Colorado Buffaloes Opponent Recap: Week 3

• Colorado St. Rams (1-2)
  • They gave a good effort, but San Jose State pulled away in the 4th quarter and the Rams lost 40-20. Garrett Grayson played pretty well, despite getting pressured a ton and was sacked a bunch of times. They play Utah State next, and it would be huge for them to be 2-2 heading into their conference schedule. If they can keep their QB healthy (which is a big IF for that offensive line), they may just do it.

• Sacramento St. Hornets (2-1)
  • Former Buff Seth Lobato threw for more than 300 yards against Sac State, but they picked him off 3 times and it was never really in question. Next up is North Dakota for the Hornets.
• Fresno St. Bulldogs (2-1)
  • After the way they came back in the second half last week against Oregon and the way they pounded us, they may have a shot at making some waves in the Mountain West this season. Derek Carr may not be as amazing as we made him look, but he can play, and Tim DeRuyter has that defense playing better in season one. Their final OOC game is against Tulsa. Also, can we all thank DeRuyter for not running up the score against us? I know it's sad to say that, but imagine if they hadn't begin to take their starters out of the game in the 1st quarter.
• Washington St. Cougars (2-1)
  • Yes, they won this game, but they didn't look that impressive doing it. Yes, their offense is staring to get rolling, but their defense is bad, and Greg Brown has been a part of defenses at Colorado that have had success against Mike Leach's high-octane passing attack. Of course, we look awful, so our game against them this week may already be over. This is, however, out best chance at a conference victory, which at this point would be our first and only victory. Yikes.
• UCLA Bruins (3-0) AP #19
  • So... UCLA, huh? Well they have two meh wins and one big victory over the Nubs. Brett Hundley is the real deal and that defense looked reinvigorated. It remains to be seen if they can keep it up against consistently better competition (i.e. conference games), but they are looking pretty good. They get Oregon State next, which will tell us a lot about both squads.
• Arizona St. Sun Devils (2-1)
  • The Sun Devils were having an easy go of it until they ran into Mizzou and that Gary Pinkel guy (I still don't like him. Missouri just had our number those last few years in the Pac 12). ASU still looks solid and it was a close game, but they couldn't handle Missouri and T.J. Moe (he's still playing?), and they showed that the Sun Devil offense is--while potent--also prone to big mistakes. They should be fighting for a top-3 spot in the Pac-12 South this season. They get Utah for their first conference matchup, which will go a long way towards determining how the South Division plays out.
• USC Trojans (2-1) AP #13
  • They fought hard against Stanford, but their lack of depth may come back to bite them after all this year. Next year they may fall off hard. But they still have Matt Barkley behind Center, and they will still most likely be representing the Pac 12 South in the conference championship game. Who knows, Barkley may get his chance to beat Stanford after all... Either way, this next game against Cal will be really interesting to watch. Both teams are coming off of really close, tough losses to physical teams. I'll be tuning in.
• Oregon Ducks (3-0) AP #3
  • The Ducks have been rolling and making things look easy, at least on offense. The defense still needs to make some improvements if they want to keep that top-5 ranking through the rest of the season. Still, it's scary. They hung 42 points on Fresno State, who scored 69 against us. A friend lamented that they may not have enough digits on the scoreboard for Ducks-Buffs game in Autzen. Yikes. Their first true test and first conference game of the season will be this week against Arizona.
• Stanford Cardinal (3-0) #9 AP
  • Andrew who? No, we all knew they would miss Andrew Luck, and they certainly did for the first two games of the year. But Josh Nunes is doing what he has to do and that offensive line is finding ways to get the job done. They may challenge Oregon for Pac 12 Supremacy before the year is out. The defense is good again, and Stepfan Taylor still knows how to run the rock, so this team is going to be a tough matchup all year. They get a chance to open their conference sked against the Huskies, which looks like it should be an opportunity for the Cardinal to flex it's muscles out on the field.
• Arizona Wildcats (3-0) AP #22
  • Yes, UofA is the fifth Pac 12 team in the AP top-25 rankings right now. They had their way with South Carolina State, with QB Matt Scott completing 30/36 passes (whoa) and three TDs. They are about to face Oregon, though, and that may put a dent in how their season has been going so far. Either way, the coaching change is clearly doing them some good there in Tucson.
• Washington Huskies (2-1)
  • They bounced back from the stomping by LSU with an easy victory over Portland State. They scored 45 points in the first half and then put on the breaks. But will that be enough for them to have confidence heading into a game against Stanford? I guess we'll see.
• Utah Utes (2-1)
  • They managed to hold on to beat BYU. It was a big win for the Utes, and their fans knew it (they prematurely rushed the field twice. TWICE!). Still, they are still figuring out life after Jordan Wynn, and the Defense isn't playing up to expectations. I'm very interested to see how their upcoming game against Arizona State goes. Both schools have some "'splainin to do"

And the Pac 12 Schools we don't face this year: