The Buffs finish out their 2021 season tomorrow, in a rare Friday appearance. While many will be taking advantage of Black Friday shopping sales, the Buffs will be facing a strong, consistent, and proud Utah team that represents everything the Buffs would like to represent. While Colorado and Utah entered the Pac-12 together (2011), Utah has navigated it’s way to the top with greater speed and success than the Buffs. Tomorrow, CU will be facing a Utah team ranked #16 in the country, and hitting on all cylinders. While CU loses this game in a blow out, perhaps this game will serve as motivation for the Buffs to see up close and personal what the Buff program will look like in the future.
On this Thanksgiving Day, here are ten things Buff Nation can be thankful for:
10)Jack Lamb – 88 yardfumble rumble touchdown against Washington last Saturday. The game goes a different direction without that play. Watching that herd of buffaloes lead the way was nothing short of inspiring.
9)Nate Landman – The quintessential football player. An inspiration to any boy watching who wants to play tackle football.
8)Nebraska – We are not Nebraska.
7) 1990 National Champions – This program has been there before and won’t be satisfied until it returns. It’s going to happen.
6) Ralphie – Well, maybe not so much this season given she (all raphies tend to be female) needs to grow, but hands down the best mascot in college sports.
5)J.T. Shrout – Buffs will have significant QB competition going into next season.
4)Youth movement – Only five seniors on this squad, the Buffs will be returning most of their players.
3) Folsom Field – One the best venues to watch college football
Folsom Field
2)Boulder – The best place to live in the world. Period.
1) Buff Nation – Friends and family on a Fall Day in Boulder when the Buffs are in town. As close to Heaven as one gets on this earth. Who’s got it better than us? Nobody!
In a span of three hours last Saturday night, Buff Nation lived through a Charles Dickens novel. Playing on the road against a heavily favored UCLA Bruins squad, the Buff came out guns blazing and took a commanding 20-7 lead just before half-time. CU was back, and we were keeping our dream of bowl eligibility alive. It was the best of times.
Unfortunately, football is made up of two separate halves, and the winner is not declared until the end of the second half. While not new information for most, it may have been enlightening to the Buff coaching staff. UCLA made all the necessary adjustments, while the Buffs made none. UCLA scored thirty-seven straight points, yup thirty-seven, and throttled the Buffs 44-20. It was the worst of times.
So, with that debacle in our rear-view mirror, we turn our sights to tomorrow, the Buffs final home game of the season. One final time to honor CU greats Nate Landman and Mustafa Johnson who played their hearts out for Buff Nation for so many years. One final chance for CU to give their fans a W (certainly not going to happen next week on the road at Utah), and one final reason to have Great Expectations for 2021 (can you say J.T. Shrout?).
So, here is to beating the Washington Huskies, who have had an equally disastrous season (they fired their head coach earlier this week) and finish out this season strong. While a victory wouldn’t necessarily be field rushing worthy, a victory would be a blessed way to end another season at Folsom field, and a fine start to the holiday season.
In the late 19th Century, the political philosopher Fredrick Nietzsche came upon the scene promoting the idea, that life is what we make of it, and our reality is shaped by our actions, and a failure to act will lead us to the “abyss” and become a part of nothing.
Saturday evening under the lights of Folsom, Buff QB Brendan Lewis (BL) found himself staring into the abyss (I know I was on his behalf). Facing a 3rd and 15 from the Oregon State 16, down by four, with under three minutes to go in the game, it was do or die. Be someone or be nothing. At that moment I wanted to give BL a pep talk like the one Bud Fox received in Wall Street. It was BL’s moment of truth. Seconds later, a TD strike to Montana Lemonious-Craig (could there be a longer name) with only inches to spare, gave the Buffs the lead, and ultimately the victory.
