2010 Colorado Football Predictions

September, the best time of the year. A time when optimism is at an all time high and college football fans dreams are held back only by the limits of their imagination. A time when everyone is capable of winning the National Championship. The only problem is that Buffs fans haven't had much to be optimistic about the last 5 years.

Maybe it's because we have had to sit through 4 losing seasons in a row. Maybe it's the fact that last year was supposedly the year or maybe it's the fact that Colorado fans have lost their patience with Dan Hawkins. Whatever your reasons, there is hope! In fact this year offers more potential than we have had in a long time.

Here are a few reasons to hold your head high about the 2010 Buffs:

1) Experience

Here is a statistical breakdown for you numbers junkies:

-QBs: Both of our top QBs are upper classmen, with Hansen coming in with one solid year of experience and a freshman year with partial game experience. You may not be 100% confident in Hansen, but he finally has much needed experience.

-O-line: Finally, our offensive line is experienced. Four of the five projected starters are upper classmen and a our dominant sophomore lineman Bryce Givens, who had seven starts last year, will be back soon.

-RBs: Speedy comes in with two solid years behind him and a reliable and capable Lockridge behind him. The two freshman show signs of explosiveness and could help contribute.

-WRs: Seven out of nine of our receivers are upper classmen. All three of our starters have much needed game experience. Finally.

-D-line: Three out of the four starters are upper classmen. This is one area where you could argue that the depth is not great. However, perhaps the best player on the team plays here, Herrod, who is a preseason second team All Big 12 player.

-LBs: Two out of three are upper classmen with sophomore Jon Major participating in seven games last year.

-DBs: Jalil Brown and Jimmy Smith are both seniors who started all games last year. Polk the sophomore safety has 11 starts under his belt.

2) Depth

For the first time in a while you look at CU's depth chart and smile. Almost every position has depth.

We may have the most talented Receivers we have ever had at CU. Tony Clemons is hands down the one to watch, but we have a strong supporting cast in USC transfer Travon Patterson and two other solid underclassmen in Richardson and Jefferson. Of course you can't forget our most reliable target in Scotty McKnight, who is two receptions shy of tying CU great Michael Westbrook for most total receptions.

The O-line boasts experienced backups that sit behind serious talent. The QBs may still be a question mark, but Hansen will have a lot longer to throw this year and a delicious list of WRs to throw to. Add a promising run game to that and you have a serious recipe for success.

The D-line poses some minor question marks with the loss of some major pieces, but has multiple players that I feel can step in and fill the void. Our Defensive backs strike fear in opposing Quarterbacks and Brown and Smith should have promising NFL careers in their future.

Overall the team gives you confidence that if the injury bug comes around we'll still be sitting pretty solid.

3) Schedule

Many articles claim that we have a top 25 strength of schedule ranking this year, but that is nothing new for the Buffs. Yes we play teams like California, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma on the road. However we always have two tough Big 12 road games every year. California is reeling and Missouri is on the decline with key positional losses. Of course we play Georgia, but of any year, this is the year to play them with their talent pool being lower than usual. Our other two Big 12 south games are manageable with Tech and Baylor at home and the Big 12 South is ripe for the killing with Nebraska being the only solid team. Missouri, Kansas, and Kansas State are all not as good as they have been the last five years and Iowa State is improved but is well, still Iowa State. Add all this to a very friendly home schedule and you have a serious possibility for improvement.

4) All practice signs look good

Senior leadership, healthy players and hunger have not been things we have heard from practice in a long while. These are all things that are being echoed out of this year's early season practice. Don't forget that injuries and lack of depth have been the two things in the 2007 and 2008 seasons that have kept us from winning seasons. We have both a lack of injuries and depth this year.

5) Our time is due

Yes we keep saying this, but it really seems to be now or........not for a long time. I for one am a Hawkins believer and believe that he is building our program the right way. Yes it has taken longer than we all wanted, but this season I believe is where we see the old Boise State Hawkins on the field. If not this year, then I completely agree that it is time to move on.

