Prime Numbers – 2023

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Prime Numbers – 2023

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A look back at the 2023 season, and some of the numbers generated in the first season under Coach Prime …

Leading off … 

Best guess as we await the official opening of the Transfer Portal on Monday … Colorado currently has 64 scholarships for 2024 filled. The Buffs currently have 9 commitments from the Recruiting Class of 2023, which brings the total to 73. That leaves 12 open spots for high school and portal additions … way too few to have a dramatic impact on the 2024 roster. Look for a double digit increase in the number of available scholarships in the next few weeks, which means that a number of 2023 Buffs will be looking to add their names to the Transfer Portal (P.S. Don’t panic).

And this … While it looks alarming that CU lost all three of its Recruiting Class of 2025 commits, bear this in mind (per 247Sports): 25 FBS teams have 3-plus commits for 2025; 11 have two commits; 17 have one commit; and 80 have zero 2025 commits. Moral of the story: It’s early.

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Percentage of stadium capacity filled by each Pac-12 team , 2023 regular season … 

• 106%—Colorado 53180
• 104%—Oregon 55895
• 104%—Oregon State 36969
• 102%—Utah 52499
• 98%—Washington 68814
• 93%—Arizona 47320
• 91%—Arizona State 48845
• 85%—USC 66071
• 85%—Washington State 28023
• 66%—Stanford 33219
• 61%—Cal 38684
• 54%—UCLA 47951

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Most watched games during the 2023 regular season … 

• 19.07M—Ohio State at Michigan, FOX
• 10.03M—Colorado at Oregon, ABC
• 9.98M—Ohio St at Notre Dame, NBC
• 9.96M—Penn St at Ohio St, FOX
• 9.30M—CSU at Colorado, ESPN
• 9.17M—FSU at LSU, ABC
• 9.16M—Michigan at Penn St, FOX
• 9.09M—Alabama at Auburn, CBS
• 8.82M—LSU at Alabama, CBS
• 8.76M—Texas at Alabama, ESPN
• 8.73M—Nebraska at Colorado, FOX
• 8.01M—Tennessee at Alabama, CBS
• 7.87M—Oklahoma vs Texas, ABC
• 7.26M—Colorado at TCU, FOX
• 7.24M—USC at Colorado FOX
• 7.23M—Alabama at Texas A&M, CBS
• 7.04M—Oregon at Washington, ABC
• 7.00M—Missouri at Georgia, CBS

So … of the Top 15 most-watched games in the 2023 regular season, Colorado was a participant in five (and a winner in three).

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Total viewership, Pac-12, 2023 regular season … 

• 53.92M—Colorado
• 33.94M—USC
• 33.81M—Oregon
• 32.15M—Washington
• 20.87M—Oregon State
• 18.31M—Utah
• 15.03M—UCLA
• 12.95M—Washington State
• 9.77M—CSU – just for fun … based upon the above numbers, there were 9.3 million viewers for CSU’s game against Colorado … and 430,000 viewers for the Rams’ 11 other games combined …
• 7.24M—Arizona State
• 6.59M—Stanford
• 5.39M—Cal
• 5.21M—Arizona

… One more note from the above numbers … More fans tuned in for five of CU’s individual games this past season than watched Arizona State, Stanford, Cal, and Arizona play in all 12 of their games …

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Putting 4-8 in perspective … 

– The Buffaloes were outscored by 29.1 points per game last year, compared to 6.7 this year. Las Vegas set their over-under total at 3.5 wins coming into the season, and the Buffs surpassed that in early October.

– In the FBS this year, there were 25 teams with first-year head coaches. Only six of the 25 teams had at least a three-win improvement over 2022:

• +6: Northwestern
• +5: South Florida
• +4: Liberty, UNLV
• +3: Colorado, Texas State

From the above, it could be argued that Coach Prime’s three-game improvement wasn’t all that special, but … CU played six ranked teams this past season (it would have been seven had Utah not fallen out of the rankings for the first time all year the week before the CU game). The other five teams listed above … played a combined total of four games against ranked opponents.

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On campus impact of Coach Prime (From Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year article) …

First-year applications are up 26.4% year over year at the University of Colorado; Black or African American applications are up 80.6%; nonresident applications are up 29.8%; and international applications are up 38.4% from 97 countries, including 16 that didn’t have any applications last year. While those numbers cannot be definitively linked to Sanders, others can be: September sales at the school’s online team store were up 2,544% over the same month in 2022. Every home game in 50,183-seat Folsom Field was sold out for the first time in school history.

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Shedeur Sanders records watch … Shedeur Sanders missed the 2023 regular season finale against Utah. Nonetheless, Sanders set some CU single season records, and came close on several others:

• Passing yards: 3,230 … CU single season record: 3,200 … Sefo Liufau, 2014 (New school record)
• Passing touchdowns: 27 … CU single season record: 28 … Sefo Liufau, 2014 (Sanders new No. 2)
• Passing attempts: 430 … CU single season record: 498 … Sefo Liufau, 2014 (Sanders new No. 2)
• Completions: 298 … CU single season record: 325 … Sefo Liufau, 2014 (Sanders new No. 2)
• Completion percentage: 69.3 … CU single season record: 68.4 … Koy Detmer, 1995 (New school record)
• Touchdowns/Interception ratio: 27 touchdowns with only 3 interceptions (9:1) (New school record)
• Total offense (plays): 541 … CU single season record: 567 … Sefo Liufau, 2014 (Sanders new No. 2)
• Total offense (yards): 3,153 … CU single season record: 3,336 … Sefo Liufau, 2014 (Sanders new No. 3)

Meanwhile … 

FBS quarterbacks sacked the most in a single season the past 20 years (per ESPN stats):

• 61: Tino Sunseri, Pittsburgh, 2011
• 54: Rudy Carpenter, Arizona State, 2007
• 53: Clay Millen, Colorado State, 2022
• 52: Brett Hundley, UCLA, 2012
• 52: Shedeur Sanders, Colorado, 2023

Most-sacked QBs in Colorado history:

• 52 – Shedeur Sanders, 2023
• 39 – Jordan Webb, 2012
• 38 – Mike Moschetti, 1998
• 36 – Bill Solomon, 1979
• 35 – Steven Montez, 2017

Overall, CU gave up 56 total sacks this year, breaking the old school record of 55 allowed in 1979.

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Other Player Notes … 

— Before this year, Colorado had seven seasons in its history in which two players caught at least 50 passes. This was the first time that the Buffs had three players with 50-plus: Xavier Weaver (68), Jimmy Horn Jr. (58), Travis Hunter (57);

— 500-yard receivers at Colorado: 2020: 0 2021: 0 2022: 0 2023: 3

— Most catches by a Colorado tight end the last 22 seasons (2002-23):

• 36 – Riar Geer, 2009
• 32 – Joe Klopfenstein, 2005
• 31 – Michael Harrison, 2023

— Most touchdown catches in a season by a tight end in CU history:

• 6 – Daniel Graham, 2001
• 6 – Tyson DeVree, 2007
• 5 – Christian Fauria, 1992
• 5 – Michael Harrison, 2023

— How bad was the CU defense? … Most yards allowed per game in Colorado history …

• 509.8 – 2022 … a 1-11 team, considered by many Buff fans as the worst CU team ever;
• 488.5 – 2012 … a 1-11 team, the worst team ever … before 2022;
• 464.4 – 1980 … a 1-10 which lost to Drake, and was run over by Oklahoma, 82-42, with the Sooners going for an NCAA record 758 yards rushing;
• 453.3 – 2023 … 126th in the nation

— Who led the team in tackles?

• LaVonta Bentley … 69 tackles, 40 unassisted …
• Shilo Sanders … 68 tackles, 55 unassisted …
• Trevor Woods … 56 tackles, 42 unassisted …
• Rodrick Ward … 52 tackles, 37 unassisted …
• Jordan Domineck … 51 tackles, 31 unassisted …

— Shilo Sanders also in the books … Shilo Sanders four forced fumbles. He  is the first Buff since 2013 with four-plus forced fumbles in a single season;

— Yes, punter Mark Vassett was very good … In his first season at CU, former Purdue punter Mark Vassett set CU records for most punts inside the 10 (12) and inside the 5 (6);

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This post, about the Postseason game, from the 2023 Season, is filed under Article.
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