Big time players make big time plays in big time games, and perhaps this was BL’s coming of age Red Dawn moment. Only time will tell (possibly as soon as tomorrow night when the Buffs take on UCLA on the road at the Rose Bowl), but that throw, on that night, may be the inflection point where BL becomes a top-tier Pac-12 QB, and the abyss which has silently and patiently been lurching in the shadows of this season will need to find another program to wait on, because as Nietzsche is so fond of saying, that which does not kill you, makes you stronger.
Tomorrow, under the lights of Folsom Field at 5PM, our CU Buffs take on the Oregon State Beavers. With the good, comes the bad, and if there was ever a game from CU’s past which has accelerated this program down a path of heartache and tears, it is the tragic loss to the Beavers the last time OSU came to Boulder.
On that fateful day on October 27, 2018, CU hit rock bottom and found a way to lose a game in which they were dominating 31-3 in the second half, eventually losing 41-34 in OT. Football is a game of inches and a literal inch on multiple occasions would have changed the outcome. Win, and CU gains bowl eligibility. Instead, coaches got fired, coaches got hired, coaches turned trench coat, and replacement coaches were ushered in right under the Covid wire, all adding fuel to the dumpster fire which is the current condition of the CU Football program.
The team and staff that takes the field tomorrow, continue to carry the burden of that loss. They better because Buff Nation certainly does. A win against the heavily favored Beavers tomorrow would go a long way to dosing those flames of pain and suffering and provide some much-needed oxygen into this proud CU program.
It is time for CU to win a game they are not supposed to win, just like they lost a game they were not supposed to lose last time OSU was in town.
With over two billion copies sold, no author has sold more books than Agatha Christie. In my favorite novel of hers, And Then There Were None, the seemingly impossible happens when ten dinner guests methodically die one by one, yet there does not seem to be any clues or motive. As the body count climbs, the remaining guests are left to struggle to find answers.
This CU Buff season seems to be like an Agatha Christie novel. While the losses continue to pile up, Buff Nation is left to seek answers, and no one has a clue how to stop the body count. Like Lt. Daniel Kaffee cross-examining Col. Jessup demanding answers, Buff Nation is in pursuit of the truth (even if we can’t handle it).
Coming on the heels of an embarrassing loss on the road against a terrible Cal Berkeley team last week, CU now goes on the road against an excellent #7 Oregon squad. No one believes CU will win this game, and everyone is right. The chasm between how these two programs operate and how they view themselves is too great to pull off an upset.
One of the reasons Agatha Christie novels are so good is because no matter the level of complexity, the reader knows that the author will reveal the truth before the novel concludes, and justice will be served. So, here is to CU solving this mystery before the season is over and enabling Buff Nation to turn toward next season (too soon?) with excitement and confidence.
Every year, immediately following the NCAA Men’s Basketball championship game, just as the credits begin to roll, a montage of tournament highlights are played to the snappy tune of One Shining Moment. Instantly the viewer can see why college basketball is so fun, and why these players have dedicated so much time to their craft.
On a perfect Fall day in a sold-out Folsom field, somewhere mid-way through the third quarter the Buffs hit on their own shining moment. Desperately hanging on to a 6-0 lead over the oh so lowly Arizona Wildcats, the Buffs exploded for three straight touchdowns (on Special teams, defense and offense). For that one shining moment the buffs looked legit. They looked happy. They made Buff Nation happy.
So, where do we go from here? Well, according to the Boss (and we know the Boss is always right), you can’t start a fire without a spark. Here is to CU parlaying their dominating win and their shining moment, into a spark that leads to beating a beatable California Bears team on the road tomorrow, and creating a fire we can all warm up to. If that does not happen, well, perhaps it is another season of dancing in the dark.
In the Winter of 1776, things weren’t looking so good for our burgeoning nation. The British had George Washington and his band of volunteers on the ropes, NYC laid in ashes, morale was low, and a seemingly unwinnable revolutionary war loomed large.
Seizing upon the moment of need, Thomas Paine published what would serve as a rally cry for America. With the now indelible words, “These are the times that try men’s souls”, American forces rallied, and the rest (more or less) is (American) history.
