguing 6-foot-11 center/forward from Australia, is the third Buffs recruit in the 2008 - 2009 campaign. How awesome is it that BuffZag broke a recruit. He will be on SBNation soon with The Kennel Report, a Gonzaga blog. Very little is know about Harris-Tunks:

According to a bio for the Australian Institute of Sport, "(Harris-Tunks) is a good passer and has the ability to score in a variety of ways but it will be his presence at the defensive end of the floor that (his current) team will depend on him."

The Buffs are supposed to be making considerable offensive changes this week for the Texas A&M game. Considerable would be dropping the spread. Considerable would be playing Hansen the whole game.

From the Neil Woelk's Daily Camera article:

Asked what his advice to his players has been, Hawkins chuckled.

"Relax. Have fun. Smile a little bit," Hawkins said. "My job is to get these kids to stay balanced, stay focused."

Hopefully, he just left out the part about trying to get these guys more prepared than he has so far this year. I would like to see Hawkins intensity raised a notch or two.

For all the doom and gloom on CU message boards and blogs, Coach Hawkins has an unbelievable knack at keeping things calm. At first, I was frustrated reading his responses to the media luncheon questions but now I think it is important to present a good united front. On the practice field, though, heads better be turning. I don't agree with this answer from Hawk, though:

On Blitzing Missouri QB Chase Daniel

"It's hard to get to him. One, they put him deeper than other teams do. Again, he's got full command of what's going on; and because of the nature of their routes and the way they time things up, if you watch all of the film that Coach Collins and those guys watch, very few times you get there."

I wish someone would have asked him why he squib the first kickoff with a kicker who boots it out of the endzone?

Hawk is impressed with freshman RB Darrell Scott's maturity this year. No doubt it has been a tough year all around:

"I've just been so impressed with his attitude about everything since coming here," Hawkins said. "That, to me, has been awesome, been great. He's going to have many days on Folsom Field where he tears it up. He's going to be a great player. He will. His time will come."

Hawkins then said about Scott:

He's going to have many days at Folsom Field where he tears it up. He's going to be a great player. He will."

One can only hope!

58 - 0. How do you write a post game reaction to that? Really, how do you? So much for that "its not going to be a 55 - 10 score like last year." Can we officially say this Buffs team is worse than last year?  At least last year we could hang with teams like Texas Tech. This year, we have zero offense and a bad defensive game plan. Remember, this Missouri team was the 100th ranked defense in the nation and the Buffs got 199 yards of total offense, the worst output of the year. Saturday marked the fourth game under 300 yards this year for the Buffs. 300 yards in the Big 12 is usually done in the first half...not for the CU Buffs. Now we are left  to wonder if the Bernard Jackson offense of 2006 better than this offense in 2008, three years into the Dan Hawkins regime? Buffs fans' are looking at coaches like Tim Brewster at Minnesota, David Cutcliffe at Duke, Butch Davis at North Carolina or Paul Johnson at Georgia Tech who right now are in there first, second year or third years at their programs and asking, "why are they having more success than CU." It's the question on everyone's mind and rightfully so. No I am not starting a "fire Dan Hawkins thread" but where is the improvement? Spare me the injury talk or the inexperience talk, the score was 58 - 0 and the Buffs had 199 yards of total offense. At the end of the first quarter the Buffs had -6 yards, at halftime the Buffs had 33 yards and 3 first downs. The Buffs come out on the initial kickoff and squib quick the ball on the opening kickoff, giving Mizzou a 57 yard field goal, quickly following up that gaff with a dropped punt at the Buffs own 4 yard line by our backup punter. It looked as if the only thing the Buffs schemed the entire week of practice for the game was the initial squib kickoff as what was going to seal the deal. A squib kick with a kicker in Jameson Davis who is in the top 5 in touchbacks? Luckily for the coaches, a squib kick decision wasn't need the rest of the way as the Buffs failed to score any points. Where is the coaching right now? The Buffs seem like the make zero adjustments, continually playing zone and not bring pressure (except the Kansas State game where the Buffs won and CU had a great defensive game plan). Your head coach cannot say this on KOA Radio after the game. Inexcusable:

"I did a terrible job of preparing them to play."

read the many negatives and a couple positives from yesterday's after the jump...

