CU Football 2018 – Season Preview

by Doug Rutherford | Aug 31, 2018 | 2018

Buff Nation,

Welcome back to another season of Colorado Buffaloes football.  When CU kicks off its 2018 season tonight against CSU, last year’s miserable 5-7, underachieving season will be behind us.  Nobody is high on CU being any good this year.  A decade long bowl drought leading up to the ’16 season and then and a poor showing last year has folks taking a wait and see approach to see whether CU is a pretender or a contender.

A lot rides on this season.  Fail to win six games (i.e. bowl eligible), and odds are we will have a new head coach on the sidelines next season.  Six wins is the minimum.  Seven wins and we are respectable.  Eight or more and the Buffs are back, this time for good.  The key to CU’s season will be getting out of the gates early (game by game predictions below).  Three of CU’s coveted six wins are within the first four game.

The good news is CU has the talent, the schedule (favorable home games, no Oregon or Stanford), and a Pac-12 South conference which is not as strong as it was last season (three QB now in NFL, three new head coaches) to be competitive in all its games.

It all starts tonight.  This season is going to be epic.  The whole off-season CU has held the mantra, “nothing to say, a lot to prove.”  They have played their cards close to the chest.  Tonight, we get to see what kind of cards we have been dealt and how well we play those cards.  

Go Buffs!

Doug

2018 CU Football Season Preview

August 31, CSU (Mile High Stadium)

It’s true that CU cannot overlook CSU.  While CSU got beat at home by Hawaii last week, the Rams offense is something to be taken seriously and this is a rivalry game.  Okay, with that out of the way, the beat down we were expecting CU to place on CSU last year will occur this year.  There isn’t a single player on the Rams who could start on the Buffs.  Although CSU has the advantage with a game under their belt, and CU will be playing a lot of new faces, CU will score on more possessions than not.  CU wins by 21.   CU 1-0

September 8, @ Nebraska

This game is going to be a slugfest and while CU may wind up on the losing end, Michael Porter’s theory of competition tells us that CU needs to be able compete in tough games like these if they are to compete in the Pac-12.  Since I am driving the 7 hours to Lincoln to witness the clash, I am predicting a win by the Buffs.  NE will be too high on their first-year cure for the common cold coach, and CU has too much to prove to be intimidate by a sea of 90,000 fans wearing red who literally have nothing else to cheer for between Saturday games.  CU somehow finds a way to win this game, if for no other reason than it is such a long and boring drive to get there and even longer if one gets embarrassed.  CU-2-0

 September 15, New Hampshire

Life is beautiful.  CU returns to Boulder (literally the best place in the world) to make its home game debut against the Division IAA New Hampshire Wildcats on a beautiful Fall afternoon.  While the UNH is an excellent team (ranked nationally in IAA polls and return 18 starters), they are not Pac-12 caliber, and CU is no longer one of those programs which is constantly at risk of laying an egg.  This game should be nearly over by half-time.  The talent and speed of the buffs is simply too much for the UNH Wildcats.  Buff Nation is satisfied.  Most of the student body didn’t show up until the second quarter anyway (drinking) and don’t return after halftime (drinking).  CU 3-0

September 28, UCLA

Ah, the swing game of the season. Under the Friday night lights of Folsom Field, CU wipes that smug look off the Bruins’ face.  Josh Rosen isn’t around anymore and CU extracts revenge for last season’s loss.   Montez and his top-shelf receiving corp lites up the UCLA secondary and the CU Defense their stride under second year coach DJ Eliot. CU wins handsomely.  CU is 4-0 for the first time since 1995.  Boulder goes nuts.  CU students (most who weren’t even at the game) would happily light some couches on fire, but they are too young to remember that used to be a thing.  CU 4-0

October 6, Arizona State

While they have experienced tremendous success thus far, and surpassed everyone’s expectation, it is ASU which bugs them.  It was the ASU game last year on the road that was probably the most heartbreaking loss of the season (okay, maybe it was AZ).  CU had the game.  They literally dropped the ball.  CU doesn’t let that happen again, and CU turns in yet another victory at home.  It has become clear that this year’s receiving corp is hungrier and more talented than last years (which graduated three players into the NFL).  CU 5-0

