Friday Fast Facts
Injury Update
Out for the Season
Jered Bell – sophomore defensive back – torn ACL during fall practice
Out for the Colorado/California game
Sherrard Harrington – freshman defensive back – hip contusion during the summer; a likely red-shirt candidate
Vince Ewing – junior defensive back – torn ACL during fall camp – surgery still possible, likely lost for the season
Shawn Daniels – senior offensive lineman – severe calf strain – best bet: will see a few plays in his final home game
David Bakhtiari – sophomore offensive lineman – suffered a strained knee on the 7th play of the game against Hawai’i – listed as “day-to-day”
Of the above, the only new addition from last week is Bakhtiari, but it is a major addition. Early this week, head coach Jon Embree did not rule out Bakhtiari being able to play against California. Without the starting left tackle, the Buffs’ offensive line surrendered seven sacks to Hawai’i.
“It affected us a lot, emotionally more than anything,” sophomore wide receiver Paul Richardson said of Bakhtiari’s injury. “He’s a big part of their unit. Between him and Ryan (Miller), they are the leaders of their unit.”
Bakhtiari’s playing status for Cal may be a game time decision. If the sophomore cannot go, his replacement last week, junior Ryan Dannewitz, will likely be the starter.
CU v. Cal Notes worth Noting
– Red-shirt freshman Daniel Munyer and sophomore Gus Handler are slated to continue rotating at starting center for the Buffs. Against Hawai’i, Munyer was in for 44 snaps; Handler 14.
– It may seem that Colorado is already utilizing a number of freshmen players, but in fact the Buffs are about average. Against Hawai’i, 11 freshmen saw action (six true freshmen; five red-shirts). The average for all teams in the Pac-12 on opening day was 12.9 per team, with Arizona and Washington State leading the way with 19 each. Cal, this weekend’s opponent, also had 11 freshmen play in their first game (a 36-21 victory over Fresno State). The Bears had ten true freshmen see action, and only one red-shirt freshman.
– Last weekend, Cal had two wide receivers with over 100 yards in receptions – Marvin Jones (five catches, 118 yards, two touchdowns) and Keenan Allen (eight receptions, 112 yards). The Fresno State game marked the first time since 2006 in which the Bears had two receivers with over 100 yards in receptions. (The last time Colorado had two 100-yard receivers came in 2009, when Scotty McKnight and Markques Simas each had over 100 yards against Nebraska).
– As of Monday (September 5th), Colorado had sold 24,448 season tickets. While the Buffs may fall just short of athletic director Mike Bohn’s stated goal of 25, 000, the number does represent an increase of over 4,800 season tickets from last year, the third largest season-to-season increase in school history.
– True freshman punter Darragh O’Neill is one of ten freshmen punters in the nation in Division 1-A this season. O’Neill’s debut was excellent, with his seven punts going for an average of 44.9 yards per punt. Of the ten punters who saw their first action Saturday, O’Neill’s average was the second-best (the only punter with a higher average was the punter for Navy, Pablo Beltran, who had a 47.0 yard average – but Beltran only had to punt the ball once in Navy’s 40-17 rout of Delaware).
– Jon Embree became the latest in a long line of first game sufferers at head coach at Colorado. Other than Rick Neuheisal, who inherited an 11-1 team from the retiring Bill McCartney, no permanent head coach has won his opening game at Colorado since 1932. After William Saunders, who led the Buffs to a 31-0 rout over the Colorado School of Mines in 1932, Colorado head coaches have gone 0-14 in head coaching debuts, including Bill McCartney’s 31-17 loss to Cal in 1982 (the last time the two teams met in Boulder).
– In the five game series between Colorado and California (led by the Bears, 3-2), the team which won the game scored first, and never surrendered the lead. Put another way, neither team has come from behind for a victory in the history of the series.
– Against Fresno State, the Bears had 12 tackles for loss, including six sacks. The total offense allowed to the Bulldogs, 210 yards, was the 16th-best effort nationally in week one of the 2011 season.
– Colorado is 3-1 in games played on September 10th. In 1977, No. 12 Colorado defeated Stanford, 27-21, behind 152 yards rushing and two touchdowns by James Mayberry. The star of the game, though, was linebacker Brian Cabral, who had 25 tackles (tied for the fourth-highest total in school history) and an interception. Cabral is now, of course, the CU linebackers coach, having served as interim head coach (2-1) last fall after Dan Hawkins was terminated.
– The Buffs have 28 senior suiting up this fall, the most since 30 did so in 1987. The last four seasons, Colorado has had fewer than 20 seniors on the roster. The 2011 season marks only the third time since 1987 in which Colorado has had as many as 25 seniors (26 in both 2001 and 2006).
– With Cal’s Memorial Stadium being completely rebuilt, Colorado’s Folsom Field now ranks as the fourth-oldest in the Pac-12 (and 18th-oldest of 120 Division 1-A schools). Opened in 1924, Folsom Field ranks only behind Washington’s Husky Stadium (1920), the Rose Bowl (1922) and Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (1923).