It's Time for Colorado Buff Fans to Get Over Paul Richardson

With less than four days before the start of the 2014 Colorado Football season, some Buff fans are doing some serious hand-wringing and fretting over the fact that Paul Richardson has moved on to the NFL's Seattle Seahawks. They need to stop worrying.

The 2014 CU Buffs will be a better TEAM without Richardson.

While reading the stories and blogs (and their comments) about CU football, a common theme is that the Buffs will be unable to overcome the loss of Paul Richardson. Many of the comments by younger folks than myself give the impression that they think that Paul Richardson was the best player ever to don the Black and Gold. These people need to listen to their elders when we tell them that is not the case. In reality...

Richardson was the best player on some of the worst Colorado teams ever.

Colorado's record while he was in Boulder was 13 wins and 36 losses, and many of those were some of the worst losses in CU history. Although Paul stood out as a shining light in some very dark times for Colorado football, the fact remains that he was not enough of an impact player to make CU a winning team.

His stats from 2013 were impressive:

• 83 catches for 1,343 yards.
• 1 rush for 7 yards.
• 10 touchdowns.
• Total all purpose yards -- 1,350 on 84 touches.
• An average just over 16 yards every time he touched the ball.

Just a reminder, his team finished with 4 wins and 8 losses. In addition, Richardson was the "Go-To" guy on the team.

Compare Richardson's season with that of Mike Pritchard in 1990.

His stats from CU's National Championship team were amazing:

• 28 catches for 733 yards.
• 29 rushes for 450 yards.
• 16 kickoff returns for 331 yards.
• 11 touchdowns.
• Total all purpose yards -- 1,514 yards on 73 touches.
• More than 20.7 yards every time he touched the ball.

This team won the National Championship and Pritchard shared the spotlight with Eric Biemiemy, who finished 3rd in the Heisman Trophy race, and Darian Hagan, who finished 5th in the Heisman the year before.

The moral of the story is that Pritchard was a great player on a great team.

A winning team is not made by lots of passes to just one guy.

In addition to the National Champion team in 1990, every Buff fans should know about the 1989 and 1994 teams.

 The '89 team went undefeated in the regular season and lost in the Orange Bowl as the #1 team. That 1989 team threw a grand total of only 102 passes the entire year. But they had 4 receivers who averaged more than 24 yards per catch. They also rushed for 4,090 yards as a team.

The 1994 team may have been the most talented in Colorado history. 

Quarterback Kordell Stewart threw for 2071 yards and rushed for 639. His top 5 receivers that year were:

• Michael Westbrook -- 36 catches for 689 yards.
• Christian Fauria -- 35 catches for 356 yards.
• Rashaan Salaam -- 24 catches for 294 yards.
• Phil Savoy -- 17 catches for 283 yards.
• Rae Carruth -- 14 catches for 255 yards.

In addition to throwing the ball, the Buffs also featured a running game powered by Rashaan Salaam's 2055 yards and 24 touchdowns on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy.

(Those numbers do not reflect the bowl game -- Salaam rushed for 3 touchdowns, while Stewart took the Offensive MVP with 205 yards passing and 143 rushing.)

The team blew one game to arch-rival Nebraska to be denied the National Championship game. I watched from the stands as they destroyed Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl 41-24 to finish the season ranked #3.

The 2013 Buffs threw lots of passes. They had to. The were one of the worst teams in the country at rushing the ball.

Last year, the Buffs threw four times as many passes as the 1989 team that played for the National Championship.

They threw twice as many as the team that won the National title in 1990.

They threw 155 more passes than the 1994 team.

The 2014 Buffs must be able to run the ball and control the field.

Last year, the Buffs were the worst in the Pac-12 at getting into the red-zone and also into the end zone for touchdowns on their way to a four win season.

This year, if they want to be competitive in the best conference in the country, they need to change that. They need to compete in the trenches. If they continue to get manhandled on the lines, a great talent like Paul Richardson cannot make them a winning team.

Football is a TEAM sport, and great numbers for one guy don't mean squat.