Calm … Or Clammy?

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Calm … or Clammy?

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I was jostling my way through the throngs in the Reagan National Airport earlier this summer, when I happened to pass a middle-aged man wearing a bright red Rutgers polo shirt.

“Good for you”, I thought. “That takes some nerve”.

After all, Rutgers is coming off of a 2-10 campaign in 2016, with the two wins coming over Howard and New Mexico. The Scarlet Knights went 0-9 in Big Ten play last fall, falling to Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Michigan State by a combined score of 214-0.

That’s 214-0 in four losses, from a Power Five conference school.

(For the record, it was Ohio State 58-0, Michigan 78-0, Michigan State 49-0, and Penn State 39-0).

There are those who have questioned the admission of Rutgers (along with Maryland) to the Big Ten Conference three seasons ago. Other than bringing in the New York television market to the conference, the Scarlet Knights haven’t been a threat, going 4-21 in conference play.

You have to be a real fan to wear a Rutgers shirt these days. Still, there this gentleman was at Reagan National, wearing his red polo shirt.

And that’s when it occurred to me … how quickly attitudes change.

A year ago, had I been at Reagan National, wearing one of my CU polo shirts, a passerby could have had the same thoughts.

There were those who were questioning the admission of Colorado (along with Utah) to the Pac-12 Conference five seasons earlier. Other than bringing in the Denver television market to the conference, the Buffs hadn’t been a threat, going 5-40 in conference play.

What a difference a year makes.

Coming off of a 10-4 season and a Pac-12 South title, the inclusion of Colorado into the Pac-12 conference is no longer being questioned. The Buffs went 8-1 in conference play, going “worst-to-first”. CU’s head coach, Mike MacIntyre, won almost every national Coach-of-the-Year award offered.

The off-season was not without its downsides, from Jim Leavitt leaving to Joe Tumpkin’s legal issues. Overall, however, it was nice spending the past nine months being the fan of a ten-win team instead of a ten-loss team.

That all comes to a close on Friday (6:00 p.m., MT, Pac-12 Networks). The 2016 season officially becomes history, as the 2017 season officially kicks off.

Will the 2016 prove to be an anomaly, with CU reverting back to its losing ways?

Or will the 2016 season prove to be the first of a long run of successful campaigns in Boulder?

Should Buff fans be calm … or should their hands be unpleasantly damp and sticky?

The question marks:

— How well will Steven Montez adjust to being the starting quarterback?

Yes, Steven Montez is 2-1 as a starting quarterback, but that was last fall, in relief of an entrenched starter. For the past nine months, Montez has known he will be The Man this fall. Have the CU coaches been able to reign in his gunslinger mentality, one which produces big plays … but can also produce big mistakes?

Reports from Fall Camp have been positive, and the sentiment around the Champions Center is that Montez is primed for a big season.

— Will the offensive line be able to keep the CU offensive machine moving?

CU has a quarterback with a strong arm and mobility, a running back who is primed to become CU’s first back-to-back 1,000-yard rusher in school history, and a wide receiver corps which is ranked among the best in the nation.

What could hold the Buffs’ back?

Poor offensive line play.

Mike MacIntyre has called this year’s offensive line the best in his five years in Boulder, so there should be no reason why this year’s team shouldn’t set offensive records.

Still, the offense will have to produce for CU to be successful. Last year, Colorado averaged 31.1 points per game. That total was the fifth-highest in school history.

It was also only good enough for 7th in the Pac-12, 51st in the nation.

Teams need to be able to score in bunches to be successful in today’s game (witness Oregon State scoring 27 points against Colorado State … and getting blown out), and it will be up to the CU offense – and the offensive line – to make that happen for the Buffs.

— Can the revamped CU defensive line hold up against point-a-minute offenses?

The key to the defensive line’s success is nose tackle Javier Edwards … Can he fill the shoes of the departed Josh Tupou?

Physically? Yes, as Edwards weighs in at 6’3″, 350-pounds.

Otherwise? TBD. “I think Javier has a lot of talent,” said MacIntyre. “We’ll just see if he can put it on and do it during a game like Josh did.”

“We have depth this year and I think it’s pretty good depth,” defensive line Jim Jeffcoat said. “When we have depth and don’t have to have a guy play 70 to 75 plays, that helps us. That keeps them fresh and it keeps them involved in the game. It’s why I like to play more than three guys if I have the young guys who can do it and the depth. We have to keep them fresh.”

