Colorado Wins 8th Straight Against CSU, Braces for Kansas

Following a season opening loss in Texas to #20 Baylor, Tad Boyle's Colorado Buffaloes have reeled off eight straight wins. Six of those wins came within the cozy confines of CU's Coors Events Center, but the last two have come on the road. As road warriors, first they took down Air Force in Colorado Springs, and last night they came back in Fort Collins behind 28 points from Spencer Dinwiddie to defeat Colorado State at Moby Arena 67-62.

The Buffs hope to invoke memories of the Wizard of Oz this weekend by chanting to themselves "there's no place like home." And when the Jayhawks of #6 Kansas come calling in their next game, the Buffs hope they have KU fans muttering "I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

Of course, the next line is "We must be over the rainbow!" Indeed, to the fanatics from Kansas, where evil lies in evolution and science, the bright world of tolerance and education that epitomizes Boulder must seem as foreign and odd as Oz.

Last year, the Jayhawks smoked the Buffs by the nasty score of 90-54 at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence. Kansas is a perennial top 10 team, and has been a long-time foe of the Buffaloes. They were in the same conference until Colorado moved to the Pac-12 several years ago. That means the Buffs had to face them twice a year, every year.

The last time that Colorado defeated Kansas was January 22, 2003, when the #6 ranked Jayhawks visited Oz/Boulder and left with a 60-59 defeat. Boyle's Buffs hope to put 10 years of frustration behind them with a win in front of the loud and crazy C-Unit at the "Foam Dome" this weekend.

The Buffs have sold out all season tickets this year for the first time ever, and that should provide a great environment for the Buffaloes. Until Tad Boyle arrived on the scene, the Buffs were not consistently good in basketball for a LONG time. And when KU came to town, the Events Center was usually filled with Jayhawk fans who flocked to Boulder to experience life in Kodachrome.

Win or lose, however, Buff fans have a long history of sending Kansas and their fans packing with the derisive chant "We don't live in Kansas!" Thank God! Or just to upset them even more, Thank Goddess!

29 Teams Colorado COULD Play October 19th to Make Up For Lost Fresno State Game

Massive floodwaters are still raging high in Colorado. Those 100-year floodwaters forced the postponement of the CU game vs. Fresno State this past weekend. Today, new athletic director Rick George looks to find a way to re-schedule Fresno State or find another opponent to come to Boulder on the Buffs' bye week of October 19th.

Colorado faced a very large financial shortfall last year and desperately needs the revenue which would have been brought in had the Fresno State game not been postponed by the natural disaster.

Schools which are scheduled for a bye  week on October 19th.

Air Force

Alabama-Birmingham

Arkansas State

Boston College

Bowling Green

Florida Atlantic

Florida International

Hawaii

Idaho

Kansas State

Kentucky

Louisiana-Monroe

Marshall

Middle Tennessee

Mississippi State

Nebraska

North Carolina State

Penn State

Rutgers

San Diego State

San Jose State

South Carolina

Texas

Texas-El Paso (UTEP)

Texas-San Antonio

Troy

Tulane

Tulsa

Virginia Tech

Since the NCAA generally limits the number of games played to 12 (not counting conference championship games), any team willing to come in would have to get the extra game approved by them.

Historically, however, the NCAA has allowed teams which have played an away game at Hawaii to add an additional game. Both San Jose State and San Diego State play away games at Hawaii this year. That being the case, they would certainly seem to face the least amount of red tape from the NCAA if they would be willing to travel to Boulder.

Both teams already play a Pac-12 team this year. SJS played Stanford in week 2, and SDS plays Oregon State this week. Oregon State is Colorado's next scheduled opponent. Another connection for San Jose State is that Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre is the former head coach for SJS, and the man who rebuilt the program into a top 25 team in 2012.

Historically speaking, the teams from Texas, Nebraska and Kansas State offer the chance to play someone with a conference history with Colorado. The Buffs are scheduled to play Nebraska four times from 2018-24. Each team will have two home games.

Closest at hand would be a game with Air Force. No costly air travel would be required, and it would give the federal government a chance to help out the University of Colorado without writing a check.

Rick George faces an arduous task in getting something done to help Colorado secure another game this year. Here's to hoping the NCAA does its part to smooth the process.

