Haven't heard about the SB Nation Conference Re-draft project? Click here.

The first two rounds of the conference re-draft have been completed and most of the teams went pretty closely to expectations. There were 4 teams taken from the SEC, 3 from the Big 10, 2 from the Big 12, and 1 each from the ACC, Pac-12, and Notre Dame.

Here are the results:

Looking at that list, I would say either conference #3 or #5 (the conference names are being created this week) started the best with Alabama/Oklahoma and USC/Notre Dame respectively. Obviously, that's looking at things from a football perspective. In basketball terms the best combo is probably Ohio State/Florida State. Not to impressive. 

Any picks here that you would have done differently? What round do you think the Buffs will come off the board? Which one of these conferences would you like Colorado to join?

Note: There will be a slight format change for the rest of the draft.  From now on we will just be picking at will and reporting the results as often as we want. The method of drafting proved to be much quicker and easier than we anticipated so we should be able to get through this whole thing in the next few weeks.

I'm taking most of this post from Peter over at BON because he said it much better than I could...

The SBN college bloggers are set to begin what should be a really fun project re-drafting schools into conferences, using a fantasy-style snake draft. This post will explain the object of the exercise and the rules governing the game.

The idea is not to improve existing conferences through minor tweaks -- like, say, by adding BYU to the Pac-12 and replacing Utah. No, we're starting clean and compiling six conferences by drafting athletics programs sequentially. Because we're ignoring geography and time zone considerations, a conference commissioner might well draft Florida with one pick, and UCLA with the next.

After the jump is a detailed explanation of the game and how the project will be unfolding over the next six weeks. Read through the objectives and rules carefully to make sure you understand how it works, then dive in and let's start what should be a really interesting conversation: What do you value in an athletics program? In a conference? Who would you draft? How will others sites weigh Boulder and our history vs our lack of recent football success?

Read through the drafting rules and remember, the goal is not to improve the status quo. The goal is not to create a conference that will actually play games, so set aside travel and time zone considerations. The goal is to use a draft to value schools and have fun strategically grouping them together.

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Welcome to our weekly discussion amongst The Ralphie Report's staff. Same format as last week, so dig right in.

Feel free to throw your answers to the same questions into the comments below.

Buffs Questions:

1) What are your thoughts on next year's quarterback? Can this team win with Tyler Hansen or will it be time to give Hirschman his shot?

Bob: I think Tyler Hansen will need to be re-evaluated with a different coaching staff, just like we need to with the whole team. The offense is completely different when Cody Hawkins is in the game compared to Tyler Hansen. With Hawkins, they stretch the field vertically. With Hansen, they seem not to trust him throwing downfield as well as not utilizing his feet enough. I like what Hirschman brings to the table, from what I have seen but who knows until a new staff is in place.

Ash: I don't think it's time to go straight to Hirschman. Assuming Hansen heals, I say we stick with him next
year, and actually develop an offense that works with his skill set.

David: Next year already? Yeah, I'm with you...It depends. Tyler Hansen has some experience and has dealt with a lot of crap in his three years here with blowing redshirts and now another partial season played. But Hansen isn't going to set the world on fire. He has been inconsistent and I wouldn't be opposed to seeing Hirschman next year. And depending on what happens with the (new) coaching staff, Hansen and Hirschman will most likely both be starting over with a new system. The grass is always greener, right? So I'm going to say they should give Hirschman a shot. He's got the size and was very accurate in High School. He looked good at times in August, and he looked like he had better pocket presence than both Hansen and Hawkins.

Jon: Honestly, I think it depends on the offensive coordinator than it does Hansen himself. Tyler showed in the Georgia game that he has the talent to get it done if the offense is tailored to his strengths, but I do not think that he is the type of quarterback that can run multiple offensive styles. One thing is for sure, he deserves a fair shake at the starter position after the breaks he has had the last three seasons (redshirts pulled, injuries).

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Which works, because this week we're short-handed, too.  The weekly staff discussion follows the same format as before, but with just David and I, it's more like a chat.  As always, please post your answers to any of the questions as we ramp up to gametime.