Here are my game by game predictions:

Colorado State - W - The Rammies bring a freshman starting QB to the game and are coming off an atrocious season. Yes we had the same record last year but we play in the Big 12 and their wins came against Colorado, Nevada and Weber State. Our wins were against Wyoming, Kansas and Texas A&M. Advantage: Big 12

California - L - Yes the Bears have question marks at every offensive and defensive position. They even have question marks in their senior quarterback, which is never a good sign, but the Buffs simply stink on the road under Hawkins. These road woes continue for the Buffs in the this Pac 12 preview.

Hawaii - W - These Rainbow Warriors put up a good fight against USC but they still have only 12 returning starters and that does not bode well when playing on the road. The Buffs enjoy the home cooking and beat the Warriors in a closer than expected high flying competition.

Georgia - W - Yes this is a risky pick but I just got a feeling about this one. Last time the Buffs tangled with Georgia they came so very close to what would of been a huge upset. This is the 1990 National Championship 20th Anniversary Reunion and emotions will be high. The Buffs will be coming off of a bye week and Folsom will be packed to the brim with many fans, albeit numerous Georgia fans. The atmosphere will be electric and the Buffs will pull off their biggest upset since Oklahoma in 2007.

Missouri - L - This is a toss up game because I don't think Missouri will be as good as advertised. We will light up their 11th ranked passing defense, but Blaine Gabbert and their offensive firepower will be too much for the Buffs. The Buffs again come very close in this game, but their first road win since 2007 will have to wait.

Baylor - W - A home game against a much improved Baylor team scares me with QB Robert Griffin being what I think is the scariest QB in the Big 12. This game proves to be a frightening one, but the Buffs take care of business unlike the last couple of years and seal the deal.

Texas Tech - W - The Buffs take advantage against the first year Tubberville project. Tech's offense ranked 99th in turnovers last year and 89th in sacks given. Their defense will be much improved this year but the offensive turnovers will continue to hurt them in this game.

Oklahoma - L - A game against a national title contender in Norman proves to be way too much for the Buffs and shows them that they still have a long way to go. The Buffs get beaten pretty badly and make people question if they can respond the following week.

Kansas - W - The first road win!!! The Buffs will take advantage of a team without QB Todd Reesing and show Turner Gill that he is not in Buffalo anymore.

Iowa State - W - Iowa State + home game does not equal an automatic win anymore. These Cyclones are coming off of a 7-6 season and have a very talented running game and much improved QB. This game will be agonizingly close, but once again the Buffs will use their new found character and experience to get a W.

Kansas State - W - The Little Apple is a tough place to play and Snyder always has his team ready to play. The Buffs will capitalize on only KSU's 11 returning starters and notch their second road win.

Nebraska - L - The final Big 12 Nebraska game will be very competitive and close, but the Blackshirts will prove to be too much for the Buffs. Too much talent on Nebraska trumps Colorado's huge desire to end this rivalry on a high note.

The season ends at 8-4 for the Buffs and shows people that Hawkins is doing things the right way. Yes, I have the Buffs going undefeated at home, but who is to say that the Buffs can't take advantage of what appears to be their easiest home schedule in years. I have the Buffs going 2-3 on the road which is better, but still not great. If the Buffs don't pull off the Georgia upset then they still have a great chance against Cal or Missouri on the road.

The Buffs have many things going for them this year and believe will have the talent and character that has been lacking in years past. Even if you aren't a believer, there is much to be excited about this year. If the Buffs play well, you finally get to root for a winning team. If they falter, Mike Bohn will have no choice but to bring in a new regime at CU. Either way the future looks a lot better. So hold your heads high and start your dreaming because I see many good things in the Buffs future.

Why should Americans care about the World Cup and Soccer?

