Friday Fast Facts – Alamo Bowl Edition

—

Friday Fast Facts – Colorado vs. Texas – Tuesday, 7:00 p.m., MT, ESPN

—

Big Picture

— The 2020 Alamo Bowl represents Colorado’s 30th postseason bowl appearance. This ties the Buffs for 38th on the all-time list (Alabama leads with 69, Texas is second with 56, while Georgia is third with 55). Prior to the eight-year drought from 2008-15, CU had been ranked 24th in bowl appearances through 2007 (with the 8th-most between 1985 and 2007);

— CU ranks sixth among Pac-12 schools behind Southern California (53), Washington (39), UCLA (36), Oregon (33) and Arizona State (32); Stanford also has 30;

— Colorado is 12-17 all-time in bowl games. After winning six straight bowl games between 1993 and 1999 (tied for the eighth-longest streak all-time), the Buffs have lost five of their last six, with the only victory coming in a 33-28 win over UTEP in the 2004 Houston Bowl (a game which was also played on December 29th, so the Buffs have that going for them … which is nice);

— The Buffs are 0-2 in previous Alamo Bowl games. In 2002, the Buffs went into overtime against Wisconsin, falling 31-28. Then, of course, the Pac-12 South Division winners in 2016 went to San Antonio as the No. 10 team in the nation, but were smoked by No. 12 Oklahoma State, 38-8. Texas, meanwhile, has played in the Alamo Bowl four times, with a 3-1 record;

— Pac-12 teams are 5-8 all-time in the Alamo Bowl, while Big 12 teams are 11-10;

— As far as Dave Plati’s research can dig up, CU is the first team to get to play in a bowl game after playing only five games;

— Hoping for a faster start … Since outscoring Wisconsin 14-7 in the first quarter of the 2002 Alamo Bowl, the Buffs have been outscored 40-3 in the first quarter in the four games since;

— The Alamo Bowl will be telecast nationally by ESPN. Dave Pasch will handle the play-by-play, with Mike Golic, Sr., on color and Kris Budden on the sidelines.  KOA radio will also carry the game. Mark Johnson will handle the play-by-play, with former CU head coach Gary Barnett handling the commentary.

—

Buffs v. Longhorns

— Colorado is playing just its second game in the state of Texas since Oct. 10, 2009, when the Buffs dropped a 38-14 decision against the No. 2 Longhorns in Austin (CU led that game in the third quarter); the other was the 2016 Valero Alamo Bowl;

— The Longhorns have scored at least 30 points in 13 of their 18 all-time meetings against the Buffaloes, including each of the last seven matchups;

— Tom Herman’s teams across his head coaching career are 11-2 (8-2 at Texas) when given more than one week to prepare for an opponent. That includes a 5-1 mark since the start of the 2019 season;

— The game will mark the return to their home state for 22 Buffs (eight players who have earned starts this year are in bold): TB Jarek Broussard (Dallas), WR Chris Carpenter (Jacksonville), QB Michael Chandler (Converse), OT Frank Fillip and TB Deion Smith (Houston), TB Alex Fontenot (Richmond), CB Christian Gonzalez and WR Keith Miller III (The Colony), OLB Devin Grant and OG Chance Lytle (San Antonio), OLB Luke Horne (Cedar Park), WR Jaylon Jackson and C Joshua Jynes (Cedar Hill), QB Brendon Lewis (Melissa), S Chris Miller and TE Luke Stillwell (Denton), DT Lloyd Murray Jr. (Wichita Falls), WR K.D. Nixon and WR La’Vontae Shenault (DeSoto), CB D.J. Oats (Arlington), S Toren Pittman (Frisco) and OT William Sherman (Allen).

— Something has to give Department … Colorado has struggled with the passing game of late, currently sitting at 86th in the nation in passing offense (202.6 yards/game). Texas, meanwhile, has struggled against the pass, coming in at No. 114 nationally in pass defense (274.2 yard/game);

— Bar bet winner … In what defensive statistics is CU ranked in the top ten nationally? The Buffs are 3rd in the country in fourth down defense (12.5%); fourth nationally in tackles for loss (8.6/game); and 8th in the nation in pass efficiency defense (110.9);

— Think twice about going for it Department … CU has been successful on fourth down attempts only 20% of the time (1-of-5), which ranks the Buffs (126th in the nation), while Texas is 8th in the nation in fourth down defense (23.1% success rate).

