Volume XIII, Issue I

File this one under, "Welcome to the 12-Pac, baby!"

Game:                      Colorado @ Hawaii
Kick-off:                    7:00 PM PDT
Record:                    0-0 (0-0 Pac-12)
Current Ranking:     Not Ranked

Welcome Buff fans to the 2011 Buff Newsletter! 

This year’s first edition of the Buff Newsletter is special as it marks the inaugural season of the Pac-12! Holy cow! After growing up in the Pac-10, experiencing college football in the Big 8, then the Big 12, my alma mater has made it out west. And the west is the best. This is cause for a celebration. Therefore I’d like to make a toast to all the new initiates with some Champaign for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends.

I am excited and fired up for the new season. Dan Hawkins in gone and we have a new head coach in CU alum Jon Embree. Unfortunately Colorado is poised for a poor season. We should all be prepared for growing pains and a disappointing year. The Buffs are only predicted to win two games:

1. Colorado State
2. Washington State

All other games we are considered underdogs - predicted to be last in the newly formed Pac-12 South. (In fact, we are 7 point underdogs this weekend at Hawaii). Add to that we have the toughest schedule in the nation this year plus 13 consecutive weeks without a bye week and the outlook does not bode well. To say CU has an uphill battle is an understatement.

Nevertheless hope springs eternal. Buff fans are diehard. As the saying goes, despite the experts and matchups on paper, “that’s why they play the game.”

And now, time to get down to business.

The Colorado football team opens its 2011 season in paradise at Hawaii against the Rainbow Warriors on Saturday night, Sept. 3, hoping to snap an 18-game losing streak in games played outside the state.  The game also opens the Jon Embree coaching era. It also marks the beginning of CU’s inaugural season as a member of the Pac-12 Conference, as CU competed the last 15 years in the Big 12.

Kickoff is 7:15 p.m. PDT kickoff (4:15 HDT) at Aloha Stadium.  The game will be televised nationally by ESPN2.

This is the first time since 1995 that the Buffaloes open a season with a true road game. In that year, which was my senior year at CU, Colorado defeated Wisconsin in Madison, 43-7, in Rick Neuheisel’s debut as head coach.  That was the only time since 1932 that a full-time CU coach won his first game. (Who was the head coach at CU in 1932? That’s right: it was William Saunders). As an aside Brian Cabral won his first game as interim head coach, 34-14, over Iowa State last Nov. 13.

This Saturday is also only the fourth season opener on the road since 1974. (In addition to ’95, the others were in 1980 at UCLA and in 1983 at Michigan State).

UH plays on turf at Aloha Stadium. CU’s last season opener on artificial turf came in 1997—in Boulder. Folsom Field still had Astroturf when the Buffs opened with a 31-21 win over CSU (the last season opener on the road on the fake stuff was that ‘95game in Madison).

Ugly Stat

Last road game win: Oct. 27, 2007 at Texas Tech. 

Shame of the Week

Two Hawaii starters, outside linebacker Aaron Brown and wide receiver Darius Bright, have been suspend for their season opener this Saturday against the Buffs as they were arrested on charges of misdemeanor assault stemming from a brawl last weekend at the Zanzabar nightclub in Waikiki. That’s a shame.

2011 Planned Travel Games

9/3 - Hawaii

9/24 - OSU

11/19 – UCLA

I am going to the game this weekend! If you find yourself in Hawaii, look me up!

Wishing everyone the spirit of “Aloha!”

GO BUFFS!