I’ve sunk to a new low. I’m so done with this season that I completely forgot to post the pick ‘em last week. We did make picks, but it doesn’t matter now. I’m a day late on this, but picks were made prior to the game last night.

Our Hawk is running away with the pick ‘em crown while the Buffs’ Hawk continues to flounder. Here are the picks for the week:

Everybody take a deep breath. Now that we’re done comparing Tyler Hansen to every other mobile QB that made it big, it’s time for us to step back and realize that it was a great win on Saturday, but there’s still a lot of tough football ahead of the Buffs. The door is still open for the Buffs to be a player in the Big 12 North, but there are still a lot of questions. Hansen looked fantastic on Saturday, but he’s bound to make mistakes as the season moves on. I’m looking forward (a bit nervously) to how he performs in Manhattan on Saturday. If he repeats the performance he had against KU, the Buffs should be in pretty good position to turn their season around and get to a bowl game. If not, we’ll be in the same spot next week of trying to figure this team out.

The Blogpoll for this week is below. I’ve moved all undefeated teams to the top and shuffled a few others around. This is an odd season and difficult to rank. Before long, I’m just going to have to start drawing teams out of a hat.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama
2	Florida
3	Texas
4	Boise State
5	Iowa	5
6	Cincinnati	1
7	TCU	5
8	Southern Cal	2
9	Oregon
10	LSU	1
11	Miami (Florida)	2
12	Penn State	2
13	Georgia Tech	4
14	Virginia Tech	9
15	Brigham Young	4
16	Ohio State	8
17	Pittsburgh
18	Oklahoma State
19	Texas Tech
20	West Virginia
21	Utah	3
22	Notre Dame	1
23	South Carolina
24	Kansas	8
25	Houston
Last week’s ballot

Everyone is back on board with the Buffs this week as we’re all expecting them to at least cover the spread. After watching Iowa State almost squeak out a win against the Jayhawks last week, I’ll be disappointed if the Buffs aren’t at least in the game for all four quarters. All but three editors are over .500 and those of us that are below are inching our way up. At least I’m not in sole possession of the worst record this week. Welcome to the basement Dr. E.

As a group, the results from last week were much better than the week before. I, however, still suck and could be setting some sort of record for pick futility. Want to win some cash in Vegas? Pick the opposite of me. Anyway, with the exception of Texas Tech, every Big 12 team is either favored, really favored (playing a 1-AA team), or on BYE. Here are the picks:

Well, we’re all over the board again this week for a few reasons. First, Marc did the rankings last week as I was traveling and we don’t agree on some of the teams. Second, we’re still in the early stages and I’m waiting for some of the teams (I’m looking at you Mississippi) to actually play someone to justify their ranking in the other polls.

The big changes this week (not counting the teams that lost) are Miami and Virginia Tech moving up. I moved Miami into the Top 10 based on how good they’ve looked against tough competition. The win against Florida State looks even better after the Noles took it to BYU on Saturday. We’ll see how they match up against Oklahoma in a few weeks. Virginia Tech moves up because I think Marc had them too low last week. I’ve probably moved them up too far after narrowly beating the Huskers, but it’s too late tonight to go back in and change it now.

As always, let me know what you think needs to change and I’ll look into putting up a revised ballot on Wednesday based on your comments.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida
2	Texas	1
3	Alabama	1
4	Penn State	2
5	Boise State	2
6	California	1
7	Miami (Florida)	11
8	LSU
9	Southern Cal	7
10	Oklahoma	5
11	Virginia Tech	11
12	Mississippi	2
13	Ohio State
14	Cincinnati
15	TCU	4
16	Kansas	1
17	Houston
18	Oklahoma State	3
19	Florida State
20	Missouri	4
21	North Carolina
22	Georgia	1
23	Brigham Young	14
24	Texas Tech	4
25	Nebraska	6
Last week’s ballot