Just Say No to Denver Hosting the Rocky Mountain Showdown

In just about 48 hours, the University of Colorado Buffaloes will take the field against Colorado State at the home of the Denver Broncos, known this year as Sports Authority Field at Mile High. It is a beautiful venue and a wonderful place to watch Colorado's favorite team. But that team is neither the CU Buffs nor the CSU Rams, it is the Broncos. Period.

I have been a long time fan of both the NFL and NCAA football. I have seen every Super Bowl. I attended my first college football game at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ back when it held only 41,000 people. Hint: It was way back in the 1960s. I was raised on college football.

I moved to Colorado in 1983, and started to attend CU Buff games in 1985. I had season tickets for many years and followed the Buffs on the road several times, most notably to the National Championship game at the Orange Bowl in 1990, and to the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe in 1995. I am willing to travel to see the Buffs play ball.

When I was living overseas, I had my son Skype me the games by turning his computer toward the TV. This meant watching games in the wee hours of the morning. I go out of my way to watch my alma mater play.

That said, I am NOT willing to go to Denver to watch the Rocky Mountain Showdown. Yes, of course, I will watch on TV and enjoy the game immensely. But I will not go to the Broncos field to watch the game, and here are the reasons:

• The stadium is too big. If everyone who attends games at CU and CSU attended the RMS, the stadium would still look like no one was there.
• If the people who put the RMS together want a raucous crowd, the need to put them in the LOWER LEVEL.
• IF they want casual fans to attend the game, they cannot price the tickets as if it was an NFL game. The Broncos tickets are at a premium, since there has been a waiting list to get them for decades. By contrast, the Buffs sell out several games a year in a stadium which hold 25,000 fewer people, and the Rams generally draw fewer fans than Texas high school games. (As an aside, why is CSU spending so much money to build a new, bigger stadium when they can't even fill the tiny one they already have?)
• $20-30 for parking? Are you freaking kidding me?
• Numerous press releases telling folks to behave themselves, and warning people of the great number of regular and plain clothes police that will be on hand to be certain that no one has too much fun. I don't remember this many warnings when the Broncos play in front of a lot more people.
• The Denver media, particularly the Denver Post, have made it perfectly clear that they could not care less about CU or CSU. The only reason they want this game in Denver is so they do not have to drive to Boulder or Fort Collins.
  

  • PS - It really pisses me off that the media in Denver are willing participants in the extortion attempt this game presents. No, I do not care any less for the Buffs because I am not willing to spend an exorbitant  amount of money to see them in Denver.

   
• Rivalry games belong on campus, or at least in the city where the campus is located. There are no CU or CSU banners strung around Denver. College football is just a diversion for Broncomania.
• Folks running the RMS need to understand that we live in a capitalist society, where the concepts of supply and demand dictate the going market rate for anything. They have WAY more tickets than customers, yet they price their commodity as if it was in short supply.
• I have a good chuckle on a daily basis watching Craigslist and StubHub and Ticketmaster. The closer we get to the game, the lower the prices for tickets seem to go. By the time kickoff arrives, they will probably be GIVING them away for practically nothing outside the stadium. It reminds me of the CU game at the Orange Bowl. Even though the Buffs and Notre Dame were playing with a National Championship on the line, tickets outside were going for $5-10 apiece because there were no teams from Florida playing.
• I know the folks at CSU like playing in Denver. Of course they do, who wants to stay home to play in front of 18,000 people? Maybe they should start scheduling the CSU vs. Air Force game in Denver. Similar drive for both sets of fans and it gets the Ram fans a chance to get out of town. Of course, it has been a long time since CSU beat Air Force anywhere.

For some ungodly reason, this game is scheduled to be played in Denver through 2019. Somebody somewhere is apparently making good money off this. Unfortunately, I do not think it is either CU or CSU. Their fans are paying the freight, though. This game being played in Denver should be ended as soon as possible. The vigorish paid by the schools and fans is too great.

For those of you going to the game in Denver, I wish you a great time. I am going to save my money for a game out of town which will actually get me out of town. Looking forward to maybe a return trip to Sun Devil Stadium against Arizona State on October 12^th. The Phoenix Craigslist has tickets offered to the ASU vs. CU game for as little as $20. They money saved by not going to the Rocky Mountain Showdown will just about pay for my gas to get down to Tempe.