Wednesday CU Buff Bites - Football Recruiting Costs & Returning Starters: Where Does CU Rank?

Recapping your Colorado Buffaloes' Football and College Football Playoffs News, Links, and Stories

Pac-12 fights for postseason position - Pac-12 Blog - ESPN

The SEC folks were just ridiculous with their "four best teams" chicanery. When SEC commissioner Mike Slive kept repeating "One, two, three, four" to reporters last week, what he was really saying was, "The SEC's priority is maintaining subjectivity as the key component of the college football postseason."

Understand: There is no "one, two, three, four." There are only opinions and computer formulas. You might note that no -- zero -- pro sports use a "one, two, three, four." They all have divisions. To advance to the playoffs, you must win your division or win a wild-card spot. In no case is there a subjective voting process or selection committee.

What do the SEC and, apparently, the Big 12 want? Those conferences want a two-team expansion of the current BCS system. Or they want a selection committee that will always tap 11-1 Alabama over 12-0 Boise State or 11-1 Texas over 11-1 California. Those folks prioritize hunches over concrete accomplishment. Why?

Self-interest, naturally. Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott knows this. This is why he keeps countering "one, two, three, four" with "conference champions." And why Scott and the Pac-12 have not committed to much of anything about the postseason, from venues to format.

Pac-12's leading tacklers - Pac-12 Blog - ESPN

Jon Major, LB, Colorado: 6.5

Colorado: By the way, Colorado fans, if you want to know why I keep screwing up your leading tackler, go here -- the official Pac-12 statistics, which for some reason short changes Major 20 tackles. If he gets and stays healthy, ILB Doug Rippy likely will lead the Buffs in tackles -- he averaged 8.9 per game through seven games in 2011 before getting hurt.

Breaking down Pac-12 recruiting costs - Pac-12 Blog - ESPN

How much does recruiting cost in the Pac-12? And how does it compare with other conferences? Check out this interesting story from ESPN Recruiting, which gathered budget data from 99 of 120 Football Bowl Subdivision programs for the 2011 and 2010 fiscal years. Private schools such as USC and Stanford don't make budgets public.

Oregon spent the most in the conference in both 2011 and 2010, though it spent less this past year. Washington State spent the least both years. Here's a guess that USC and Stanford, which both recruit nationally, would be near the top of the conference. Tennessee spent the most of any program: $1,479,099. By far. That's more than $1 million more than any Pac-12 program, other than the Ducks, who spent $590,683 in 2011.

Who's spent second-most in the reported conference recruiting budgets two-years running? Colorado.

Do you think we're getting the value for having spent second-most of the conference on recruiting? Speak up, after the jump...

THE BIG EAST SUES TCU: AN EDSBS EXCLUSIVE - Every Day Should Be Saturday

The Big East is suing you, and if they have not gotten around to it yet, they are about to do so. In fact, this is probably the next best business strategy for the Big East: become the patent troll of college football, file a thousand lawsuits at once for infringement on every possible untrademarked thing possible, and then claim ownership.

Pac-12 Networks Trailer: Launch Coming August 15th - Pacific Takes

Two more months. Two more months until the sun brightens, the trees turn to chocolate, the rats transform into flying buffaloes, the homeless troubadors start dancing like shaolin monks, and almost everyone who's ever been interested in the content of our site will soon feel like they have a free puppy on their TV.

The Pac-12 Networks are coming (seven, if you're willing to count them), one for the whole nation, six regionally. The conference doesn't do so well. Football and basketball catches up to the real world, and the Olympic sports (with their excellent tradition) will hopefully set a new paradigm for how to cover them on the collegiate level. And the digital networks only sound all the more promising.

Here comes the Pac-12, ready for the new age.

Pac-12 media day lineup - Pac-12 Blog - ESPN

Pac-12 media day is July 24 at Universal Studios in Los Angeles. Kevin and I will be there, diligently polishing the bland overflow of verbiage into shiny nuggets of fun and useful information.

But the chief question on your mind is this: Who shall tell you reporters about how offseason workouts were the best IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD and that this team has great chemistry and leadership? I have an answer, in order of appearance.

First Up: Colorado -- Coach Jon Embree, David Bakhtiari (OT), Douglas Rippy (ILB)

'Official' returning starters - Pac-12 Blog - ESPN

The Pac-12 has released its "official" numbers on returning starters, which is a fairly fluid term. Typically, it means a player who started at least five games in 2011, though in some cases it might include a 2010 starter who missed last season due to injury. As a conference, 173 total starters are back out of a possible 288, including punters and kickers. That's an average of 14.4 per team, which is slightly down from a 10-year average of 14.9. Slightly more defensive starters are back -- an average of 6.8 versus 6.3 for offense.

Colorado Offense: 3 Defense: 6 PK/P: 2 Total:11

Former CU Buff Cat Johnson quickly finds success - Buffzone

Shortly after finishing her degree at the University of Colorado, Cat Johnson ventured into the working world. It wasn't quite what she -- or her parents -- imagined, though. "I was a bike messenger," she said. "I had to ride all day, every day. I took it as an opportunity. "It was kind of a fun way to make the transition to cycling."

Years later, she has turned that love into a passion. Today through Saturday, Johnson is competing at the Nature Valley Grand Prix in Minnesota. The Grand Prix is a five-day stage race pitting some of the top racers in the country in a team-oriented format.

"It's really cool because we're all here for this common goal to race together as a team and get good results, individually as well as team," she said.

Cycle on! Go Buffs!