Mike MacIntyre wins Pac-12 Coach of the Year, Buffs win conference honors

The Pac-12 released their conference honors today, and the Colorado Buffaloes were well represented, though not as well as I would have liked. The release named Mike MacIntyre coach of the year for the conference, as if there was any doubt that it would be anyone else. MacIntyre has engineered the largest turnaround in conference record in the conference’s history, going from 1-8 to 8-1 in one year. Historic coaching performance.

Buffaloes players were awarded as well. Jimmie Gilbert and Ryan Moeller took home 1st team all-conference honors on defense and special teams, respectively. CU was represented on the conference 2nd team. Jeromey Irwin, Phillip Lindsay, Ahkello Witherspoon, Chidobe Awuzie, and Tedric Thompson landed 2nd team all-conference honors. CU also has plenty of honorable mentions. The full list is: WR Bryce Bobo, DL Jordan Carrell, WR Shay Fields, OL Alex Kelley, OL Gerrad Kough, QB Sefo Liufau, LB Kenneth Olugbode, WR Devin Ross, and DL Josh Tupou.

Ok, here comes my rant. It is absolutely ludicrous that Tedric Thompson and Chidobe Awuzie, at the very least, are not 1st team all-conference. Thompson has had the most dominant season from the safety spot that I remember seeing in the Pac-12, and Chidobe Awuzie doesn’t have the stats because no one wants to throw to him. Tedric Thompson has 7 interceptions, second most in the country. The next closest Pac-12 player has four. Again, ridiculous that he was left off. Ahkello Witherspoon leads the leading Pac-12 pass defense in pass breakups, but he’s second team because, why? Doesn’t make sense. Oh well.

Washington has 9 first-team players on offense and defense, CU has 1. That’s who plays on Friday. Congratulations to Coach MacIntyre and the Buffs honored, and I hope they take the perceived slights as motivation.