Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Rest in Peace, Dee Dowis: Looking Back to 1989 when the State of Colorado had the Best Rushing QB's in the Country

Sad news today that former Air Force QB Dee Dowis was killed in an auto accident in Georgia. Condolences to his family, friends, and teammates.

Seeing the news about Dowis immediately brought back memories of 1989. Here in Boulder, 1989 was the year that we lost Sal Aunese to stomach cancer. It was also the year that the Buffs came together as a family and put together one of the most dominant regular seasons in CU history. After going undefeated in the regular season, the #1 ranked Buffs lost in their first attempt at a national title.

Down in Colorado Springs at the Air Force Academy, another option QB was also lighting up college football. Cadet Dee Dowis, a whopping 153 pounds dripping wet when he first became the QB for the Falcons, led Air Force to an 8-4-1 record.

For the season, Dowis rushed for 1,286 yards and 18 touchdowns, while also passing for 1,285 yards and 7 touchdowns. Up in Boulder, Hagan rushed for 1,004 yards and 17 touchdowns, and threw for 1,002 yards and 4 touchdowns.


Back in the 80's, a quarterback rushing and passing for more than 1000 yards in a season was extremely rare. In fact, Reggie Collier at Southern Miss was the first player to achieve the benchmarks at the Division 1 level in the 1981 season.

Dowis and Hagan were rewarded for their efforts by being seriously considered for the Heisman Trophy. In the final ballots, Hagan finished 5th and Dowis finished 6th.

For their careers, Dowis rushed for 3,612 yards and passed for 2,870, while Hagan ran for 2,004 and passed for 3,801 yards. 

Both Hagan and Dowis will go down as two of the finest option quarterbacks of all time. And in 1989, the best running quarterbacks in all the land played their football in Colorado.


 

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Buff "Fringe" Fans Hoping for Davis Webb Failure find Frustration in Cal's Big Win

When Davis Webb committed to attend the University of Colorado for his final year of eligibility following his graduation from Texas Tech, many Buff fans rejoiced. Webb is considered by ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. to be the top senior QB in the country.

Between his commitment and graduation, however, Webb opted to go to Cal to replace Jared Goff, the recent #1 pick in the NFL draft. Many of the CU Buff's more vocal "fringe" fans went berserk when Webb opted to go to Cal and immediately started wishing him ill and bad fortune for turning his back on the Buffs.

Many rationalized their bad sportsmanship by pointing out that Cal was also in the Pac-12, and therefore a rival school... They conveniently fail to remember that Cal is in the Pac-12 North and Colorado is in the Pac-12 South and ARE NOT even scheduled to play this year. They also forget that this is Webb's last year of college play and that he will NEVER play against Colorado, except in the unlikely instance that CU wins the South and Cal wins the North division of the Pac-12. There is also a very remote possibility that the Buffs and Bears could meet in a bowl game.

Like myself, most of the Buff alumni from out of state grew up in Pac-12 (or Pac-10 or Pac-8) territory. They are familiar with schools from the Conference of Champions. And in most cases, they root for fellow conference teams to win against non-conference opponents. The Pac-12 doing well against every other conference makes the Pac-12 look better.

That's why it's frustrating when the "fringe" fans take the sporting world much too seriously, and take a young man's decision to the best thing for his possible future in the NFL as a personal affront.
To hear folks wish Webb failure or injury is sickening, and should be strongly repudiated by real fans.

Cal and Hawaii (two teams the Buffs have played each of the last 2 years) opened the college football season last night in Sydney, Australia. After a less-than-stellar start that saw the two teams tied 14-14 in the first quarter, Cal showed the Pac-12 is stronger. The Bears outscored the Rainbow Warriors 37-17 over the rest of the game and headed back to California with a 51-31 victory.

How did Webb do? 

It depends on who you ask, I suppose. Remember that Cal lost not-only the #1 NFL draft pick this year, but they also lost their TOP SIX receivers as well. That meant that Webb was throwing to a bunch of guys with little game-day experience. And early in the game it showed..., but the final numbers were pretty darn impressive.