Through the first four weeks of the season the young Colorado Buffaloes have had some ups and some downs. The good news is that a 3-1 non-conference record is good start. Against CSU and WVU, well early on, the Buffs offense looked high powered and exciting. Against Eastern Washington and FSU the offense looked boring and stuck in a rut. After such a bad performance against FSU the Buffs will surely want to rebound and put a solid game together in all three aspects of the game. The bad news is the Buffs host the Texas Longhorns.
Texas is loaded on both sides of the ball and are currently ranked 5 in both polls. And the last time these two schools met Texas embarrassed the Buffs 70-3 to end the Gary Barnett era at Colorado. Well these are not Gary’s Buffs. Dan Hawkins has brought in better players in his first two years. But these players are young, and depth has not yet been established. Injuries have plagued the Buffs offensive line this season, which will not help against Texas’ defensive front.
If Colorado is going to have a chance against Texas they will need a big day from Rodney Stewart and Darrell Scott. Stewart has been the surprise of the year thus far and provides Colorado’s running game with some exciting lightning. Against Texas the Buffs need Scott to step up and be the thunder and control the clock. This will allow Cody Hawkins a better chance when he has to pass and hopefully slow down the pass rush of Texas.
On defense the Buff’s must contain Colt McCoy. The Texas quarterback can run, although not as well as WVU’s Pat White. But he can throw better than White so don’t figure Texas to turn into a one dimensional team like the Mountaineers did. If the offense can control clock and keep the defense fresh into the fourth quarter then anything can happen as we saw last year against Oklahoma.
Special teams hurt the Buffs last week in Jacksonville. The Buffs missed a field goal, almost fumbled a kick off, which led to a safety (on a blocked punt), and gave up a kick return for a TD. These numbers will have to improve if the Buffs are going to have any chance.
This week will be a true test for this squad. I’m not one to believe in moral victories, but after the tough loss last week this might be the best the Buffs can hope for. If Colorado can come out and play a complete game on offense, defense and special teams, get a couple of breaks to go their way they have a good chance to win this game. I am hoping that the team that showed up last week is not the true Colorado Buffaloes, if it is then this will be a long long day and could affect the team for the rest of the season. I don’t think Dan Hawkins will let that happen, he does not let this team quit ever and he always plays to win.

Two weeks in and this season is already shaping up to be interesting. The letters in my poll almost make no sense. BYU, ECU and USF?

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Southern Cal	—
2	Georgia	1
3	Florida	1
4	Missouri	1
5	Oklahoma	1
6	LSU	1
7	Ohio State	5
8	Texas	2
9	Oregon	—
10	Auburn	1
11	Kansas	1
12	Penn State	2
13	Wisconsin	9
14	Arizona State	4
15	Texas Tech	1
16	Utah	3
17	Brigham Young	4
18	East Carolina	8
19	South Florida	4
20	Alabama	1
21	Oklahoma State	3
22	Wake Forest	5
23	Kentucky	3
24	TCU	2
25	California	1

GO TO THE SPRING GAME PEOPLE

4/19/2008

And bring some friends will ya? About 50 of them? The Counting Crows are playing the night before at Folsom. The day after is that “special” day on Farrand. It’s fun for the whole family. The parents can enjoy the music, the kids can enjoy the day after the game (and the music, come the Crows are awesome, I saw them at Red Rocks a few years ago, WOOOOO), and just about everybody will enjoy the great Boulder spring weather at the FOOTBALL GAME (I promise, it will be great! Not Snowing!).
Also:
Dizon named Colorado Player of the Year
A great link with quotes on the elevation of Cabral to Associate Head Coach

You gotta love it when your coach gets as excited as a kid in a candy store (with a hotub…)
Also (ht Unleash at allbuffs)

Here is the complete list of Signing day Buffaloes! Nice link, as it has video of each and every signee.
Here is another link from the allbuffs.com community with a little more info and pictures!
CU’s class is now ranked #16 by rivals, but only #28 now on scout due to our only having (update, forgot our kicker) 21 commitments so far. Remember, we only have 24 slots per year at the moment, and we gave 3 scholarships out to walk ons. UDPATE: Apparently we have 2. See below. I am really pulling for Keni Kaufusi to get that last spot!
I suggest checking out Rodney Stewart’s highlights… ROOOOMMMAANNN Hollowel would have been proud.
Here is a New York Times article on the process which Scott used to decide. Really, a great read everybody.
Update: via Gampp who is watching the press conference: we have two scholarships to give and Hawk wants to give them to DLinemen.

Big Boy Incoming??

RUN

Now the Running Backs coach for the NFL’s Vikings, here is a little piece on the man behind the NFL Rookie of the Year (well, offensive ROY, surely).
Everyone reflect on happy Buff times this holiday season, when the Herds were bigger and the Buffs were the powerhouse we all hope they can be again.

