October 14th
Phil Steele’s mid-season All-American team announced
With a 1-5 record, and little in the way of immediate hope for improvement, there is little for Buff fans to look for when All-American teams are announced in December.
It was a surprise, then, when the Phil Steele’s mid-season All-American team was announced, and Colorado senior guard Ryan Miller was not only on the list, but made first team. In the first six games of the season, Miller has played every down for the Buffs’ offense, but has graded out at 80% or better in only four of those games (falling below 80%, according to the CU coaches, in the games against CSU and Ohio State). Miller does lead the line in “Great Effort Blocks” with 18 (Ryan Dannewitz is second, with 13), but with the overall lack of success of the Colorado offense – 109th in rushing offense, 90th in total offense, 93rd in scoring offense, 97th in sacks allowed – the honor does come as a surprise.
Other than Miller, only senior running back Rodney Stewart merited so much as honorable mention.
On Phil Steele’s All Pac-12 team, Miller is the only first-team player, with Rodney Stewart the only second team performer. Three players made the third-team – wide receiver Paul Richardson; linebacker Doug Rippy; and punter Darragh O’Neill.
And … for what it’s worth … Phil Steele also projects that Colorado will go 0-9 in Pac-12 play in 2011 …
October 13th
Career may be over for senior defensive lineman
The Game Notes for the Colorado/Washington game goes on for sixty pages. But one line on page three may indicate the end of a career for one Colorado player:
“DL – Tony Poremba – concussion – suffered in practice (October 4th) – Out/Indefinite”
The Colorado senior took a long and winding road to the playing fields at Folsom, and now his career may be over – just when it was getting started.
Poremba was a three-year letterman in football at Cherry Creek high school in Denver. He was named first-team All-State and All-Centennial League as a defensive lineman and second-team All-League as an offensive lineman in his senior year, but did not receive much in the way of scholarship offers. Poremba joined the Buffs as a preferred walk-on in 2007.
After a red-shirt season, Poremba saw action in one game in 2008, getting in for one snap in the opener against Colorado State. In 2009, Poremba got in for two snaps (against Wyoming).
Last fall, in his junior year, Poremba got a little more playing time, suiting up for four games and seven snaps. His first career tackle was a 1-yard quarterback sack in the second half of the season opener against CSU in Denver, also earning a third down stop credit on the play. He earned the Defensive Scout Team Award for the Hawai’i game.
This spring, despite having played only ten snaps in three years, Poremba returned for his senior campaign. Poremba was rewarded for his loyalty and hard work by being placed on scholarship after spring practices.
This fall, Poremba played in first five games of the season, taking the field for 43 plays. The senior earned his first career start against Ohio State, and had posted three tackles before suffering a concussion in practice last week.
After practicing with the team for four years, Poremba was finally getting to take the field as a Colorado Buff. Now, when he should be in position to enjoy the fruits of four years on the scout team, Poremba may be done for the year – and his career.
Poremba’s media guide bio states that he is pursuing a double major in Economics and Business (Finance) at Colorado. He earned first-team Academic All-Big 12 Conference honors as a junior. He aspires to manage NFL player assets and open an NFL training facility after he enters the business world.
Let’s hope Poremba’s years toiling behind the scenes for the Buffs will assist him in his future ventures.
I am hopeful that Tony will again be able to take the field before the end of his senior year, but, if not … thank you, Mr. Poremba, for your dedication and service to the Colorado football program.
October 11th
Jon Embree – Press Conference Quotes
On Washington – “The games I’ve watched them play in, they have had a couple of close calls and they found a way to win them. They do a good job in bringing the quarterback along, this is his first time playing really, (Keith) Price, and he’s a good player. He has the same type of good demeanor, whether it is a turnover or something bad that happens, he has a good demeanor about himself and that is obviously important at that position. Their running back (Chris Polk) is a good back. He is physical. If you don’t tackle him, he’ll run through arm tackles so you have to tackle him and you have to get more than one guy there at the ball.”