October 13, @ USC

CU still gets a little weak in the knees when it comes to playing USC.  The USC proves a bit too much for CU to handle and gets to QB Montez early.  A costly turnover disheartens CU.  CU plays tough for three quarters to no avail and then sort of bails on the effort.  They are secretly please to be 5-1 and perhaps even a little satisfied.  Time for Coach Mac and Coach Eliot to coach them up on the flight home.  CU 5-1 

October 20, @ Washington

Washington is the best team CU is going to play all year.  Playing WA on the road is a butt kicking waiting to happen.  Under CU can find five monster offensive lineman to start at the same time, CU will struggle to win in the trenches against teams like WA.  CU tries hard, but WA has its sights on a National Championship and doesn’t have time for CU to hang around.  CU 5-2

October 27, Oregon State

One more win and CU is bowl eligible (and everyone gets to keep their jobs).  Oregon State is the perfect opponent at the perfect time.  CU thrashes OSU, playing its finest game of the season to date.  Buff Nation takes a collective sign of relief.  Buff Nation can now turn its sights to something other than the lowest common denominator.  For the rest of the season, the Buffs are playing for the seniors as well as all those 4 and 5-star recruits that would really love to commit to Boulder, but just need a little more evidence that what is happening in Boulder is the real deal.  CU 6-2

November 2, @ Arizona

CU’s season effectively ended last year when they awoke the sleeping giant by the name of Khalil Tate, Arizona’s (then) back-up QB.  This year, Khalil is a Heisman trophy leading candidate.  While teams now have tape of him, this is still a tough match-up for CU.  Tate has another big day against the Buffs and CU loses for the third time in a month.  This is game CU could have won.  The emotional scars and embarrassment from last year’s game are still not fully healed.  CU 6-3

November 10, Washington St.

The weather is beginning to turn in Boulder and folks are starting to turn their sights to the slopes.  For Buff Nation, there are only two home games remaining.  How sad.  For all practical purposes the season has been a success.  Outside of one half against USC and potentially a game which slipped away against AZ, the Buffs have performed well.  Still, we need one or two more wins to put the stamp of approval on this season.  Washington St offers up just that opportunity.  A worthy opponent for sure, a victory here would legitimize CU’s 2018 season. Thankfully, CU agrees and complies.  Skiing can wait.  This season is still going on.  CU 7-3

November 17, Utah

In a brawl on Folsom Field in near Winter is coming temps, Utah comes out on top for CU’s first loss at home all season.  While heartbreaking, CU played hard and never laid down.  No moral victories, but CU knows they have a lot left in the tank to finish the season strong and go bowling.  Both teams also realize they will be seeing each other in the Pac-12 South championship game next season.  Both teams are on the rise and staked with young talent.  CU 7-4

November 24, @ California

California continues to be on the mend and CU takes advantage.  Behind their two-headed running attack of Kyle Evans and Travon McMillian, CU grinds out a win to secure an ever elusive Pac-12 road victory.  CU finishes off a hard-fought regular season and now eagerly awaits their bowl announcement.  Happy days are here again.  CU 8-4

Bowl Prediction: Sun Bowl, El Paso, TX. December 31, 2018.  

Past Weekly Recaps

9/3/18 – CU Football 2018: Week One Review / Week Two Preview – Seeing Red

Week One Review

Well, that was the smackdown we were looking for.  The CU team that took the field this past Friday against the CSU Rams was as big, fast and competitive as I have seen since the Buff glory years of 1990s.  Hope is percolating.  It was amazing to see so many new names (Abrams, Lang, Landman, Israel, McMillian, Mustafa and Shenault) seamlessly playing along household names (Montez, Gamboa, Lewis, Worthington, ,Fischer and MacIntyre).  CU also came ready to play (not always the case).  How good CU is vs how bad CSU was will be revealed in week two.