Game starts at 10:00 AM mountain Time on ABC…
I am grabbing my ticket and heading out the door to enjoy my first game in Folsom this year. Lets hope they give me a chance to make it to another! It is cold, cloudy, and SNOWING. Should be interesting to see how the teams respond.
Go Buffs!

I can’t believe it’s already week 13; this season has flown by. We’re in the last official week of our pick ‘em with everyone safely above .500 for the year. If I can get my act together, we may finish the season with a special bowl pick ‘em. Anyway, on to the games:
@Colorado (-5.5) Nebraska – While not the premier game of the week for the Big XII, this one is always huge for both the Buffs and the Huskers. It’s going to be a cold one, as the forecast calls for a high of 33 degrees and a chance of flurries. I’m not going to go into a full game breakdown here, but honestly I think this one could go either way. 5.5 points seems like too much, but I’m a homer and I’m taking the Buffs.
@Kansas (-2) Missouri (neutral site) – This is the big one. It’s been a while since two Big XII North teams have had a battle that registers on the national scale. Kansas is kicking themselves for taking the money and moving this home game to Kansas City. Both teams are rolling, but I’ll take Chase Daniel (the Big XII’s best offensive player) and the Tigers in the slight upset.
@Kansas State (PK) Fresno State – A rare late season non-conference tilt is a pick ‘em between the Wildcats and the Bulldogs. I don’t know a thing about Fresno State this year and K-State has been up and down, so this is a crapshoot. I’m taking the Wildcats.
@Oklahoma (-12.5) Oklahoma State – After shooting themselves in the foot against the Red Raiders last week, the Sooners have to face their rivals for the opportunity to go to the Big XII title game. This game is always close, but unfortunately for the Cowboys, it’s played in Norman this year. I’m taking the Sooners to win, but the Cowboys to cover.
Texas (-5.5) @Texas A&M – Texas knows that it has to win in order to have a chance at the title game. A&M will be pumped up to try to beat their rival and send their coach out with a win. Unfortunately for the Aggies, there’s a reason that their coach is on his way out. I’m looking for the Longhorns to roll.

Great weather for some football here in Boulder today!! Go Buffs!!
Kickoff: 4:40pm
TV: Fox Sports Net

On several different outlets (most notably the colorado daily buffzone), questions have arisen about whether or not CU needs to make a change at QB. I believe the single longest comments section ever at buffzone has arisen from that big Q. I am firmly on the NO side at this point, but I thought it would be interesting to go over the stats and situation a bit. Here is the stats so far this year.

Ya, he ranks #19 in the nation for total yards. Not bad for a redshirt freshman with receivers who like to drop or tip balls. In terms of efficiency, not so good. In QB Rating, Completion %, and YDS/A, this guy is ranked in the EIGHTY’s nationally. Not good at all. He is also tied for SECOND in the nation for the most INT’s, one behind Adam Weber of 1-7 Minnesota. Incidentally, Adam Weber is the only Freshman with more yards at this point in the season than Cody. To end this part of the analysis on a high note, Cody is tied for 33rd in the nation for TD’s. Oh ya, that is higher then Sam Keller of a certain school where the children of the corn coming to life would be considered a positive.
Cody’s stats project out like this:

The good: Cody is on pace to get the #2 yardage and TD totals at CU of all time. As a freshman. With very questionable receivers, an iffy offensive line, and the #84 ranked rushing offense in the nation (I know the backs have put up some #s against bad teams, but against good teams they have only ONE good performance). Also, Cody has yet to play NU (oh yes, Hawk must be licking his chops for this game!)
The Bad: Cody WILL shatter the all time INT record at CU set in 04 by Joel Klatt of 15.
The best: Hes a freshman…. And his passing stats are getting better as he progresses through the season, with 5 of his last 6 games above 60% completion rate… and he has played Four top 15 teams already this year. Thats some tough stuff!

Lets hope for some Boulder magic boys, any thoughts? I think this is going to be a shootout early, with the Buffs running game and special teams being the difference late. (Eberhart is 2nd team all american at the mid-season point btw!)
Go CU!

What kind of person even considers playing baseball if they have another option? I always assumed baseball players were just people that couldn’t get normal jobs. Like bums that got lucky.
Denver Post.com – Buffaloes prospect torn between two loves