'Twas the Night Before Camp

Sorry for the silence over the past couple of days, I have been in Vegas and Woodrow in Chicago and I am pretty sure no one was in condition to write coherently. That being said, there is a bunch of great reads out there regarding the Big 12 and the Buffs starting with the surprise when I checked my iphone and saw that the Buffs got a vote for the Coaches Preseason Top 25. It looks like whoever voted for the Buffs did not look at their schedule...going to be hard for a 6 or 7 win team to crack the top 25. Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised. The preseason 2008 consensus, a conglomeration of all the major preseason information outlets, did not have the Buffs in the top 25 or even being considered for a spot while slating them at third in the Big 12 North. About every casino that I went to this weekend had the Buffs coming in at either 5 or 5 1/2 wins and about 100/1 odds to win the National Championship. I of course took the over on the wins but Vegas isn't usually off by a couple of games and a couple of games is what the Buffs need to finish in the top 25.

If the coaches are right, the Buffs play 3 top ten teams (Missouri #7, West Virginia #8 and Texas #10). They also play the #13 team in Kansas, #29 in Florida State, #36 in Nebraska and #49 in Texas A&M. Oklahoma has the nod as the top Big 12 team coming in at #4 behind Georgia, USC and Ohio State. The Big 12 has a total of 5 teams in the top 14 spots. A Missouri-Oklahoma showdown could be special in the Big 12 Championship

-The Big 12 continues to get press about its depth at the quarterback position. Every time you see the list, you are amazed at the talent and wonder about the kinds of numbers you could see this year out of the offenses in the Big 12. All the records could go to unattainable levels this year. Prediction - Cody Hawkins will be seen as the #5 or #6 QB in the Big 12 after this year, not #9. Certainly better than the #12 ranking his dad gave him at media day!

- Word to your mother, Nebraska. Mark Knudson from the Coloradoan.com makes some good points about Nebraska getting over the "our rival is OU" talk. You shouldn't usually take too much sports insight from the Coloradoan but the comment by a said Nebraska fan at the bottom of the article is priceless. I am pretty sure Oklahoma has moved on since the new Big 12 formed and doesn't consider Nebraska anything but a nice game every other year. Something tells me OU has Texas circled and not Nebraska. The comment by the Nebraska fan is the reason I thought the Cornhuskers should have been put in the top 5 of Tim Griffin's Most Hated Big 12 Teams on ESPN.com. The Bleacher Report put the Huskers in their top 10 most hated programs regardless of conference affiliation. Thats seems a little more like it.

- CU players report for the official start of the season tomorrow. It's finally here!

Here is some training camp tidbits from the Daily Camera:

-Overview and Schedule - Key battle/revelation of hope will be at the cornerback spot. The Buffs need Gardner McKay, Cha'pelle Brown and Jimmy Smith to step and provide stability. I would love to see Smith emerge due to his size but his speed is a concern.

-Don't forget your rosters and depth charts especially with the new faces coming in. Darrell Scott will be dawning the #2. Other newcomers of interest are #15 WR Chance Blackmon, #26 RB Ray Polk, #31 LB Jon Major, #34 TE Ryan Deehan, #47 LB Shaun Mohler, #55 OL Maxwell Tuioti-Mariner and#77 OL Bryce Givens. The player I will be watching closely, other than Scott, is Shaun Mohler. If he is anything like the highlight films we have been seeing, I think he could be the Buffs' defensive MVP in the next two years.

Once again, we will be at some of the practices giving you some first hand color commentary so stay tuned and go Buffs!