On If He Is Doing Anything To Keep The Morale High – “No, yesterday we had good enthusiasm. The seniors understand how the clock is running and then part of it is having a lot of young guys who are still playing and it is still there first time going through it so there is natural excitement on their part so it’s been a good blend. Our staff has done a great job in keeping them focused at the task at hand and keeping them motivated and energized.”
On What The Key Is To Keep A Team Getting Better As The Season Progresses – “There’s a lot but sometimes it is what you have to play for. What is your motivation has a determining factor in that. Obviously teams that have a lot to play for are going to continue to improve and teams that feel like all of their goals or whatever they set out to do can’t be obtained. I think that has a large part to do with it with these kids. It depends on what their circumstances surrounding the team. If it’s injuries and guys feel like, ‘Oh, we can’t win because we don’t have player X,’ or if guys look at it, ‘So-and-so are hurt, we’re going to play for him until he gets back.’ There are a lot of different things that go into it, but ultimately I think it comes down to what you are playing for.”
On If It Is Difficult Recruiting Given How The Season Has Gone – “No, a lot of the kids that we have recruited and the kids that we are recruiting; we have been very well received. A lot of them see opportunity, for some kids they just want that opportunity. A lot of them understand what is going on in the inside; they’ve been here on trips already and have seen it from the inside out. So it has not been an issue.”
On How To Identify The Player That Has Passion For The Game During Recruiting – “I think there are a few things. There are some key questions that you ask kids. When I was in the (National Football) League and you go to the combine, there are certain questions that I ask kids and you could tell if they loved football and it was important to them. You get kids, even to get to that point, they have gotten there purely on athletic ability, and really the hardest jump is high school to college because you come in as an 18-year-old boy and you are going to be playing with 23-year-old men. That is really the biggest jump. If you are able to make that jump quicker than later, you have to have a certain mental toughness, you have to have a certain self confidence in yourself that you can do this and not be worried about the circumstances surrounding you. When you talk to these kids and depending how they answer certain questions, some of these kids, they don’t know. What you have to find out then is how are they going to react when they get to your school and it might take two years for them to play. Are they going to keep working or are they going to look for the easy way out? Those are all important things that you have to have because as you continue building this, you have to have football players, guys that love football, understand the game, understand the little things that go within the game to have success, to win and start winning consistently.”
On If He Has An Update On Any Injuries – “No. I’ll know more probably after Wednesday’s practice, who is in, who is out. P-Rich (Paul Richardson), those guys are out, and the guys that have been out, (Travis) Sandersfeld, those guys are still out. As far as new injuries – I don’t think we have any new injuries that are going to cause guys to miss the game.”
On Players Making Mistakes That Hurt The Team – “Sometimes kids do too much. They try and do the guy next to them’s job and their job. I would say that is one of the biggest culprits. They just want to win so badly and sometimes you try and do extra and it hurts you, if you just do normal and do your job. I’ve talked to the team and I feel that is the reason why the fans and you guys don’t see the reaction might think when something like that happens when you talk to a kid because you see it in their eyes, it is not something they do maliciously, it is not something they were coached to, they were just trying to do something extra to help the team win. That’s it at the end of the day. I’m trying to get the team to understand, just do your job and trust the guy next to you to do their job and that is what we have to do. No one is going to play a perfect game, God knows that I’ve never played or coached a perfect game, no one has, and so you don’t necessarily need to do those things to win. When you look back at our win against CSU, there were a lot of mistakes, but when it was time to get it done, we got it done, and that is what we have to understand. We don’t have to go play perfect, we don’t have to go out there and be Superman. If we just go out there and do our thing, that is what is going to give us the opportunity to win and the chance to win.”