Continue reading this post »

Do you know where you will be at 4:30 MT? I wish Gary Pinkel would have said 5:30 pm Central time in his "attempt to motivate" speech this week. I keep telling people the game is at 5:30 pm but no Buffs fans, if you live in the Mountain time zone, the game is at 4:30 pm this Saturday. 3:30 pm for you Pacific Time folks and a late 6:30 pm for you East Coasters. I am sick of it too but it as at least comical that Mizzou is putting this much focus on the Buffs this week and not the previous two. And you know what, Buffs fans need some comedy as we might not want 4:30 pm to come on Saturday because currently the Buffs are 24.5 point underdogs to the Tigers. Do I think the Buffs will lose by 24.5? No. I am convinced the defense for the Buffs is better than most give it credit for. Last time I checked, Kansas ranks 6th and Kansas St. ranks 20th in college football in passing. I also saw what Noel Devine and the Mountaineer rushing attack did to one of those strong SEC defenses last night in Auburn. I may be wrong but I am pretty confident the Buffs will not give up 55 points like they did last year. That being said, the Buffs have not faced a trio like QB Chase Daniel, RB Jeremy Maclin and TE Chase Coffman this year. Coffman being the X factor in my opinion. Kansas and KState had a good quarterback like Daniel but no one has had a tight end like Coffman. No one in America might have a better utilized tight end. Then you throw in a capable back like Derrick Washington, Mizzou has some serious fire power. CU's defense will definitely be challenged. Look for Cha'pelle Brown to D up Maclin for most of the game with help over the top from Walters. Hopefully, Walters can line up a good hit on Maclin. That would help the Buffs chances. The big conundrum will be who is going to stick with Chase Coffman?

When CU has the ball, they are facing a team in Mizzou that ranks 100th in total defense and 114th in passing defense. Most are now just realizing the problems with Mizzou's defense after two loses but this Missouri defense has had problems all year, giving up 5.3 yards a play and if you remove the teams they have played that don't have a pulse, the Tigers are giving up over 6.4 yards/play. Juice Williams of Illinois threw for 451 yards against them. All year teams have had success throwing on Mizzou and the last two weeks, they have been porous against the run giving up an average of 195 per game on the ground. Sounds great, right? Sounds similar right? It should sound like the preview to Kansas State last week.  In case you needed to be reminded, the Buffs scored 14 points last week against the 12th ranked defense in the Big 12 even though CU dominated the time of possession and the overall flow of the game. It's about points in this wonderful game and the Buffs aren't putting it in the end zone enough to really get excited about a possible upset this week. Currently CU's offense ranks dead last in the Big 12 mostly because of a deficient passing game. Again, we will be asking the question: what gives this week, the 12th ranked passing offense or the 12th ranked passing defense?

But if the Buffs were to defy the odds, literally, here are The Ralphie Report's "Keys to the Game." Remember how money they were last week, with the Buffs getting high grades on 4 out of 5 on their way to victory. This week, the Buffs need high grades in all five categories.

Keys to the Game after the jump...

Continue reading this post »

So the CU vs Mizzou line is up to 24.5 points. I am now scared for Saturday. Can the Buffs really lose by 24.5 points? I am trying to figure out what the line would have been if Mizzou was 7 - 0. I am wondering if the betters have bought into the "be ready at 5:30" motto out of Missouri. This spread is bigger than the Oklahoma game last year. The Kansas City Star picks the Tigers 52 - 14. CollegeFootballNews.com picks Mizzou 45 - 14. That is good because most of the time I look at this site's predictions it is wrong.

