Injury Update
Given that there are seven players the Buffs have done without for most, if not all, of the 2011 season due to serious injuries (see list, below), Colorado is presently about as healthy as a team playing its 13th consecutive game without a break can resonably expect.
On the mend:
Anthony Perkins – (Sr.) – safety – suffered an ankle sprain nine plays into the Oregon game – trying to get back, but is still listed as “questionable”
Parker Orms – (So.) – cornerback – suffered a hamstring pull in the second half against Arizona – listed as “questionable”.
For senior Anthony Perkins, the Utah game not only represents his last chance to play in 2011, it’s his last chance to play for Colorado.
Perkins’ ankle has shown improvement this week, allowing him to do a little more and allowing defensive coordinator Greg Brown to pencil him in for at least some duty. “He’s working . . . we’re just seeing how much he can do,” Brown told cubuffs.com after Tuesday’s practice. “Same with Parker Orms. They’re both taking ‘reps’ and we’ll see if we can get some plays out of each of them.”
For Brown and for Perkins, there would be no such thing as a “token” series to permit Perkins to play in his final college game. He’s either ready to play or he isn’t. Perkins would never want to be a liability to his teammates, CU’s medical staff would never put Perkins at risk.
“He’s never going to do anything to hurt the team,” Brown said. “He’s always been an unselfish guy. He understands; he’s always put the team above himself.”
During his month on the sidelines, Perkins has had time to contemplate how his CU football career might end. Friday finds him among 28 seniors awaiting their last afternoon in a Buffs uniform. Embree’s season-long message of caution to his upperclassmen has been to be aware of how swiftly the end comes, and that it always doesn’t follow the schedule.
Perkins, said Embree at his Tuesday press conference, “is trying; he’s working his tail off. He is doing all he can to be out there. I hope he can. I’m sure he would like to be out there and at least come off the field and not have to be carried off or helped off. Be out there and at least play your last play. Hopefully it will happen for him because he’s a great kid.”
“It’ll take a lot to keep me off the field,” Perkins said. “I had much rather be determining my own fate . . . it’s never a good thing when something is taken from you and you have no control over it. But unfortunately, that’s the nature of football. Being able to dictate your own terms is definitely a blessing. If I’m able to do that, it’ll be great. If I’m not – then that’s football.
“The position I’m in, being able to play this far down the line . . . I’ve played football since I was five years old. Being able to play and having many friends who haven’t been able to make it this far for whatever reason, I just look at every chance I have to be on that field as a blessing.
“I’m more than thankful for the opportunity that God has given me to be able to be out there. I’m going to enjoy it for all it’s worth while I can.”
Perkins, despite injuries which have plagued him throughout his career, stands 51st on the all-time tackles list, with 186.
Suspended indefinitely – violations of team rules:
Ayodeji Olatoye – (So.) – defensive back – did play in the first four games of the season (no tackles)
Liloa Nobriga – (So.) – linebacker – dressed for two home games and CSU game, but had not yet played a down
It was announced on Monday that neither Olatoye nor Nobriga would be back with the team in 2012.
Out for the Season:
Jared Bell– (Soph.) – defensive back – Out since August with a torn ACL
Doug Rippy – (Jr.) – linebacker – suffered torn ligaments in his knee against Washington – surgery pending
Blake Behrens – (Sr.) – offensive lineman – chronic shoulder and bicep tendinitis have ended his career (though he did get in for two snaps v. Arizona)
Tony Poremba – (Sr.) – defensive lineman – suffered a concussion in practice on October 4th, one of many in his career
Will Harlos – (Fr.) – defensive back – hamstring and concussion injuries have ended his season
Sherrard Harrington – (Fr.) – defensive back – suffered a hip contusion during the summer, decision to red-shirt made in August
Malcolm Creer – (Fr.) – running back – suffered a torn ACL and MCL 15 carries into his career – surgery pending
Jack Harris – (Soph.) – offensive tackle – Out for the season with a broken ankle, surgery on September 22nd
Overall, Colorado has lost 107 games from player who figured to be in the two-deep roster, or just over 20 percent of the possible 528 (twelve games times 44 players). This total projects to be the highest total of lost games since 1984.