Davis Webb had 38 completions in 54 attempts for 441 yards, with four touchdowns and zero interceptions. He also rushed for a touchdown. Webb threw completions to 12 different receivers.

Cal as a whole put up 630 yards of offense, and scored 6 of 7 times in the red zone. The Golden Bears rushed for 189 yards.

Conclusions?

Webb and his receivers looked like they were getting used to each other early in the game, but kept after it and achieved what they were trying to achieve. Webb looked every bit the top senior quarterback in the country playing in a new system with inexperienced receivers. By the time Pac-12 play starts, Webb and gang should be firing on all cylinders.

The Buffs' "fringe" fans should be relieved that the Buffs do not face Webb this year. Davis looks very much like a young man destined to put up big numbers this year and hear his name called in next year's NFL draft.

I, for one, wish him nothing but the best.
 


Thursday, August 25, 2016

With Mike MacIntyre's 4th Season at Colorado Looming, A Look Back at Bill McCartney's 4th Year in 1985

With the Colorado Buffs' 2016 season opener against CSU approaching fast, Buff fans are hoping that the 4th year is the charm for head coach Mike MacIntyre, and that the season ends with a bowl game for the first time since 2007. For a little inspiration, Buff fans should be looking back to 1985, when Bill McCartney (CU's first "Coach Mac") coached his 4th season in Boulder.

Many Colorado fans younger than myself know that Bill McCartney was a coaching legend who led the Buffs to the National Championship and is also CU's all-time most winning football coach. But the winning ways for McCartney did not start right away, There was penance to pay and building to be done before the winning started.

In Mac I's first three years, his record as head coach was 7-25-1. That's only seven wins out of 33 games. Not only that, but the record in 1984 was only 1-10. The Buffs were a mainstay in the infamous Bottom 10. Nobody in the national or local sports media expected much (if anything) from Colorado.

But a funny thing happened at Colorado after the 1984 one-win season. The new athletic director Bill Marolt recognized something special in what McCartney was doing and realized that the changes were just not showing up in the win column yet. Despite Mac's abysmal record, Marolt chose to extend McCartney's contract. That decision was met with some surprise and amusement by the local media. But Marolt turned out to be right.

Back in 1985, the Big 8 was known around the country as the Big 2 and the Little 6. Those two, however, were two of the most winning football programs in the history of college football. The 1985 season ended with Oklahoma winning another National Championship and Nebraska finishing at number 10, continuing their traditions at Top 10 programs.

Something was very different for Colorado in 1985. They finished the regular season with SEVEN wins and 3rd place in the Big 8. Coach McCartney won as many games in 1985 as he had won in his first three seasons combined. The four losses in the regular season were to teams ranked in the Top 12 teams in the country, including a 3 point loss to eventual national champion Oklahoma. How impressive was that accomplishment? McCartney was voted Big 8 Coach of the Year in the same season as another coach in the conference (Barry Switzer) won a national title!

After that breakout year, McCartney never had another losing season again. In the 10 years following AD Bill Marolt extending Mac's contract, his teams won 86 games and played for the national title twice. In fact, they were one bad game from playing another championship in 1994.

Mike MacIntyre has a three year coaching record at Colorado of  10-27. Nobody in the national media would be surprised if the Buffs limped to another losing record and Mike MacIntyre was looking for a new job by the end of the year. By the same token, some of us wouldn't be surprised if the Buffs broke through this year and won 7 games (or more) like the first coach Mac in 1985.

It would be a tough task, tougher even than the one faced by McCartney. With Colorado now playing in the Pac-12, they have five teams in the conference in the Top 25, and a total of 7 in the top 29. Back in 1985, the Buffs only had 7 conference games to worry about. The current Buffs have NINE conference games (10 if they make it to the conference championship).

The Pac-12 is a much harder conference to play in than almost any other in the country, so the current coach Mac has his work cut out for him. But the foundation has been built, and Mac's gang is ready to bust out... or not.

Mike Tyson used to say, "Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth!"

The first game is now just a week away. We'll find out then whether the Buffs will be punching back like the 1985 Buffs under Bill McCartney.