1. Are you hearing all this World Cup 2010 excitement and wondering what is all the fuss about? Whether you like it or not, you will be smothered with soccer from June 11^th to July 11^th this summer. To get a good picture of how much the popularity of the World Cup has grown, just turn on ESPN and see if you can go five minutes without hearing about the World Cup. ESPN even hired a team that took two years to write a musical score that will only be used for one month. If you are one of those World Cup laggards, here is a list of reasons why should care about “the beautiful game”:

1. 1. Everyone else in the world cares

Y Yeah, Yeah, I know, your Mom told you that you shouldn’t do something because “everyone is doing it.” However, you have to stop and take notice when 5.9 billion people are doing it. In 2006 5.9 billion watched the 2006 Cup, an estimated 260 million watched the final and more than 600 million viewers watched part of the final match. To put this in perspective for us Americans, the 2006 Super Bowl had about 91 million viewers and the 2008 summer Olympics highest rated event had 39 million viewers (the Opening Ceremony). It is truly the biggest stage and begs your attention.

2. Love the Olympics? The drama heightens even more in the World Cup

It is very true that Americans love the Olympics. We love the spectacle and the warm patriotic feelings that it brings, but what we really love is the drama. We love to see if Michael Phelps is going to win his 900^th medal, we want to know if Usain Bolt is going to run faster than lightning and we want to see the world’s best athletes perform on the biggest stage. The fact that it happens only every four years draws us in. We as Americans love drama.

Welcome to the World Cup, an event that bleeds drama. The World Cup has temporarily stopped wars and caused countries to drop everything to watch their beloved national team. In 2006 the qualification of the Ivory Coast caused the country to call a temporary truce from their bloody Civil War that had lasted years. In 1994 a Columbian player named Andres Escobar scored an own goal in the World Cup resulting in his side not advancing to the next round and was later shot and killed. His death was widely believed that he was murdered because of his horrible mistake. Many in depth studies have shown that the World Cup results can drastically affect the stock market. Albeit good or bad the World Cup results have serious ramifications and prove that the World Cup should steal TNT’s slogan of “We know Drama.”

3. America has the best team we have ever had and best chance to go to the second round

A big reason why we love the Olympics is because we dominate. We love to watch winners. Partly why the World Cup has been slower to catch on in the United States is because we have historically been a weak team. The USA didn’t qualify for the World Cup for 40 years, but since 1990 we have qualified for every tournament. Since 1990 we have steadily improved and have finally produced some credible results.

In 2002 we shocked many and made it to the quarterfinals of the World Cup and barely lost to Germany in a game where we were robbed of a game tying penalty kick. Just last year we made a phenomenal run in the Confederations Cup and shocked the world by beating Spain and going up 2-0 on Brazil early in the game. Of the 23 man roster for the World Cup, 19 players play abroad with 17 that play in Europe. This is by far the most US players playing overseas ever. This is of course significant because the most talented leagues are in Europe and this experience has helped us immensely.

The US team has also been been drawn into arguable the easiest group they have ever seen in this year’s World Cup. They have a very good chance of making it to the next round and you will want to witness it! They also will be playing England in the first game of the World Cup, which I believe is the biggest game in American soccer history.

4. Nonstop action

Whether or not you agree that soccer is “the beautiful game”, it packs 90 minutes of nonstop action. No other American sport can say that. American football stops every 20 seconds, baseball every 1 second, and basketball has 4 quarters with more fouls and timeouts than you can count. Soccer is a game that requires an incredible amount of skill and endurance. The average professional soccer player runs 6-7 miles per game. Not too shabby compared to those fat American football players and beer belly baseball players. Whether you like soccer or not you have to respect the athletes.

The World Cup is usually soccer at its best and if you have a hard time getting into it try watching some teams like Argentina, Brazil, Netherlands and Spain. If you watch those teams and don’t think soccer is a “beautiful game”, something is terribly wrong with you. As with anything, the more you watch soccer the more you love and understand it.

I truly believe that if you give the World Cup a shot this summer you will be drawn into the beauty and madness known as World Cup soccer. Join the world and watch and appreciate a sport that transcends the playing field.