Ooohhh...I am scared. How much would you like to beat these clowns just so I can see this guys reaction?:

After what has happened to Missouri on consecutive Saturdays perhaps the worst thing to be just now is a Colorado Buffalo.

"The team goals are friggin’ out the window," said Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel. "It’s do-or-die time.

.......

Because of that — if things go the way Missouri coach Gary Pinkel intends — it is the Buffaloes who may be on the list of endangered species.

A little dramatic Mike DeArmond and from what I have read this weak, he is Mr. Dramatic.

This writer from the Examiner thinks that getting Missouri running back Derrick Washington needs to get going if the Tigers are going to be successful again this year:

Against the Cowboys, the man they call D-Wash was a non-factor in the Tigers’ 28-23 upset loss, carrying the ball only eight times for 11 yards. A week later in Austin, Washington’s absence, though slightly more excusable considering Missouri’s 32-point halftime deficit, was still noticeable: 17 yards on seven carries. Eeeeek!

At one time this year, Washington led the nation in scoring earlier. I am expecting a heavy dose of Washington this weekend

I like you Josh Smith, but you are not Jeremy Maclin...

Third on the Big 12 all-purpose yards list is Smith (160.3), who compares himself favorably to Maclin.

"Very talented dude," Smith said. "We're often compared a lot. He's got the speed up to par, nice hands. And we do a lot of the same things, special teams, and just going out and making plays for your team and being depended upon and being able to deliver."

In honor of The Ralphie Report's start of college basketball previews, here is the Boulder Daily Camera's five things to watch this year in the Big 12. A weak list overall but the #5 is funny:

5. CU vs. Cupcakes. The young Buffs will try to stockpile some wins and confidence against the likes of Montana State, Prairie View A&M and Western State before Big 12 play begins. NIT or bust?

In other news, the Buffs have already lost a player, junior forward Trent Beckley will miss the upcoming season with a lumbar spine stress fracture. Beckley played in ten games last year.

It's Friday, so turn up your speakers and play this song really loud. That's what I'm going to do anyway...

Sunset Rubdown - The Taming of the Hands That Came Back to Life

I like Coach Hawk but this a crap answer regarding Josh Smith's playing time for this week's media luncheon:

On if it is a Priority to Get WR Josh Smith More Touches

"Yeah, but again, you reach a point where a guy is your punt returner and your kick returner, your deep threat; at some point you have to be judicious about allowing him to be fresh and know what he's doing, to keep him going as well."

Jeremy Maclin and Dez Bryant both play on special teams and are the featured wide receivers for there team. If "freshness" is a problem, don't play him on special teams but someone else back there. The Buffs need offensive help.

The Columbia Tribune breaks down the game this weekend by unit and who has the advantage. Of course, Mizzou gets the nod in every category. I wouldn't sleep on the Buffs defense against the run this weekend. I think the Buffs may have the advantage there.

Mizzourah, a Missouri blog, feels that Jeremy Maclin will be back next year after being overshadowed in part by Daniel, Washington and Coffman this year, especially in prime time games. With Colt McCoy declaring that he will be back next year, it looks like the Big 12 will be just as hard next year.

Tim Griffin of ESPN thinks Mizzou in a blow out this weekend. Who doesn't think Missouri in a blow out? No one is keeping the Buffs within 20. It could be a depressing weekend. But hey at least the Broncos don't play and make it a double whammy. The key for the Buffs is to deal a few blows early this Saturday and make Mizzou respond. I still think Mizzou is a team on edge right now and a couple things go the Buffs way early, Daniel might get erratic.

CU QB commit Jordan Wynn has his Oceanside ranked #1 in San Diego, #10 in the West and #56 in the nation. Wynn was highlighted last week as one of rivals top sleepers as a kid with a great arm and tons of leadership qualities.

ESPN has released a video of CU commit DT Nosa Eguae from Texas. For all of those who don't have a rivals or scout account, this might be your first time seeing him.