Buffs Questions

1) 7:15. Halloween night. On the road against an angry Sooners team. What are you best and worst case scenarios for Saturday's game?

David: Best case: Baylor or TTU. Winable game that we let slip away.
Worst Case: Cal

Ash: Best Case: We somehow snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against OU (again) and win, 24-21
Worst Case: 60-0 I'm sure that technically, it could get worse, but I'm not going to entertain the thought.

Give us your own answers and read more of ours; after the jump.

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Welcome to our weekly discussion amongst The Ralphie Report's staff. Same format as last week, so dig right in.

Feel free to throw your answers to the same questions into the comments below.

Buffs Questions:

1) The early season Georgia and Hawaii wins are looking better and better and the Missouri loss doesn't look quite  as bad as it did at first after the Tigers dominated A&M on the road. However, the Baylor was a game that the Buffs needed to win, and the faults of the team aren't quite as readily apparent as they were in losses to Mizzou and Cal. What is the one thing that the Buffs needed to do and didn't against the Bears?

Bob: Stop Robert Griffin... Baylor made plays in the second half, Colorado didn't. When the teams are pretty evenly matched, it comes down to that. It is easy to see what Colorado is missing when a player like Robert Griffin comes to town and makes what has been a pretty solid CU defense look confused. 543 yards later, Baylor gets a rare road win and the Buffs are now 0-2 in conference play.

Ash: 1) I think the Buffs needed me to not be a groomsman for yet another out of town wedding. I didn't see the game, but in reading the play-by-play the one thing the Buffs needed to do to win was manage the clock at the end of the game. We were down 21-15 with 1:54 left in the 3rd when we recovered Baylor's fumble. I took us 3 and a half minutes to go 13 yards and get a field goal. Our next drive, down by 10, we took four and a half minutes to go 44 yards for a touchdown; and that's just way too slow. I think all our wasted time in the 4th lost us this game.

David: The Buffs really needed to challenge the Baylor wide receivers on those bubble screens. I think we can all agree that the defensive gameplanning has been much better than the offensive gameplanning overall this season, but I thought that was a weakness against Baylor. If we played our cornerbacks closer to the line of scrimmage, we may have been better able to limit Baylor's passing game.

Jon: It was a pretty weird experience re-watching this game. Even after I knew the final score, I still felt like we were going to win. I know Robert Griffin III is a stud, but this team is not going to win games where it allows 543 yards. Not a chance. The defense has to step up in a big way against Texas Tech, fortunately they won't have to deal with the threat of a running quarterback because we did not handle that well. 

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Welcome to our weekly discussion amongst The Ralphie Report's staff. Same format as last week, so dig right in.

Feel free to throw your answers to the same questions into the comments below.

Buffs Questions:

1) All of the media discussion around the Georgia is revolving around the Bulldogs losing and A.J. Green's day (rightfully so on Green) as opposed to the Buffaloes pulling off a hard fought win (some are still referring to CU as "hapless"). After a 3-1 start, the Buffs aren't getting any credit for a 3-1 start that no one really expected/predicted. Would a road win over Missouri all of a sudden reverse that trend and make some people stand up and notice that Colorado may be onto something this year? 

Bob: Yes...this would be an absolutely huge win for the Buffs given the past history against Missouri as well as the struggles on the road. You would have to take notice at that point and believe this team has matured. If Dan Hawkins were to get fired at the end of the season, you can point to the lack of road success and Missouri as two of the top reasons he was replaced. Killing two birds with one stone would show progress. It is also hard to gauge this Missouri team right now. From an outsiders perspective, the stats are there, they look impressive on paper and then you look at games against San Diego State and Illinois and start to scratch your head a little about how good this team is. Then you think about not having Aldon Smith. Not going to get ahead of myself and say the Buffs win (considering how poor Colorado has fared over the last three years) but if there was ever a time to win, it would be now.

