We have some decent news today to report around the world of the Colorado Buffaloes athletics. Also Brett Favre just announced his supposed retirement. The sports world is horrible right now...all we are hearing about is Michael Phelps, Alex Rodriguez and Brett Farve. There is nothing else to talk about so we are getting this jammed down our throat 24 - 7. Bring football back ASAP!
Could redshirt freshman running back Ray Polk be moving to safety? Unless some one made a big typo in the cubuffs.com roster, that is where he is headed. Many wondered how the stable of running backs would shake out and if this happens, it is the first move by the coaching staff to move one of their best athletes and most physically gifted athletes to a position of need in safety. He does have a safety body type that most programs would dream of so it seems like a good fit. I will believe it when I see it though.
This is not good news for the rest of the Big 12. Missouri has wrangled away LSU's recruiting coordinator and named him co-offensive lineman coach. What a second...he left for a co-offensive lineman coach job? The Buffs could have given him a full control offensive lineman coach job. Either way you cut it, Missouri just got a little better at recruiting, especially in the talent rich south. I can't wait to see his salary for being a co-coach!
The Nebraska at Missouri contest this year has been moved to one of those Thursday night games. Go Tigers.
Colorado will take on Iowa State in Ames tonight. Iowa State has been the only Big 12 win for the Buffs this year but CU has really improved to be competitive in conference play. Colorado has only lost their last four games by a total of 17 points and two of those games were against defending national champion Kansas Jayhawks and the #2 ranked team in Oklahoma Sooners. Nebraska and Kansas State are also no pushovers as well. Kansas State has ripped off five in a row and Nebraska has won three in a row. According to Joe Lunardi's bracketology, Kansas State, Kansas and Oklahoma are all in the tournament so CU has definitely shown to be competitive. But as Bzdelik says, he doesn't believe in moral victories. Tonight, for CU to show that they have really progressed, they need to be able to win on the road. The Buffs are 0 - 7 on the road this year and won't be taken very serious until they break through in that department. Tonight against the Cyclones, CU has a great chance to get that first road win of the year. Once again, Craig Brackins of Iowa State presents a tough interior matchup for Bzdelik's team. He has scored double digits in 21 of 23 games and averages 19.1 ppg and 9.0 rpg. He will be a first team All Big 12 player at the end of the year. Last game against Colorado he scored 24 and grabbed nine boards but it wasn't enough to beat the Buffs at home.
Here are some more links for the game tonight. Iowa State is favored by 5 points as of this morning.
-Iowa State has had four days to prepare for the Buffs and have told the media that they have really studied hard for this one.
-CUBuffs.com always puts out some interesting factoids about the upcoming game.
-Forget about the Buffs trying to break the 0 - 7 road streak this year. Colorado is trying to snap the 25 game road losing streak against Big 12 opponents. Wow.
Colorado and Texas A&M are the only two programs in the Big 12 that didn't have early enrollees from the 2009 recruiting class. I would like to hear Dan Hawkins thoughts on this and what are the reasons we couldn't get some of our recruits in early. Clark Evans plays basketball so that is his reason but their are a few others that I would have liked to see come in early like Nick Kasa and Edward Nuckols.
Dave Plati from the Sports Information Department put out another version of his Plati-tudes. It is always a good read for those diehard Buff fans. He has some thoughts on recruiting services and how they rank players:
A person associated with one of the services once told me (I can't reveal his name because he's still a big wig in the biz) that the classes that get ranked the highest are usually those who have large fan bases who subscribe to their service. That's why quite often some schools that haven't fared well on the field for a period of time still always rank high. It's why in 2007 that Tyler Hansen was a 1-star quarterback on June 24 when he committed to Colorado, had sudden interest from Michigan and Iowa, and on June 29 was a 3-star without doing much other than hanging around Temecula, Calif. "Well, if Michigan and Iowa are interested in this guy, he must be a 3-star," determines the guy in his bathrobe in New Jersey evaluating 17-year olds from his parent's basement. Did you see the parade of bozos the NFL Network rolled on out to discuss signing day? I doubt any of them could find Colorado on a map, and I wouldn't bet my house they could find the northern hemisphere, either (or know what it was). Yet as Hawk pointed out, these guys call kids up to a 20 times a day badgering the heck out of them, and quite often, try to steer them to their particular school of interest.