As a Buff fan (yup, just about to compare our current fandom struggles with those of our founding forefathers), we too face an uncertain future. What was meant to be a building block season, has instead turned into a stumbling block. While it would be easy, understandable, and perhaps even warranted to turn our backs on the Buffs and go back to our homes, now is not the time.
Instead let’s embrace the fact that CU is playing the Arizona Wildcats this Saturday at 1:30 at Folsom Field. A team that in the past used to torment us, Arizona is now arguably the single most hapless team in America, riding a 17 game losing streak. Coming off the heels of a bye week, CU will secure it’s second victory of the season and will be primed to grab it’s third on the road the following week at Cal. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. These are trying times after all, which in fact are times for trying.
Ok, let’s make this week’s update as painless as possible. No need to pile on while the Buffs are down. The Buffs have fallen and can’t get up. The Buffs offense is offensive, the Buff defense is tired, the coaching is suspect and Buff Nation is in a panic.
CU played last Saturday night and lost to ASU. The game was a late kickoff and on ESPNU a double whammy and an early warning sign that the Buffs are about to be placed on double secret probation and slip off the NCAA relevancy radar.
Too early for the season to be over, but CU needs a big time stop-the-hemorrhaging victory. That opportunity presents itself tomorrow at noon.
Week Five Preview
CU vs USC – Saturday – Folsom Field, Noon
What better way to stop a losing streak that to play a team you have never beaten (ever)? The USC Trojans come into Boulder on Saturday sporting a 14-0 record against CU. CU has come close in recent years but has failed to create the mental capacity to understand that it is okay to win these games. Oregon State just beat USC last weekend. Apparently, they don’t subscribe to the same mantra CU does, that you are supposed to lose to USC every single time you play them.
We need the Buffs Defense to go all gladiator on the Trojans for our entertainment pleasure, and hope QB1 Lewis can remember why he wanted to play QB in college and stop playing from a fetal position (some blocking from the O-line would help).
Incredibly, this is a game CU can win. While CU is hamstrung, USC is also in disarray. Already on their second coach and second quarterback, USC isn’t the nationally ranked Goliath that typically puts on the USC jersey.
A win tomorrow puts us right back on track for a bowl eligible season. A victory tomorrow puts this entire season on a different trajectory, one Buff Nation can be proud of. Strength & Honor.
Well, that wasn’t good. One of the most embarrassing losses in school history. One could argue Oregon St in 2018 was worse (it was) or losing to the multitude of other games we should have won but beat downs like this you tend to see coming. This one was like Apollo Creed entering the ring against Drago inRocky IV, and by the time you figure out you got bullied, it’s too late. The Buffs did get bullied. They got shamed. They got schooled.
I wasn’t interested in hearing the pundit’s spin nor the coach’s assessment. I didn’t follow the articles on how practice went, or changes being made to get ready for ASU. Those are all words. As I tell my kids, show me you know by your actions. The Buffs are going to have to make it up to Buff Nation with their actions. Show us you know by fielding a competitive football team that we can be proud of.
Speaking of kids, the first book my oldest ever learned to read was We’re Going On A Bear Hunt. It goes something like this. “We are going on a bear hunt. We’re going to catch a big one. What a beautiful day! We’re not scared”. The family in the book then goes on to meet obstacles along the way. “On no, long wavy grass. We can’t go over it. We can’t go under it. We’ve got to go through it!”. Yup Buff Nation, what transpired on Saturday may be reality, it may be an anomaly, it may be somewhere in between, but until the Buffs can show us what they know by their actions, we are all going to have to go through it. We’re not scared. Okay, maybe a little bit.
Week Four Preview
#75 (yuk) CU (1-2) vs #37 Arizona State (2-1) – Saturday, 8:30 PM Tempe, AZ
Out of the fire, into the frying pan. Next up are the formidable Arizona State Sun Devils. The Vegas line has the Sun Devils as a two-touchdown favorite over the Buffs, and a dark horse to win the Pac-12 South. I’m sure ASU cannot believe it’s good fortune to catch the Buffs at such a fragile point in the season.