In honor of tonight's Kings of Leon concert here in Denver is an old school track that is one of my favorites.

Kings of Leon - Day Old Blues

Video footage of the Nebraska spitters that Chase Daniel was talking about...mystery solved. I always thought Nebraska swallowed but this shows otherwise.

If you look on our old site, you will see that Buffs fans chose quarterback Cody Hawkins as the player who will most dictate the success of the Colorado Buffaloes this year. Cody has been receiving high remarks from training camp this year, coming in stronger and having a year of experience under his belt. In the first scrimmage this year, Cody put up great numbers going 17-26 for 268 yards and 5 total touchdowns (3 passing, 2 rushing) and in the second scrimmage, he was strong again completing 17 passes out of 25 for 225 yards and 2 touchdowns with 1 interception. Entering his second year, there will be an expected improvement for Hawkins that will be needed to take the Buffs from a 6 win team in 2007 to a 7 - 8 win team with a very difficult schedule in 2008. What kind of improvement you ask, well luckily for us, the Big 12 has been deemed the best quarterback conference in college football this year so we can take a look at some of the best the Big 12 has to offer and see where Cody needs to improve. There are 7 quarterbacks in the Big 12 who we looked at that had played at least two years - Chase Daniels, Josh Freeman, Colt McCoy, Todd Reesing, Graham Harrell, Stephen McGee and Zach Robinson. Although some of these quarterbacks had limited action in their freshman/1^st year, they all had extensive playing time in their 2^nd year. Other than McGee, these quarterbacks are seen as some of the top players in the Big 12, if not the country. You can view the stats of all the quarterbacks mentioned above here. Below are the average statistics of these quarterbacks and where Cody needs to go in his sophomore year compared to the other QB's in the Big 12. Like I said before, this is a strong comparison sample.

By all accounts, Cody had a great year when you compare his freshman year with the other quarterbacks' freshman year in the Big 12. Most of the top quarterbacks listed didn't get extensive work, though, in their first year of eligibility so Cody has a leg up there. But looking at the chart and comparing Cody's freshman year to the 7 Big 12 quarterbacks 2nd year, the word consistency jumps off the page at me. Cody will have to become a more mature and consistent passer. The interception:touchdown ratio needs to get down to the 1:2.5 to 1:3 range. The Buffs had too many turnovers last year coming up -4 in the all important plus/minus stat. His completion percentage is also well below the average by about 7%. It's definitely not all negative for Cody either. His touchdown passes are very comparable as well as his passing yardage.

As the Buffs begin to open up the offense, I believe you will see Cody's numbers begin to flourish. Teams were able to game plan against a rather vanilla offense last year where the Buffs couldn't match the talent levels of most of the teams they played. The Buffs now have a wrinkle in their offense as Coach Hawkins begins to implement his Boise State style of play, throwing in a no-huddle and almost exclusively going out of the shotgun which is more of the offense Cody played in high school. Second and probably the most important reason that Cody will improve his statistics to join the upper echelon quarterbacks in the league is the talent he is now surrounded with. The Buffs have great WR's in Josh Smith and Scotty McKnight whom both provide something different in the Buffs' attack. If Patrick Williams turns to corner this year, you have three solid WR's with experience plus an experienced tight end in Riar Geer.

Cody also has a more versatile backfield. Last year, Hugh Charles could dazzle but he never was the dependable workhorse that the Buffs needed, often drawing criticism from the coaches. Demetrius Sumler and Darrell Scott will be instant improvements over last year while Rodney Stewart will be the surprise of the bunch. I can't wait for those outside of Boulder to see this kid run. For you Kansas State fans, he is about 5'7" and wears #43 if that rings a bell and he is exactly that type of player. Right now they are saying Stewart is ahead of both Polk and Scott.

The talent the Buffs have right now is definitely exciting. If Cody Hawkins can improve his numbers to be in line with the quarterbacks that came before him, we could be looking at a special year in Boulder.