On The Suspensions And If Any Has Been Lifted – “Josh Moten is back. They were all suspended for different things and Josh had some business to take care of and I wanted him to handle and he got that done. Josh is the student-athlete of the month and has done a lot of good things since we’ve been here. The other guys, they still have some work to do so we’ll see.”
Buffs to play to FCS teams in the next two years
See what $21 million in shared television revenues every year can do?
According to the Boulder Daily Camera, the Colorado athletic department has finalized contracts with two Football Championship Subdivision schools (Division I-AA) to play the Buffs at Folsom Field in 2012 and 2013.
The agreements fill the only remaining holes in the schedule in those seasons on Sept. 8, 2012 and Sept. 7, 2013. The source refused to name the schools but one is from the Big Sky Conference and is not Northern Colorado.
CU also is making a little history in scheduling the two FCS teams.
Next season will mark just the third time since 1948 that CU will not play at least one other team from a major conference in the non-conference portion of its schedule. The Buffs are slated to play Colorado State in Denver, host an FCS team and play at Fresno State on Sept. 15.
In 2013, CU will play CSU in Denver and then host an FCS team and Fresno State in back-to-back weekends. Never in the modern era of Colorado football have the Buffs gone two consecutive seasons without playing at least one BCS team in non-conference play.
One of Five back in the fold
Redshirt freshman defensive back Josh Moten has been reinstated to the football team after missing last week’s game at Stanford for an undisclosed violation of team rules.
Moten was one of five defensive players suspended last week by coach Jon Embree. The coach said Monday that it would still be awhile before the other four players – linebacker Liloa Nobriga and defensive backs Parker Orms, Paul Vigo, and Ayodeji Olatoye – are reinstated, if they return at all this season.
AP Poll first since 1982
For the first time since 1982, none of the big three schools in the state of Florida – Miami, Florida State, and Florida – appear in the weekly Associated Press poll. It has been almost 20 years – and 472 polls – the big three were on the outside looking in.
This past week, Florida State fell to Wake Forest, while Florida was bombed by No. 1 LSU, with both exiting the poll. Miami, for its part, hasn’t been ranked since last November.
The Seminoles, Gators and Hurricanes have three of the top five consecutive-appearance streaks in AP poll history. Florida State made the list 211 straight times from 1989 through 2001, Florida made 209 straight appearances from 1990 through 2002, and Miami’s best run was 162 in a row from 1985 through 1995.
For those counting at home, Colorado’s streak of 143 consecutive polls – from 1989 to 1997 – ranks in the top ten list of all-time longest consecutive stays in the Associated Press poll.
October 10th
Colorado v. Oregon game time set
The Colorado/Oregon game will kickoff next weekend in Boulder at 1:30 p.m. MT.
The game will be shown on the Fox Sports Network.
Washington in unfamiliar territory
The Washington Huskies are over a two-touchdown favorite over the visiting Colorado Buffaloes this Saturday. While the Buffs are growing ever-more accustomed to being a double-digit underdog on the road (this weekend will mark the fifth such occasion, dating back to last season’s game at Nebraska), being a two-touchdown favorite is new to these Huskies.
According to the Seattle Times writer Bob Condotta, Washington has been a two-touchdown or better favorite only eight times in the past eight seasons, including this fall’s season opener against Eastern Washington. In those games, Washington has won seven of eight, but has only been 3-5 against the spread.
So the Buffs have that going for them … which is nice.
3 Replies to “Colorado Daily – Washington”
Stuart, thank you for the profile on Tony. On Senior Day I will definitely be on my feet and cheering for him! Hopefully he will play again this season!
Thanks for the profile on Tony Poremba. What a shame that his well earned playing time gets cut off by an injury, but his future is very bright with his obvious intelligence, perservance and integrity. Way to go Tony!
Not a fan of the pre-season scheduling with no cross sectional BCS teams. Would rahter have a Georgia or Virginia Tech on the schedule. Maybe when we get a few more classes and wins. But FCS? Why when we already have CSU?