CU comes into this game wounded on many different levels. They are physically and emotionally banged up. If CU can’t find a way to generate some first downs and score some points, this game, and potentially this season will get out of hand. It’s possibly too early to play this card, but this coming Saturday night for the Buffs is not about keeping their pride but finding it.
The Buffs have the talent on the defensive side of the ball to keep the game close against the Sun Devils, but that strategy falls apart if they are back on the field after every three Buff offensive plays. Nate Landman is playing football as good as anyone in the nation right now. One bad game does not make a season, but it begins to lower the bar on program expectations and then begins to fester into something that becomes infectious, something Buff nation has been dealing with for years. Here’s to Coach KD showing us that this thing ain’t over. Here’s to KD putting together a game plan and program plan that does indeed begin to change the narrative of CU Football.
It felt like an away game in our home state. Texas A&M fans vastly outnumbered buff fans last Saturday at Mile High. Given it was #5 vs #53, the odds were stacked against us. I don’t do well in hostile crowds when my team is losing, and when the crowd started swaying to the Aggie War Hymn, I could feel my blood pressure rise as it dawned on me that I could be in for a long day if CU didn’t hold their own. Thankfully, the Buffs Defense showed up and single handedly kept the Texas A&M fans at bay for 57 of the 60 minutes of play.
The Buffs were able to take an early lead, but failed to build on it, and ultimately couldn’t hold on to it. It was a scene right out of Seinfeld, anyone can take the lead, but holding on to the lead is the most important part of the lead.
CU does not yet know how to win. It will come, hopefully this season, but right now, CU is a middling college football team that is trying to find its way out of a scene from Glengarry Glen Ross. Texas A&M, while probably overrated, and outplayed for 97% of the game, knows how to close. You don’t get to be ranked #5, by settling for the steak knives on any given Saturday.
So, onward, and upward. The Buffs showed promise. If the Buffs defense, led by Nate Landman continues playing like they did, we are going to be in every single game the rest of this season, so we have that going for us. If Offensive Coordinator Darin Chiaverini and the offense can figure out how to play big boy football, we may be on to something.
Week Three Preview
#51 CU (1-1) vs. #63 Minnesota Gophers (1-1) – Saturday, 11:00 AM Folsom Field
Kudos to CU for scheduling two non-conference Big 5 Teams (a member of the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 Pac-12 conferences). Most Big 5 teams don’t do that because it lowers the odds of having a winning record heading into conference play.
Tomorrow the Minnesota Gophers come into town. An average Big Ten team, Minnesota is a lot like CU. They have a strong running game; they’ve played an easy opponent and won (Miami OH) and played a ranked opponent (#9 Ohio State) and barely lost.
Like CU, it’s hard to tell how good MN really is. The winner of this game will be the team that establishes the run and makes the fewest mistakes. While the bookmakers have CU as a slim 2.5-point favorite (basically accounting for home field advantage), I see CU winning this game by more than a touchdown. CU needs to close this one out going into Pac-12 play. No more steak knives please.
Not bad. Not great, but not bad. Yes, the Buffs effectively dismantled the UNC…Bears, but they were supposed to.
The glass half-full guy would say a win is a win, the Buffs had no turnovers, after some initial (expected) hiccups the Buffs got the ground game going (four backs scored touchdowns), and Frosh QB1 Lewis had zero turnovers and played a relatively respectable first game. The Buffs were up 14-0 at half, and in full control of the game by mid-third quarter, won by four touchdowns (as predicted here last week). A solid smackdown.
Glass half-empty guy would say, yeah but with that performance and number of penalties (12), no way you beat a Pac-12 team, let alone a top 5 Texas A&M team (more on that below).