Week Two Preview

CU travels to Lincoln this week to take on the (once) hated Nebraska Cornhuskers.  This is the perfect game for CU.  CU is rolling while NE literally has not gotten started.  After all the pomp and circumstance of opening day and a two-hour weather delay, NE’s week one game was canceled.  Unfortunately, CU now doesn’t have any tape of Nebraska’s offense or defense, but Nebraska also doesn’t have the opportunity for improve from game one to game two (where the most improvement takes place), before taking on the Buffs.  This will be a hard fought game that comes down to the last possession.  CU is full of confidence (and talent), and while NE remains an enigma, CU will come into Lincoln, steal a victory and will have the Boulder Flatirons in their sites while all the NE fans will be seeing is red.  

CU Football 2017 – Seeing Red

by Doug Rutherford | Nov 25, 2017 | 2017

Buff Nation – 

When CU and Utah joined the Pac-12 in 2011, there was a bit of apprehension on the part of the CU fan base (and probably Utah), about the forced relationship.  The rest of the Pac-12 schools already had someone they could point to as their rival.  Washington had WA St., UCLA had USC, Arizona had AZ. St, Stanford had Cal and Oregon had OR. St.  The idea was CU and Utah would become rivals.  Close geographic proximity and scheduling the game to be the last game of the regular season would help with that.  Seven years into the relationship, the head to head games have been good, but neither side really considers the other their “rival.”  That said, games like last year (when the Pac-12 South was on the line) and games like tonight (when a bowl berth is at stake) go a long way to developing that healthy hatred for each other.  

Utah is a heavy favorite to win tonight, and CU will need to bring their A game (seen only once this season (against CA)) in order to win.  This is CU’s last chance to get it right this season.  If they do, somehow, a season of disappointment and violated valued expectations will suddenly have become a success. Make it to a bowl game (which the winner of tonight’s game does) and Buff Nation will be happy.  Fail (i.e. lost to Utah) and the season will be looked upon as one of coming up short.  CU is stacked with seniors, and CU is coming off a well-timed bye week where some injured players had a chance to get healthy. Utah is coming off of perhaps their best effort of the season in a near loss to WA.  This game should be a good one.  Both teams will be fighting to salvage their season.  Both teams should be playing desperate.  Always a recipe for exciting football.  This rivalry game may feel more like a manufactured Valentines “holiday” rather than a no doubt Thanksgiving or Christmas event, but give it a few more years with polls and bowls on the line, and this game will begin to hold its own.  Buff Nation needs another team to hate.  Years of CU/Nebraska must-see football has entrenched red has the most hated collegiate color in Colorado (Black and Silver holds that honor for Sundays). Thankfully Utah also wears red, so if all goes well, Buff fans for generations to come will be seeing Red and experience the joy of healthy hatred.  

Go Buffs!

Doug

CU Football 2017 – Curtain Call

by Doug Rutherford | Nov 11, 2017 | 2017

Buff Nation – 

Last week, in CU’s hour of need, no one was home.  CU was up 10 on ASU in the fourth quarter. One could argue CU should have been up 17 if not 24.  Still, up by two scores with the ball in the final quarter of the game with bowl eligibility on the line, somehow it all slipped away.  When pressed, CU couldn’t sustain a drive.  When pressed, CU’s defense couldn’t get off the field.  When pressed, CU’s special teams wasn’t so special.  When pressed, CU’s coaching chose poorly. Last week, no one was home to fight for CU.  It was heartbreaking to see Philip Lindsey with head in hands kneeling on the sidelines in the final seconds as ASU continued to pile up the yards.  He knew this loss was going to leave a mark.

Fast forward one week.  Tomorrow, twenty-one CU football players will take the field for the final time.  This Senior class is special.  This class is the first of the MacIntyre era.  It was this class that took a chance on Colorado when no one else was.  As Freshman this was the class that had to endure a 2-10 season.  As Sophomores, they were part of a vastly improved competitive team but still unable to secure wins.  As Juniors, these players witness first hand “The Rise” and became Pac-12 South Champs and helped CU football return to the competitive ranks.  As Seniors, they are fighting for their lives to become bowl eligible (they need one more win).  Yet, win or lose, tomorrow is going to be the last time these seniors will play in front of the crowd at Folsom or run behind Ralphie. Fans will no longer hear the names of Lindsay, Fields, Bobo, Ross, McCartney, and Moeller called over the PA system.  

