Wednesday, September 3, 2008

CU Buffs off to a good start...

The CU Buffs got off on the right foot Sunday night in a 38-17 victory over the instate CSU Rams. After a shaky start and a few early mistakes, the Buffs jumped to a 21-7 lead on an electrifying kickoff return for a TD by sophomore WR Josh Smith (his 1st collegiate touchdown). The Buffs fell asleep on the ensuing kickoff as CSU returned the kick for a TD to pull within 21-14 heading into halftime. The second half started with another solid kickoff return by Josh Smith who was one break away from another kickoff return for a TD. The Buffs never looked back.

This was the last scheduled game between the two schools at Mile High. CU took their option to play the 2009 game in Boulder while CSU returned the favor and chose to have the 2010 game in Fort Collins, making it the first time the two schools will meet their in at least 12 years. There are no future games scheduled at this time, likely a good situation as this game benefits CSU much more than CU when it is played in Denver, both financially and fan wise. CU has won 5 of the past 6 matchups and appears to be headed in a positive direction with the potential to be a perennial top 20 program. Coach Hawk has assembled some great young talent and has begun to implement his coach style and philosophies on the team. He has also taking a no-nonsense approach in taking quick and harsh discipline to any players not living up to the high standards and expectations he has laid out for the Buffaloes.

This is a great blog entry by Coach Hawk. http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=1571048&DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=1571048 Please note there is a link to Coach Hawk's blog on the right sidebar on Musings from Boulder.

CSU appears to be in a down year as the overall talent, team speed and athleticism was lacking from this team compared to what we've seen in years past. The new coach seems to be pretty competent, it's just going to take him a while to get CSU to a respectable level (there fans were, as usual, completely classless and out of control prior to the kickoff this year).

The picture below to the right is another reason this game should not be at Mile High. A good 1/4 of CSU's section of the stadium (which is split in half for each school) was empty the entire game as they failed to sell their allotment. In fact, CU sold out their allotment and bought up tickets in the CSU section - see all the black and gold in the picture. This revenue actually falls into CSU's pockets, as Neil Wollk points out in a recent column.
Go BUFFS!!

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