Ash: Yes, but I don't think it'll reverse the trend--there'll always be haters. I expect that we'll be sports-media-underdogs against everyone but Kansas. It's all about consistency, and we're only now broaching that concept. What WOULD reverse the trend is if we go out on faurot field and beat the ever-living-crap out of Mizzou; then people would take notice.

David: I don't know if it would change how the folks in the media see us, but I think it would give us a pretty good indication of where we are. If we can go on the road and beat Missouri, a team that has had our number the last few years and comes into the matchup undefeated and ranked 24th in the nation, we might have to call our performance against Cal a fluke. Of course, we all know how well we've performed on the road recently...

Jon: I put two questions in this week that ask "what if we beat Missouri", but I think that this game is such a huge swing game for this team. While I think both the Georgia and Hawaii games will look a lot better at the end of the year then they currently do (root for the Warriors to upset Fresno this weekend), a win here would take away the media's ability to say "they haven't beaten anyone worth a damn" and "they still can't win on the road".  Lose and we will continue to be "those terrible Buffaloes" whether it is true or not.

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Welcome to our weekly discussion amongst The Ralphie Report's staff. Same format as last week, so dig right in.

Feel free to throw your answers to the same questions into the comments below.

Buffs Questions:

1) What do you feel will be the most important match up this weekend when the Buffaloes are on offense?

Bob: Against Cal, I said the Buffs CB's against the explosive Cal WRs was the matchup to watch. Quickly, we learned it was all about how the big guys play up front. For me, it is how Colorado's offensive line deals with the speed of the Georgia defense. CU did not respond well to a quicker, smaller California defense a couple weeks ago. Hopefully, we see improvement in that department.

David: Our Offensive Linemen against the Georgia Linebackers. They are an athletic bunch, and it will be a good test of our Linemen if they can find those guys at the second level when blocking for the CU Running Backs. I think they can handle the Georgia Defensive Line, but if they don't lock onto those smaller guys past the LOS, our Running Backs won't find any room to run. And we know what that does to our offense.

Jon: The Buffalo offensive line against the Georgia defensive line. We all saw what happened in Berkeley when the o-line played one of the worst games I have ever seen and we all saw how we can have a real bona fide offense when our line plays like it did in the second half of the Hawaii game. If the line can play like that again, or how they played against Nebraksa last year, I can see this offense moving the ball enough to win the game. Of course, that is relying on... 

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Bob, Ash and I answered these questions last week but my journey to east Texas over the weekend left  me without internet access for a few days (which was very rough). So here is the belated discussion that took place last Thursday. - Jon

Welcome to our weekly discussion amongst The Ralphie Report's staff. Same format as last week, so dig right in.

Feel free to throw your answers to the same questions into the comments below.

Buffs Questions:

1) A tale of two halves against Hawaii. Who is this Buffalo team? Are we closer to the team that came out and laid an egg in the first half, or the team that pretty much dominated in the second? None of this "right in the middle" business either.

Bob: First, we shouldn't judge anything off of Hawaii. Let's face it, Cal doesn't fumble on the one yard line or miss a field goal like the Warriors did last week. A good team puts 14 points on the board against the Buffs and then we have issues to see how CU responds. We saw how the Buffs looked against Toledo last year and then how they looked against Wyoming. Just saying lets caution any optimism until we see what they do against the Big 12. Right now, I believe this is still a team that has a lot to prove both on the offensive line and when they play on the road.

Ash: Second half - Our defense has been the one constant through all these games. Our Offense.. eee-yikes. God, I hope we're that second-half offense. No one should have to watch another Cal, including the Defense. I think that Tyler was less ready than any of us imagined, and that he's finally getting the hang of things, I say we're that second half offense that gets yards and gets in people's faces when they make dumb mistakes.

Jon: I think we saw how well this team can play and what we can reasonably expect if the team doesn't shoot itself in the foot. Unfortunately the Buffs shoot themselves in the foot a lot. Hopefully we are seeing the leaders of the team step up and take control (Hansen, Clemons) and that should help us to continue looking like the Buffaloes that rolled past Hawaii.

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