Why Hawkins Deserves 1 More Year

Two of my favorite days of the year are Thanksgiving and New Years Day.  Both of these events force you to slow down and reflect about the past, be thankful about the present, and look to the future.  That's why in the midst of this Thanksgiving season I'm thankful for having Dan Hawkins as a coach.  I know that I'm in the minority and many would admit me to a mental institute for my opinion.  It's true that I've seen reports with as high as 82% of fans wanting to part ways with CU's coach.  Yes my opinion has wavered over the year with the extreme emotional lows of this season, but I feel that the best thing for Colorado is to give him another year.  Here are 4 points that lead me to the belief that Hawk needs another year:

1) In 2005 our program was left in shambles

Sure many of you will say that we had players like Jordan Dizon, Terrence Wheatley, and Mason Crosby, but the discipline and reputation of our program was severely bruised and battered because of Rick Neuheisel and Gary Barnett.  Our program may of won a lot of games between 1995 and 2005, but during this time we came to expect yearly recruiting violations and rape allegations etc etc.  I remember being proud of our record but embarrassed of how far we had fallen from the McCartney days, a time where wins were accompanied by class.  Sure, things weren't perfect under McCartney, but the man ran the program with integrity.  This is where opinions differ.  I personally prefer a coach who does things the right way but some will take wins at any cost.

The bottom line is we needed someone with a strong focus on cleaning up the program and getting back to our winning ways and Hawkins fit the bill then and especially fits the bill now.

2) When Barnett left in 2005 the Big 12 North was the biggest joke it had ever been.

Yeah we won 4 of five Big 12 North titles from 2001 to 2005, but what the heck did they mean in 2004 and 2005?  Every team in the Big 12 North was abysmal from 2003 to 2005 and we got killed in both Big 12 Championships, including what we would all agree was the most embarrassing loss in CU history, a 70-3 loss to Texas.

Everything about the team was imploding and we knew that we were not even close to hitting rock bottom due to Neuheisel and Barnett's shady tactics.

3) I believe that Hawk can only truly be judged on 2 of his 4 years

2006

Yeah we lost to Montana State, but the cupboard was bare and we had hit rock bottom thanks to our former coaches.  The consolation was that we played in a exorbitant amount of close games and had our players known the system better, we would have won a lot more.

2007

We can all agree that this was a decent season with big wins against Oklahoma and Nebraska and what could of been a shocking comeback against Alabama, who was one year away from being a National Title contender.

2008

The year of injuries.  We had 120 games lost to seniors.  Not an excuse, but a year we almost went to a bowl even when the only people without injuries was our coaching staff.

2009

I agree that this year was inexcusable.  Hawk proclaimed 10 wins no excuses and his team didn't play with passion.  Sure we were close to winning a lot more games but we didn't know how to finish or win on the road.  We have to keep in mind that we lost Helfrich at the worst possible time and that hurt us more than anything.

I believe that the only year we can truly have beef about, is this year.  We can let the coach off in my opinion for the first year when he was installing his system and for 2008 when we almost made a bowl even though we had one of the worst injury years in college football history.  I'm not convinced that any coach could of competed in 2008 with our youth, lack of depth and injuries.  We have to agree that 2007 was a pretty good year with some close calls.  Which leaves us with 2009 which I believe was horrible.  I feel like I can only truly judge Hawk on his 2007 and 2009 seasons and that leaves me with a 50-50 verdict that leads me to believe he needs one more year.

4) The McCartney standard

We've all heard the stat that Bill McCartney was 14-30-1 in his first four seasons.  Many of you will say that in his fourth season he was 7-5 and Hawk was 3-8 but at the end of the day Hawk's 16-33 and McCartney's 14-30-1 over four seasons are very similar.  Gary Pinkel was 22-25, Mangino was 19-29, and heck even Frank Beamer was 17-26 in his first four seasons at Virginia Tech.  In all their careers the fifth season was the most telling.

One more chance

I agree that the current amount of wins are inexcusable, but I don't believe we would be in a better situation in the future if we brought in a new coach.  We also are in an interesting scenario due to an untimely extension by our AD.  To me Hawk's 5th attempt gives me more optimism than anyone else we could hire.  I'm not convinced that we have many great options when it comes to hiring and Hawk deserves his final shot because he has done things the right way and has recruited some classy and talented players. 