CU will have to play a perfect game (and get a little bit lucky) to beat #11 USC. The Trojans offense will give CU’s defense fits all day.  I can’t wait to see how this Senior class fights.  I can’t wait to see how the underclassman fight for their seniors.  USC is clearly the better team.  They are one of the best in the country.  CU, on the other hand, can be dangerous.  This could be a trap game for USC (USC plays their cross-town rival UCLA next week so perhaps they are looking past CU).  Win or lose these seniors deserve a standing ovation at the end of the game.  It’s been a heck of a road back for the CU program, and while the final outcome of this year still weighs in the balance, the leadership and character these players have displayed have left the CU program a much stronger and more respected program than when they arrived.  Plan to arrive early.  Plan to stay until the end.  These players deserve that much.  

Go Buffs!

Doug

CU Football 2017 – Making Yoda (and Boulder) Proud

by Doug Rutherford | Nov 3, 2017 | 2017

Buff Nation – 

What a day!  What a game!  Every once in awhile it all comes together for those who are in attendance.  This past Saturday the CU Offense, the CU Defense and the Colorado weather all combined to create the most memorable and enjoyable home game of the season.  Yoda would have been proud.  There was no trying.  There was only doing.  Man, if CU plays that way for the rest of the season, good things are in store for Buff Nation.

The Buffs have three more regular season games on its schedule.  CU needs to figure out how to win one of those games (@ASU, USC, @Utah) to secure their second consecutive bowl berth.  All three games will be tough to win, but all three are winnable.  This year the Pac-12 has quickly become a conference of parity.  Wa. St. crushed CU.  CA crushed Wa. St.  CU crushed CA.  

CU has finally hit its stride.  Tomorrow night’s contest against a good ASU team will go a long way in determining how good this team really is.  Buff Nation was in despair (disgust?) after the Wa. St beat down a couple weeks ago.  Hope springs eternal now.  Look for the Buffs to ride QB Montez and his newly found A-game to beat the Sun Devils and have bowl eligibility wrapped up before we all roll our clocks back an hour and enjoy a little extra sleep knowing in our hearts that the rise is real.

Go Buffs!

Doug

CU Football 2017 – Do, or Do Not. There is No Try.

by Doug Rutherford | Oct 27, 2017 | 2017

Buff Nation –

Clearly, this is not the season we were looking for.  Coming on the heels of a not-soon–to-be-forgotten breakout (Cinderella?) season, this season has fallen far short of expectations.  Unlike last year in which every game was a display of top-shelf football and a fan just kind of had the feeling CU would win, every game this season has seemed to be a grind, a struggle, a chore (duty?) to watch.

That said, to use the old cliché’, “It is what it is.”  Regardless of how we got here, what the CU football team does next is the most important thing.  At noon tomorrow, CU (4-4) takes on the California Bears (4-4).  A win will put the Buffs one victory away from being bowl eligible with three games remaining (a team needs six wins to qualify for a postseason bowl berth).  At this point in the season, earning a bowl berth is the goal.  A bowl will allow CU to keep practicing after the regular season ends.  This provides valuable reps for the underclassman. A second straight bowl berth will begin to instill in the player’s psyche that playing in bowls is what CU does. A bowl berth also affords CU invaluable natural exposure for potential recruits.  There is still a lot on the line for this year’s Buff team.  To not go to a bowl game this season will clearly be a step back for the CU program.

Regardless which QB will starts (Coach MacIntyre has not yet made his decision), the CU offense has to step up.  They have six starting seniors.  One of them is going to have to make a play when it is needed most tomorrow.  The CU defense has yet to find it’s identity.  They are getting better, but time is running out.  One of the underclassmen will have to take on the leadership role. Playing at home in front of a friendly crowd and a beautiful Fall afternoon in the greatest place in the world has the recipe for victory.  At the end of the day, CU will be with be one win away from starting a streak of consecutive bowl seasons for the first time in twelve years. As a famous warrior once said.   “Do. Or Do Not. There is No Try.“

Go Buffs!

Doug