—

Coach and Player Notes … 

— Karl Dorrell was named the Pac-12 Coach-of-the-Year, the sixth CU coach to earn the conference coach of the year honor, joining Dal Ward (1956, Big Seven), Eddie Crowder (1965,Big Eight), Bill McCartney (1985, 1989, 1990 Big Eight), Gary Barnett (2001, 2004 Big 12) and Mike MacIntyre (2016, Pac-12). Dorrell has also been named as one of nine finalists for the FWAA/Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year Award. It’s the second time he’s been afforded the Pac-12 honor, as he was co-coach of the year in 2005 when at UCLA.

— Dorrell is just the fifth coach in CU history (out of 27) to open his career with a 4-0 record, and just the second to do so since 1905 (Rick Neuheisel, who took over the Buffs after an 11-1 season and a No. 3 final ranking, opened the 1995 season with a 5-0 record);

— Dorrell is the first coach to lead CU to a 3-0 record in Pac-12 play. Overall, he is just the sixth coach to lead the Buffs to a 3-0 record in conference play in their first season … and the first since 1941 (Jim Yeager);

— Sophomore Jarek Broussard was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player-of-the-Year, joining a “Who’s Who” of Buffaloes who have been honored with conference player of the year honors on offense. The sixth player to be recognized with the award, he was preceded by quarterback Darian Hagan (1989), tailback Eric Bieniemy (1990), receiver Charles E. Johnson (1993), tailback and Heisman Trophy winner Rashaan Salaam (1994) and tailback Chris Brown (2002, Big 12).

— Senior linebacker Nate Landman was named to the first team All-Pac-12 team for the second year in a row. He became the first Buff to repeat as a conference first-teamer since CU joined the league in 2011, and is the first to do overall since offensive tackle Nate Solder garnered first-team All-Big 12 honors in 2009 and 2010. He’s the first inside linebacker to repeat in successive years since Matt Russell was All-Big Eight in 1995 and then All-Big 12 in 1996;

— Four Buffaloes earned second-team All-Pac-12 honors, defensive lineman Mustafa Johnson, quarterback Sam Noyer, offensive tackle Will Sherman and special teams (all-purpose/non-return) performer Jaylon Jackson. Six additional Buffs were recognized as honorable mention selections: offensive tackle Frank Fillip, defensive end Terrance Lang, safety Isaiah Lewis, offensive guard Casey Roddick, returner Dimitri Stanley and outside linebacker Carson Wells.

— In addition, two Buffaloes were honorable mention for the freshman player of the year honors: receiver/returner Brenden Rice for the offensive honor and cornerback Christian Gonzalez for the defensive nod;

— Christian Gonzalez became the 19th known Buffalo as a true freshman on defense to crack the 300-play mark in snaps played from scrimmage – the third to do so on this team (Na’im Rodman had 314, and K.J. Trujillo had 438 snaps last season as true freshman), as he was in for 305 snaps in starting all five games.

—

Colorado and Texas – head-to-head

— Texas leads the all-time series by a 11-7 count, a series that has been a fairly entertaining one. Texas was 4-0 against the Buffs pre-Jimmy Carter (games played between 1940 and 1975). Colorado then went on a 6-0 between 1989 and 1997 to take a 6-4 lead in the series. The Longhorns took the next pair to start the 21st century and tied the series at 6-6, but CU broke the tie with a 39-37 win in the 2001 Big 12 Championship game;

— Texas’ 31-7 win in 2004 in Boulder knotted things for third time, and the Longhorns moved back ahead in 2005 with 42-17 and 70-3 wins, the latter in the Big 12 title game, the following year. The Longhorns went on to win the last two games in series by identical 38-14 scores to extend its current streak in the series to five and give Texas an overall 11-7 advantage.

–

—–

This post, about the Alamo Bowl - Texas game, from the 2020 Season, is filed under Article.
You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment.