Recapping Colorado Buffaloes Football and Pac-12 News, Links, and Stories
It's like a used-car lot of news links today, we've got so many different links that you're bound to find one you like... How 'bout this one?
Paul Richardson not ruling out playing this week for CU Buffs - Buffzone
Sitting out has been difficult and a learning experience. "It hurts," Richardson said. "I don't think there is a better way to describe the feeling. It's very painful. I talk to my family a lot, well, I talk to the women of my family a lot more than anything. They've just been trying to encourage me to be positive and not to worry about my injury, just worry about my recovery.
"It takes a lot out of me because my competitive spirit wants me to just get back on the field and act like nothing is wrong with me, but if my body is not reacting, then I can't do it. It's painful just watching when I feel like I could help in any way, whether it be a block or whatever. Vocally I've been doing whatever I can, but I feel like me actually being in the mix with them would actually make a difference."
Brooks: Hansen On Hold, Hirschman On Standby For ASU - CUBuffs.com
Quarterbacks coach Rip Scherer said Hirschman "did a lot of really good things, threw some really good balls. A couple of them, unfortunately, weren't caught. That happens - just like we miss throws. We just have to be sure we're putting the ball in the right spot. There were a couple of mental things, through repetition, that he'll get a better handle on. But he's a smart guy and he works at it. I trust that he'll be ready if called on. Said Scherer:
"It's who's next? You've got to have that mentality. That's what I tell our guys - it's who's next and somebody steps up. We can't play with ten." This week in practice, Scherer said he wants Hirschman to concentrate on "having a full command of the mental part of the game - 'own the offense' is the term I use with him all the time. I want him to own the offense and before the ball is snapped have a picture of what's going on and where the ball is going to go, or should go. I want him to read it out and trust what he sees. If you prepare well, trust your preparation, trust your eyes, trust your ability and the system, then it's all downhill."
Hirschman has a full command of the offense, said Scherer: "We don't have to limit anything for him. He's been practicing since the middle of March in this offense and he's gotten a ton of 'reps.' I have full confidence in him."
Cliff Harris Goes To McDonalds - Pacific Takes
Cliff Harris: Oh man, this some good stuff right here. Just really goes down right. Makes me feel like I'm living in a world full of feelings and stuff.
Hey, what's that? Who goes there? I heard rustling from my Sega Genesis.
Who could it possibly be. Oh, it's you again.
Duck: Quack.
Cliff Harris: I'm not talking to you, you got me in trouble last time I talked to you...
Read the rest of that and tell me that it shouldn't be made into a Bill&Ted-esque buddy comedy...
Week Eight F/+ Picks - Football Study Hall - Picks and projections for Week Eight of the college football season.
BETWEEN THE SYNAPSES: SAGARIN RANKINGS COMPUTER - Every Day Should Be Saturday
WELCOME TO SAGARIN RANKINGS VER. 1.7 **A BRØDERBUND PROGRAM** PLEASE SELECT FROM THE FOLLOWING OPTIONS --
1) GENERATE RANKINGS FOR CURRENT WEEK
2) PLAY FALKEN'S MAZE
3) GENERATE RANKINGS WITH BOISE STATE EXCLUSION FACTOR
4) GENERATE PLAYOFF BRACKET (WARNING: THIS WILL UNINSTALL SAGARIN RANKINGS!)
5) CHECK AMERICA ON-LINE HOURS REMAINING FOR MONTH
In case you think they're joking, here's a clip from the actual sagarin rankings
sagarin rankings - USATODAY.com
120 Colorado A = 58.72 1 7 74.92( 16)
The whole thing seriously looks like it was printed dot-matrix on green-and-white lined computer paper with the tear-off tracks on the sides.
Sagarin Ranking Translation: OUR FOOTBALL SCHEDULE IS HARD, YO
The College Football Alphabetical, Week 8: Les Miles, Ambidextrous Krav Maga Expert - SBNation.com
B is for Blocking. We like Kirk Herbstreit, but like all television announcers he resorts to emotional arguments when trying to explain very basic things. As an emotional cripple this terrifies me, but there are other reasons this is a crutch of football television analysis: It's more elaborate than "Um, these dudes aren't blocking those dudes."
Take the example of Wisconsin/Michigan State, a game effectively decided by two things: one, a very unique Hail Mary at the end of the game, and two, Michigan State switching up their defensive fronts against Wisconsin, and Wisconsin never properly adjusting. As they've done for most games this season, Pat Narduzzi got more aggressive as the game wore on, mixing fronts and coverages, changing up the fronts Wisconsin's line saw, and then blitzing Russell Wilson into a stupor in the second half.
This went largely unelaborated on in the Wisconsin/Michigan State game. You probably didn't notice because the last quarter of that game was eyeball crack, but that's how it happened, and it deserved to be mentioned.
You know who did point out one team absolutely destroying another on blocking schemes and execution? Matt Millen and Sean McDonough, who had to give loving TLC to Stanford's unbalanced lines and clean-sweep blocking in the run game. They had to do this to explain Washington giving up 466 yards to Stanford on the ground, but it still bears mention because seriously, Matt Millen did something smart. You mention lunar eclipses for a reason, y'all.
WEST VIRGINIA TO SETTLE SCORE WITH IOWA STATE AT LAST - Every Day Should Be Saturday
Don't question the geographies: it is well past the point of logic to worry about that now. The WAC all but obliterated that notion when Louisiana Tech became "western" for the first time since 1802 and played conference games under the same regional banner as the Hawai'i Warriors. West Virginia will be eastern in terms of Big 12 geography, but remember that even with the addition of a school within a long commute of Pittsburgh, a road trip from Ames, Iowa to Morgantown (871 miles) is still shorter than the trip to Lubbock, Texas to play the Red Raiders (928.6, to be exact.)
Orangebloods.com - Talks between B12 and Irish heating up
Notre Dame, meanwhile, is seriously considering moving its non-football sports out of the Big East into the Big 12, two more sources close to the situation have confirmed to Orangebloods.com. The Irish would make no official decision or announcement on this matter until after the football season - most likely in January, the sources said.
HEARD THIS - Every Day Should Be Saturday
College football is a living tapestry. Every day there is new important information to digest: recruiting news, conference realignment updates, the latest rumors about who'll coach where next year, and what bar in Garden City Stephen Garcia was arrested in last night. Some in the mainstream media have reacted as though today has been a particular dull/un-noteworthy news cycle. We beg to differ.
-Urban Meyer will be named the head coach of Ohio State in the same circumstances Jim Tressel was: bound, gagged, and under the influence of a CIA mind control agent called "Monarch."
-A group of influential Notre Dame boosters is pushing for Brian Kelly to be replaced by a well-known former NFL coach with strong ties to Pitt. We can't tell you his name, but it rhymes with "Artie Spottenweimer."
...
Oooooo lookit at this fancy recruiting map, which plots top recruits over the past five years by location (click to have even the foggiest notion of what it is you're looking at -- here's the explanation)...
The Homer's Guide: Using the Cougars to Berate the huskies - Addicted To Quack
I have trouble getting worked up about playing Washington State. Maybe it's the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" principle. Maybe it's that they've been really, really bad at football for a good while. Maybe it's because Paul Wulff looks like Rod Farva from Super Troopers, and I don't want him to set my country music award on fire. Even my attempts to cast some hate ending up being kind of fun. Remember Alex Brink? Sheldon HS quarterback who spurned the Ducks to play football in Pullman? He is the only quarterback in Cougar history to beat washington three times in his career. Sounds like a hell of a guy to me.
Occupy UCLA Athletics " We are the Bruin Faithful!
Unlike the other "Occupy" movements, this movement is starting with several demands.
We, the Bruin Faithful demand the following immediate action from the UCLA Administration: The removal of Dan Guerrero (aka "Donut Dan" or "Guerrerror") as UCLA Director of Athletics. He must not be allowed to hire another football coach. He is officially declared to be the Bruin Faithful Enemy #1. His crimes against the Bruin Faithful are as follows...
It's fun to laugh at them because it makes me hurt less inside...
Just How Dirty Is College Basketball Recruiting? - A Sea Of Blue
Just How Dirty Is College Basketball Recruiting? "Imagine every bad thing you hear about college basketball recruiting. Multiply by it 10. That's 20% of how dirty it is." - Jonathan Tjarks
Preview – Arizona State " CU At the Game - A CU Football blog by Stuart Whitehair
"No rest for the weary," said Colorado head coach Jon Embree of the Buffs’ final game in the October from Hell. "We get to start with the South and we get to start with the team that is leading the South, the Arizona State Sun Devils."
You can understand Embree’s weariness. Is there anything worse than having a team with over 20 members on its injured list and having no break in the schedule?
Well, you could have that team, which hasn’t won on the road since Barack Obama was a little known junior senator from Illinois, pack its gear and head out of state.
Oh, and could you make that road game against a ranked team?
And, for good measure, let’s give the ranked team a bye week to get healthy and prepare. Sound like a recipe for disaster?
Welcome to Colorado Buffaloes’ football, 2011 edition.
When you put it like that... Go Buffs.