The issue … CU had the same players as backups last year as they do this year, but the coaching staff kept the starters on the field, instead of bringing in the backups. Have the backups improved that much this off-season that they will be worthy of being in the rotation?

Or is all of the talk about the quality depth along the defensive line just coach-speak for “we hope we can make this work”?

–– Will the linebacker corps be a liability?

In the Colorado depth chart, there are four junior linebackers listed as starters: Derek McCartney, Rick Gamboa, Drew Lewis, and Terran Hasselback. Of the four, only Gamboa was in the top 18 tacklers on the team last season. McCartney was injured during the Michigan game, but Lewis and Hasselback just didn’t see much playing time.

Behind that group? All four of the primary backups are freshmen.

Yikes.

“There’s no doubt the future is bright for us at linebacker,” defensive linebacker D.J. Eliot said. “We have all those true freshmen who have gotten a lot of practice reps already in camp, and some of them are going to get game reps this year.”

The future may be bright for CU at linebacker … but what about 2017?

–– How well will the Buffs absorb the loss of three starters in the defensive backfield?

We’ve heard about it since the end of last season. We’ve heard about it since the NFL draft in April.

How can the CU secondary do anything but take a step back after having three starters drafted?

Isaiah Oliver has one cornerback position covered. “Isaiah is as good as Isaiah wants to be,” defensive backs coach ShaDon Brown said. “I’m not surprised by anything he does”.

The safety positions also appear to be in good shape, with Afodabi Laguda, Nick Fisher, and Ryan Moeller handling CU’s last line of defense.

The real question will be how well the Buffs will be able to protect the most vulnerable position – the other cornerback spot. With the loss of potential starter Anthony Julmisse (suspension), the job has fallen to red-shirt freshman Trey Udoffia, the only freshman to earn a starting position for the opener.

“Trey’s made some plays, but he’s got a ways to come,” Brown said. “I’d like for him to finish in the red zone a little bit better on some of the jump balls”.

Until Udoffia proves otherwise, he will be the target of opposing offensive coordinators.

— Can Colorado special teams make any improvement?

Once the home of All-conference kickers and punters, Colorado has fallen on hard times in the kicking game.

CU’s kicker for the opener? A 30-year old soccer player from Australia.

Alex Kinney returns as punter, and, according to Mike MacIntyre, is primed for a breakout season

Isaiah Oliver – perhaps CU’s most indispensable player – is listed as the primary punt returner.

Colorado, even with the upgrade in talent and speed across the board … was 123rd in the nation in kickoff coverage last season.

Where have you gone, Mason Crosby?

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Last year, Colorado lost four games. The four teams which beat the Buffs all finished in Top 11 in the final rankings.

Which means the Buffs went 10-0 against the rest of the nation, including victories over Stanford, which finished 12th in the final polls, and Utah, which finished 23rd.

That’s a pretty damn good resume.

But there were chinks in the armor …

The Buffs beat Oregon, 41-38, but it took a last second interception in the end zone to preserve the victory.

The Buffs beat Stanford, 10-5, but it took a fumble at the CU five-yard line to keep the Cardinal from a fourth quarter lead.

The Buffs beat UCLA, 20-10, but it took two Isaiah Oliver punt returns, one for a touchdown, to make it happen.

The Buffs beat Washington State, 38-24, but the Buffs trailed, 24-21, late in the third quarter.

The Buffs beat Utah, 27-22, but it took a Kenneth Olugbode fumble return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to give the Buffs some breathing room.

Good teams make big plays when the game is on the line.

The 2016 CU team was able to make the big plays. The Buffs could have easily been a 6-6 team or a 7-5 team last year. It still would have been labeled a turnaround season, and be called a success.

Now, the stakes are higher. The expectations are higher. The Buffs won ten games, and are defending Pac-12 South champions.

Colorado beat up on Colorado State, 44-7, to open the 2016 season. That victory set the tone for the rest of the year.

But, as coach MacIntyre is fond of saying, each year is a new year.

The Rams had little trouble taking out Oregon State, 58-27, in their 2017 opener. Colorado State had 525 yards of total offense, with the much-maligned defense forcing five turnovers, including a game-changing pick-six in the third quarter to break the game open.

Is Colorado State that good, or is Oregon State that bad?

Will Buff fans, in the 2017-18 off-season, be proud to wear their polo shirts in airports across the nation?

Time will tell.

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This post, about the Colorado State game, from the 2017 Season, is filed under Uncategorized.
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