Colorado Buffaloes Dominate Arizona State, 40-16

The Buffaloes of Colorado will wake up Sunday morning knowing that they are still in first place in the Pac-12 South. More than likely, they will re-enter the AP Top-25 after shellacking a ranked Arizona State team.

How important was this win? It's the first time in 23 games that the Buffs have beaten a ranked team. They did it in dominating fashion. And it's the first time since joining the Pac-12 that they have won three games in conference play. And, not only have they won three conference games, they still have five conference games remaining on their publicly stated quest to play in the Pac-12 Championship Game.

I posted the following on  Stuart Whitehair's "CU at the Game" site in response to some so-called fans comments:
 
Big win and lots of celebration from my birthday suite high above Folsom led to my mistaken post. I’ll take a celebratory mistake any time. Go Buffs!

 Also, very disappointed in the post by “Peter” — Good God, man, we beat a ranked team by 24 points and all Peter can do is complain. My son and I raised some eyebrows walking away from the game toward his apartment by repeatedly screaming “Go Buffs!” and finding very few folks returning our calls. Lots of fair weather fans who did not realize how important this win was to the Buffaloes program, and lots of whiny little bit$#es like Peter who seem offended by the big win.

Congratulations to my Buffs. 

Tonight was one of the most important and enjoyable wins of my 32 years as a Buff fan. Congrats to Sefo, Phillip Lindsay, Bryce Bobo, and an inspired Buffaloes defense led by Addison Gillam that put a serious beat-down on the Sun Devils. ASU got one touchdown off a turnover and otherwise had to settle for three 50+ yard field goals.

Serious notes from the game. The Buffs broke their 23 game losing streak against ranked teams. And Zane Gonzalez is perhaps the greatest place kicker in NCAA history. Last week, he became the all time leader in field goals. Tonight, he became the first ever to kick three 50+ yard field goals in one game. Zane was stupendous and will make an excellent NFL kicker.

I could not be prouder of my Colorado Buffaloes.

 

Moment of Truth Time for Mike MacIntyre's Colorado Buffaloes

In around two hours, Ralphie the Buffalo will lead the CU Buffs onto Folsom Field as they take the field against the UMass Minutemen. Last year the Minutemen held an 11 point lead in the second half before the Buffs rallied to a three point victory at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

It was one of only two victories for the Buffs in 2014. The other was against Hawaii, who got their revenge last week as the Buffs fell 28-20 against the Rainbow Warriors.

The Buffs came into the season brimming with confidence and spoke openly about a bowl game at the end of the season. A month's worth of miscues (or, as head coach Mike MacIntyre put it, "shooting themselves in the foot, the leg, the head") doomed the Buffs to their 9th straight loss despite a strong effort from the revitalized defense under Jim Leavitt.

The Buffs enter this game knowing that any loss before the beginning of Pac-12 play pretty much dooms this team to yet another losing year. No bowl, no nothing. That means the Buffs have to hold serve against the Minutemen, CSU next week, and then a school called Nicholls before taking on the Pac-12. To paraphrase Stuart Whitehair over at "CU at the Game" -- Who the hell is Nicholls?

The Buffs are steadfastly claiming that they have not lost their confidence. That is good. Unfortunately, the head coach and offensive coordinator (and the Special Teams guy) all seem to think there was nothing wrong last week. They seem to be in some serious denial.

MacIntyre claims that Hawaii was able to put "a little bit of pressure" on quarterback Sefo Liufau. The reality? Four sacks, numerous knockdowns, little time to throw, and unplanned scrambles because the blocking schemes were a mess. If that only qualifies as "a little bit" most fans shudder to think what it will be like when the Buffs play a top defensive team.

OC Brian Lindgren sees no problem with the Buffs play calling last week, despite the fact that the team averaged only 4 yards a play both running and passing the ball. That's pretty scary when you throw the ball 40 times and only get 159 yards for the effort. Lindgren also completely abandoned the running game after starting to dominate on the ground. The offense also wasted two of three timeouts for no apparent reason, and as the game was winding down, seemed completely oblivious to the fact the clock was running. Sure, the refs botched the last play, but that was to be expected because they were pretty awful all day.

Fans all hope that special teams doesn't do all it can to lose the game. To take a quote from the movie "The Big Chill" (they were watching the Michigan game and making many mistakes) -- "Come on, Bo (Schembechler) , teach 'em the basics!" Just insert Toby (Neinas) for Bo.

Expect the defense to take it to Mass. They know that they might be ones needing to score points if Lindgren and Neinas put the Buffs in a hole again. Mike MacIntyre does not usually panic, but if the Buffs come up short today he will need to start working on his resume.