The 5-5 Buffs head to Ames, Iowa to take on the 2-8 ISU Cyclones and finish up the away portion of the nation’s 3rd toughest schedule. The Buffs limp into Ames after a 55-10 thrashing courtesy of Chase Daniels and the Missouri Tigers. Meanwhile, the Cyclones are riding high after a 31-20 upset of Kansas State last weekend. This week’s game kicks off at 10:38AM Mountain and has been picked up by DirectTV in Denver and will air on 619 locally for subscribers with the SportsPack subscription. It will also air on the fledgling Fox College Sports Central station, channel 414 in Denver.
A quick check of the Buff’s locker room clock reveals the numbers have been removed and it simply reads, “NOW”. Last week’s total meltdown is behind them, the Nebraska game is still 3 weeks away and any possible bowl game is even further into the future. CU Football will be focusing on the task at hand right here, right now: an ISU Cyclone team that has shown a pulse in the last few weeks. ISU may come to the table with a 2-8 record and hardly a standout player to speak of but, as Buff fans know from our 2006 campaign, even a 2 win team comes out with some fight each week. Probably the biggest thing the Buffs need to do is show the Cyclones that the CU team that played last week stayed home and instead they brought the varsity starters this week. Rattling the vulnerable Cyclone defense early could easily break the fragile spirits of the whole team and allow the Buffs to do as they please all day. And there is no reason the CU offense can’t and won’t do that. Admittedly these two teams are very closely matched on paper. To ISU’s credit, they have been playing decent to good football given their team talent. The Buffaloes on the other hand are underachieving. If CU can put it together early on both sides of the ball this should be a solid win to build confidence going into the bye week and then the Nebraska game.
The biggest challenge to the Buffs on offense will once again be their own youth and inexperience. When the Buffs have the ball, more often than not, 8 of the 11 players on the field are freshman. That inexperience has proven to be problematic at times. It may be better than the alternative but it ain’t exactly mai tais and yahtzee out there. Luckily ISU does not field the nation’s toughest defense. CU should be able to fire up the running game early and rely on it heavily, punctuated with shorter pass routes and the occasional big air to Josh Smith. As much as CU fans would love to see Cody Hawkins pass over the middle, even if the little fella can see over the line he’s likely not to find too many options in the middle. ISU does have a good set of linebackers in Jon Banks, Jesse Smith and Ace Bowen and it may prove beneficial to stay away from them when possible.
Defensively the Buffs biggest concern has to be injury. The CU defense had 3 starters go down against Mizzou, OLB Brad Jones, CB Terrence “NFL” Wheatley and FS Ryan Walters. All 3 are listed as day to day and I would expect all 3 to be back in the lineup come Saturday. Assuming they can field a healthy set of starters the D should have little trouble regrouping against QB Bret Meyer and the rest of ISU’s offense. The Cyclone’s biggest hope is to exploit the Buff’s weak coverage in the vertical passing game much like the Tigers did last week. Meyer has a trio of talented receivers in Todd Blythe, RJ Sumrall and Marquis Hamilton, any one of whom is capable of turning on the afterburners and going deep. Look for the Buffs to play them soft, keeping them in front of the secondary and relying on a heavy pass rush against a weaker ISU OLine to put pressure on Meyer and force the Cyclones to resort to the ground game. Running against the Buffalo defense generally requires a team to field a bit more power than the Cyclones can muster on a normal Saturday.
Bottom Line: The Cyclones have shown vast improvement over the last 3 weeks but the Buffs are ready to forget about last week and close out the rest of the season strong.
Prediction: CU 28 ISU 10

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