—
Colorado v. Utah – Notes worth Noting
– Before Colorado and Utah joined the Pac-12, they were already slated to renew their rivalry. In 2006, the teams signed a home-and-home contract for games to be played in 2012 and 2013. The 2012 game was to be played in Boulder on September 22, 2012, 50 years to the day since the last meeting between the two schools;
– Blame Oklahoma State … Colorado and Utah used to meet regularly, with 57 games being played between the two schoools leading up to 1962. Between 1903 and 1958, in fact, the teams played every season but two (1909 and 1918). However, when Oklahoma State joined the Big Seven to form the Big Eight in 1961, there were not enough non-conference games to go around, and the series came to an end;
– Despite the fact that the two teams have not met in 49 years, the 30 wins for the Buffs (30-24-3 overall) represent the sixth highest win total for Colorado over any other current program. For the record, the list includes: Colorado State, 61; Iowa State, 49; Kansas State 45; Kansas 42; and Missouri, 31 (CU also has 36 wins over Colorado Mines and 31 over Colorado College, but both of those series have long since gone dormant);
– Colorado ranks 100th or worse in the nation in no fewer than 11 statistical categories, including significant categories such as rushing offense (105th); scoring offense (109th); total defense (104th); and scoring defense (117th). Utah, meanwhile, is ranked 100th or worse in only three categories: passing offense (101st); total offense (109th) and third down conversion offfense (108th).
– Colorado is 20-15 vs. Utah in men’s basketball, and 1-0 in baseball, with the one and only game played between the two schools coming in 1913 (an 11-3 CU victory);
– Between the two schools, there have been 29 national championships in skiing, with 18 for Colorado and 11 for Utah – with one AIAW title for both schools (prior to 1983, when skiing went to a coed national title, the women competed in the AIAW. Both schools have a women’s team national championship, though they are not recognized as NCAA national titles).
Records which could fall Friday
– Senior quarterback Tyler Hansen has 376 passing attempts this season. The record for the most passing attempts by a senior is 400, by Joel Klatt in 2005 (the overall record is 424, by then red-shirt freshman Cody Hawkins).
– Hansen has eight 200-yard passing games in 2011. The record for a single season is nine, held by Koy Detmer (1996) and Cody Hawkins (2007).
– Hansen has 19 touchdown passes so far this year. The school record for passing touchdowns in a season is 22, set by Koy Detmer in 1996.
– Senior wide receiver Toney Clemons has caught a touchdown pass in four consecutive games. The school record for consecutive games with a touchdown reception is five, set by Rae Carruth during the 1996 season. The eight touchdown passes from Hansen-to-Clemons on the season has tied the record for any senior duo. Hansen and Clemons share the record with Detmer and Carruth (1996).
– Freshman kicker Will Oliver has already tied the record for most field goals made in a season, with ten. He could break the tie he shares with Tom Field (1979) with a field goal against Utah.
Pac-12 Notes of Note
– No bowl bids are at stake this weekend in the Pac-12, as teams are either already qualified for bowls (Stanford, Oregon, Washington, Cal, UCLA, Utah, and Arizona State), or ineligible (USC, Oregon State, Washington State, Arizona, and Colorado).
– Arizona State and Cal are both 6-5, with the winner likely to get a better bowl bid. Also at stake for Arizona State is a berth in the Pac-12 title game. All the Sun Devils need to do is defeat the Bears on Friday night, then sit back to watch and see if UCLA can upset USC. If the Bruins cannot pull off the miracle, a victorious Sun Devil team would play for the title.
– Every game of the final regular season weekend in the Pac-12 will be televised, except for one. That would be the non-conference game between Louisiana-Lafayette (which is 8-3, BTW) in Tucson against Arizona. The significance? With the advent of the Pac-12 Network next fall, the Louisiana-Lafayette/Arizona game will go down in history as the last Pac-12 game not to be on television.
– While senior Tyler Hansen will be trying for his ninth 200-yard passing game of the season against Utah, Oregon State red-shirt freshman Sean Mannion already has nine, and will be going for his tenth in a row against Oregon in the Civil War this weekend.
– Oregon quarterback Darron Thomas has thrown a touchdown pass in 23 straight games, a streak second only to Wisconsin’s Russell Wilson (35).
– The Apple Cup will be played for in Seattle’s CenturyLink Field (as Husky stadium renovations have already begun). It will mark the first time since 1980, when Washington played Washington State in Spokane, when the two teams have played each other off-campus.
– When Stanford missed a field goal in the second quarter against Cal, it marked the first time this season in which the Cardinal had failed to convert a red-zone opportunity. Stanford heads into the regular season finale against Notre Dame having converted 61-of-62 redzone chances (98% … CU is 95th in the country in that category, at 76%). The Cardinal have scored at least 30 points in 14 consecutive games.
– Stanford is 22-3 at home since 2007. The average attendance at the home for Stanford games, where the Cardinal host Notre Dame this weekend, is 49,936. Colorado, in five home games this season (going 1-4), averaged 50,355.