COLORADO BUFFALOES O:5 D:8

The 2005 season for the Colorado Buffaloes looked fantastic through their first nine games. They were sitting pretty at 7-2, but then lost in humiliating fashion to Iowa State, Nebraska, and Texas in the Big 12 Championship game. Their all time career passing leader, QB Joel Klatt, got hurt in the Champs Sports Bowl and the Buffs lost their fourth straight to close out the year. Disgruntled HC Gary Barnett was let go and Dan Hawkins, former Boise State head coach, was brought in to reshape the entire program. CU’s football program has gotten tons of bad press the last few seasons, and has been labeled a dirty program. Hawkins was a fantastic choice in resurrecting the image of this once proud football institution. He was an extreme winner at Boise State, and his magic will turn this program around. He inherits an offense that proved to be capable at times a season ago. It returns five starters, and has the make-up of a very formidable group. Hawkins’ offenses of the past have always put up superb numbers, so expect the Buffs to at least match or better last seasons 23.5 PPG. Where the Buffs are stacked is on defense and special teams. Eight starters return from last years squad, and there’s tons of depth in all three facets. Last year’s D-Line only surrendered 2.8 YPC and sacked opposing QB’s 27 times. The back seven looks terrific; especially the secondary that returns seven of eight contributors from a year ago. K Mason Crosby is back for his senior campaign, and is hoping to finally get some award recognition. The kids been nothing but stellar in his career, yet hasn’t even sniffed any post-season accolades. He usually forces every one of CU’s opponents to go 80 yards to score as he boasted a touchback percentage of 67 last season!!!

The Buffaloes are a very interesting squad this season. They imploded late last season, but still got to the Big 12 Championship game for the second year in a row. This is a program that’s used to success as they’ve been to the conferences big game in four of the last five years. HC Dan Hawkins will be a godsend for this program. He’s a man of intelligence, charisma, and integrity. Look for this squad to get better as the season progresses, and for them to be playing at their peak level in mid October when they play the bulk of their divisional games.