Colorado Football: The Buffs Are Rolling

Dec 9

Colorado has been one of the unsung great stories of this college football season. In the first year under Karl Dorrell, the Buffs haven’t been perfect, but for a program whose former HC (Mel Tucker) left in February for Michigan State and didn’t get a proper offseason with a new coaching staff, it's going as well as you could hope for.

The resume isn’t encrusted in diamonds, the Buffs largest margin of victory this season is 11 points against a bad Arizona team, another ten-point win against San Diego State, and two one-score wins versus UCLA and Stanford. The two most talented teams on the Buffs initial schedule, USC and ASU, both had to cancel their games due to COVID-19 concerns.

Then again, you win the games you play, that’s all you can do.

The crazy part? There’s a chance that Colorado goes undefeated and misses the Pac-12 Championship Game. The Pac-12 announced on Monday that it wouldn’t adjust its rules and would leave the Buffs on the outside looking in as USC would face a one- or two-loss Pac-12 North team, presuming both stay undefeated.

Rules are arbitrary. This entire season is arbitrary. The conference could change the rule if they really wanted to and let the two best teams in the conference thus far play in, but we never rely on the Pac-12 for rational decisions, this at the gripes of Colorado.

Enough about the Pac-12, let’s look at the Buffs.

There have been a number of names that have stood out. At this time last year, QB Sam Noyer was listed as a safety on the depth chart when Mel Tucker needed more depth on that side of the ball while also being stuck behind multi-year starter Steven Montez. Now he’s starting and has played just ok, completing 62 percent of his throws for four touchdowns and four interceptions. Not great, but complementary and has made plays when they needed them.

He’s had the luxury of handing off to Jerek Broussard, who has been arguably the best skill position player in the conference. The reigning Pac-12 Player of the Week shredded Arizona for over 300 yards on the ground Saturday (averaging over 12 yards a carry!).

Broussard now is at 733 yards in just four games, breaking the previous Buffs record set by Rashaan Salaam during his 1994 Heisman-winning season. Impressive stuff.

The Buffaloes defense struggled in the first two games, but has allowed 23 points in the last two games combined, and zero in the second half. Linebacker Nate Landman has been stellar and has collected two conference DPOTW awards.

Credit to Karl Dorrell and his staff for getting this group to play at this level. He seriously should be on AP COTY watch, and we should appreciate what we are watching in Boulder this season.