Hawk has been a proven winner everywhere he coached and deserves A FIFTH year to resurrect a program that had fallen lower than anyone knew.  You can't argue that this team isn't close.  I don't like Hawk's excuses but I'm willing to give the man one more chance to change our minds.  If he fails miserably I will be the first to call for his firing, but if he succeeds, than the 82% of fans will owe the man an apology and this blog will sound a lot more sane.

The Broncos debacle

"What in the world have the Broncos done?" This is a thought that has gone through my head daily since December 30, 2008. This was the horrific date when this whole Broncos debacle began. The date when Mike Shanahan was fired and a date that has changed the lives of so many Broncos fans. Many Denver fans wanted this to happen all year long, but as we soon would learn, be careful what you wish for.

It's quite ironic that the firing date was one day before the new year because as we would soon find out, being a Bronco fan in 2008 was completely different than what we will experience in 2009. The next glorious move by Pat Bowlen was to hire a then 32 year old coach, who was from a supposed unstoppable Bellicheck line of coaches. Then Mr. Ego decided to try and trade for the "unbelievable" Matt Cassel(sarcasm). Now we most likely will lose Brandon Marshall and go on to a very difficult season. We all know the story and hate to relive it, but I never had a chance to give my two cents. Well, here goes....

I truly could not have dreamed a worse scenario. If you told me at the start of last season that we would lose our 2 time Super Bowl winning coach, our star quarterback and hire a 32 year old coach that looks like a younger version of Jon Favreau, I would have laughed at you. I could go on about this for pages, but it all comes down to one decision. Pat Bowlen firing Mike Shanahan. Sure we all thought Shanahan's time might be up, but why not have a good idea of who you are going to hire before you fire somebody. We looked at many coaches and settled with a 32 year old unproven coach. Josh McDaniels is an egotistical know it all that let his ego run Jay Cutler (and soon Brandon Marshall) out of town. I strongly dislike Josh McDaniels, but can't fault him for taking a great opportunity that only few 30 somethings have seen. I can however fault him for running Jay out of town and single-handedly destroying everything we have built as a franchise.


You may think Jay Cutler is a baby and a whiner, but all McDaniels had to do was pick up the phone and tell Jay that he was sorry for trying to trade for a highly overrated Matt Cassel. All he had to do was swallow his pride for one conversation and tell Jay he was our man. It all came down to this. But one piece of the story that we always forget is the fact that Pat Bowlen was the man who hired this young coach. I appreciate what Bowlen has done for Denver and the two Super Bowls he has won, but he made the worst decision of his career. So I hate to say it but the same man who built the Broncos and gave us John Elway has destroyed that same franchise. I'm strongly believe that more fingers should be pointed at our illustrious Broncos owner.

I'm trying to be positive about the Kyle Orton experiment, but it pained me to see Jay Cutler play against our team last night. Every Bronco fan that booed, booed because they were secretly hurting inside. We all may not admit it, but we all secretly or not secretly wish that the Vanderbilt man with so much talent was back in a Broncos uniform. I'm afraid that no matter how positive our outlook on this season is, we will be hurting as Bronco fans for a long time. Bowlen can try to make things right and admit his mistake but it will take time. I hope that I am completely wrong and will eat my words, but I'm afraid that my worst fears have became a reality and the Broncos are now "just another below average team." I guess there are always the Nuggets and Rockies to look to for hope.

My very own blog

I've been blogging with the wife for a while, but after months and months of thinking......."Hmm, I should blog about that", I've decided to start my own blog. Now I know what you are thinking, "Why in the world do we need to read another blog?" Well, because this isn't just any blog, it's a blog about sports, life and the joys, challenges, and straight up hilarity of moving from Colorado to TN. Of course during the football season, many posts will be about football and my beloved Buffs and Broncos, and some semi-neutral posts on the Vols (My wife is helping me to become a bigger fan). I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!