Sept. 24th – UCLA – “It’s Difficult Waiting, but It’ll Happen”

Dorian Thompson-Robinson, making his fifth career start against Colorado, finally won in Boulder, leading UCLA to a 45-17 domination of Colorado. DTR, who had lost to the Buffs in starts at Folsom Field in 2018 and 2020, went 19-for-23 for 234 yards and two touchdowns (plus seven carries for 56 yards) in less than three quarters of work as the Bruins scored on their first three possessions of the game, never looking back.

Colorado freshman quarterback Owen McCown earned his first career start, and led the Buffs to their highest point total in CU’s 0-4 start. McCown went 26-for-42 for 258 yards and a touchdown (he also had a touchdown rushing), but also suffered an interception and a fumble. Eleven different Buffs had receptions on the afternoon, as the Buff coaching staff had an open casting call to try and insert some energy into CU’s lethargic offense. Daniel Arias led the Buffs with 82 yards on four receptions, with CU’s second touchdown coming on an eight-yard touchdown pass from McCown to Jordyn Tyson late in the fourth quarter.

The Buffs dropped to 0-4 overall and 0-1 in Pac-12 play while the Bruins improved to 4-0, 1-0.

“Frustrating day,” CU head coach Karl Dorrell said. “But I felt like there were some positive things, even though we weren’t a factor in getting a chance to win this one, It just got away from us. I was encouraged by the young freshmen that we decided to use … But we just didn’t do the things we needed to do in the second half. There’s a lot of areas that need a lot of work. We’re a young team that needs to continue to grow and mature as we go. But we just have a tremendous amount of work to do with this team.”

Buff fans don’t know what conference they will be playing in when the second half of the 2020s arrive. A ten-team Pac-12? An expanded Pac-12? An expanded Big 12?

Or, based on CU’s play in September … The Mountain West?

“I’m very confident in CU’s position,” Colorado chancellor Phil DiStefano said in an interview with BuffZone.com this week. “When UCLA and USC left, people were talking about, ‘There’s not going to be a Pac-12 anymore; other schools will leave and go to the Big 12, go to the Big Ten, go to the ACC.’

DiStefano continued: “Obviously, people want to know now and we want to get the best deal we can get. If that takes us another month or two or longer to do, that’s fine with me. We need to get the best deal that we can get. We’re looking at a contract that might be five or seven years, so to get the best deal, let’s take our time and do that.

“It’s difficult waiting, but it’ll happen.”

Game Day! … Buffs remain confident: “We all know what we can do. We’ve just got to execute” … Neill Woelk’s Five Keys to the UCLA Game … DiStefano: “I’m very confident about where we’re going to end up with media rights” …

Game Day! … UCLA Preview: Five Players to Watch … UC Regents meet: No public action taken on UCLA … Bettors jumping on Oregon State after USC initially listed as a two-touchdown favorite … Northwest Pac-12 teams 11-1; all four are Pac-12 contenders …

Rashaan Salaam HOF celebration Saturday … CU history repeating itself this weekend (from 1980, or 1994)? … Two positive CU stats (honest) … CU loves playing UCLA in Pac-12 openers … What have WSU and OSU done which hasn’t happened since 1915? …

Dorian Thompson-Robinson torched CU defenses in the past, and the current CU defense has demonstrated no reason to believe they will be able to contain him this year … The Bruins may be groggy for the 11:00 a.m. (PT) kickoff, and may be looking past CU to their Friday night game against Washington, but will that be enough for CU to keep it close? … Let’s find out …

Can the Buffs stop DTR, who has almost 1,200 yards of total offense in four games against CU? … Can the CU offense find its way to double digit scoring? … Oh, and about the firing of Herm Edwards – Will Karl Dorrell be next? …