One thing which was not debatable in terms of half full or half-empty was Folsom field. Packed to the tune of 45K plus fans. It was a site to be seen, and one to be repeated (often). It was an epic day/night for tailgating and FNL college fotball viewing (see below) .
Week Two Preview
CU (1-0) vs. #5 Texas A&M (1-0) – Saturday, 1:30 PM Mile High Stadium
Want respect? Beat the #5 team in the nation and forever have the respect and admiration of your peers (well, maybe not forever, but for this season at least).
On Saturday at 1:30 PM at Mile High Stadium (regardless of sponsor, it will always be Mile High Stadium), the Buffs take on the #5, yup #5 Texas A&M Aggies. To put #5 into context, there are 130 FBS (top college football division) teams. The last time CU beat a top 5 team was 2007 Oklahoma. The last time CU was ranked in the top five was at the end of 2001 on the heels of beating Texas in the Big 12 Championship. These rankings aren’t to be taken lightly, nor should be taken for granted. For the record, CU is currently ranked #53 in the nation (top 25 if they beat TAM).
So, with an eye on the past (we are a storied program), and an eye on the future (which could be the present if the Buffs win tomorrow), the Buffs have an opportunity to be somebody. While not as daunting as one in a million , they are actually 3 in 22 (12%). Montana was a bigger underdog than that last week and knocked off Washington. So, yeah, we do have a chance.
On the field, CU will have to play a near flawless game and Brendon Lewis is going to have to grow up in a hurry. The (not so) secret sauce will be to establish dominance on the offensive line, find success running the ball early, control the clock and shorten this game down. IMHO Buffs show up, keep it close, but ultimately succumb to the physical nature and speed of the Aggies. That said, you can’t win it, if you are not in it, and the Buffs are definitely in it tomorrow.
Finally. The Buffs are back! Let’s get on with life as we’ve known it, and as we want it. For some reason I feel like Sinead O’Connor whining about how long it’s been since we were last at Folsom field (21 months, 14 days).
Tonight, in a Friday Night Lights (FNL) special, our beloved (but not yet feared…still working on that) Colorado Buffaloes take on the mighty University of Northern Colorado (UNC) err…need to look this up real quick…Bears. The mighty Northern Colorado Bears. In less than seven hours, under the lights of Folsom Field, all that is wrong with the world will be made right. Who’s got it better than us? Nobody!
While the UNC Bears may not be a household name, their head coach certainly is. Ed McCaffrey of Denver Broncos fame, check out his epic block in Super Bowl XXXIII , will be coaching his first college football game (fun fact: one of his sons is the Offensive Coordinator, and one of his other sons is QB1). Not to be too cavalier (recall heartbreaking losses to OSU (the day the music stopped for Mike McIntyre and staff), Montana St, Sac State and others), I just can’t see the Bears hanging with the Buffs for any extended period of time. The Buffs are focused on winning the Pac-12 championship (not happening this season, but it’s coming) and the Bears are simply focused on playing (they didn’t play last season, so literally this is their first game in 650 days).
Look for the Buffs to quickly establish the running game and dominate from the second quarter onwards (Buffs win this one by four touchdowns). The Buffs return a ton of players, have a burgeoning rock star in Freshman QB Brendon Lewis, a solid stable of running backs, corps of receivers, stout offensive line, and a defense that is ready to prove itself and lead by Nate Landman, one of the best to wear the Black and Gold. The Buffs have the potential to surprise the Pac-12 like they did last year. The challenge is six of the Buffs 12 opponents are pre-season ranked in the top 25, and also have something to prove.
Given they only play 12 games, and they need to win six for bowl eligibility (the bar of success for this season), the Buffs have no wiggle room. They have to win all the games they are expected to win (including the UNC Bears – geez that just rolls off the tongue now), and a game or two they are not favored to win and/or on the road. To put it another way, despite the talent they return, most pundits project the Buffs to finish at or near the bottom of their conference. I predict the Buffs win their six games and go bowling by virtue of wins over (UNC, MN, AZ, @CA, OSU and @UCLA).
