Preseason Magazines Everywhere

Here is a little excerpt from Phil Steele's Magazine. More to come from Athlon, Lindy's and Steele's Magazines. Colorado continues to get mentioned in the top 10 most difficult schedules coming in at #8 in Steele's Rankings.
Looking at the other 7 teams ahead of Colorado, Washington has two national non-conference contenders in BYU and Oklahoma on their schedule along with Notre Dame and USC. In a pressure filled year for Ty Willingham, this is not a great season opening schedule with an 0 -3 start likely. They do have most of their tough games at home. I still think most of the PAC 10 teams are overrated like Oregon after losing Dixon, California is coming off a down year and UCLA with newly acquired Slick Rick and no QB (who knows what will happen their). Arizona State should be a contender but do they have a defense and will Carpenter continue to be a hot head? Washington State, Arizona, Oregon State and Stanford will still be mediocre to bottom tiered teams in the conference. But there is no denying the USC, OU and BYU will be difficult. No one should have to play OU and USC in the same year.

Its pretty close between Baylor and Colorado as the #1 Big 12 schedule...Steele must put a lot of stock in Oklahoma. Everyone on Baylor's conference schedule is on CU schedule with the exception of OU and Texas Tech and adds Wake Forest, Wash St and UConn to the non conference schedule. Colorado has West Virginia, Colorado State and Florida State plus Orange Bowl Champion Kansas. I think Kansas and Tech is a push. West Virginia beat an OU team last year, I know it is last year but it is still a close match-up. The battle is between Wake Forest and Florida State and the edge might go to FSU because it is in Florida and Wake is in Waco but CU does have Eastern Washington the schedule. Either way, both schedules are very hard.

Finally Someone Speaks Some Sense

I know I am revisiting a subject that has been covered but when you find someone who actually does some investigating like we do before calling CU out for removing LSU from the schedule, you have to bring it up.

The Bleacher Report, a blog that has been writing a lot about the Buffs lately with a very unbiased approach to every single post (if you don't believe me, read this one), has brought up some amazing points about the Buffs past and future scheduling and how nobody in the Big 12 even comes close to playing top non conference teams like the Buffs do.

Here is an excerpt from The Bleacher Report:

Finally, if you have any friends who still give you grief about the Buffs ducking the Tigers in order to get out of a tough series, don’t back down. Colorado has to apologize to no one when it comes to non-conference scheduling. Try this stat on any CU detractors you encounter: Colorado has played 27 games against ranked non-conference opponents (not counting bowls) since 1990, the most in the Big 12. The other five teams in the Big 12 North, over that same period of time? 42 games - combined! Nebraska is a distant second to the Buffs, with 14 such contests, and no other team in the Big 12 North has hit double digits.

Buffs Lighten Football Schedule

What do the following teams have in common: West Virginia, California, Hawaii, Georgia, Oregon, Washington and LSU? These are just some of the home and home non-conference games that the Buffs had in the next decade...enough big time BCS schools to make every Buff fan cringe. And when you add the Big 12 schedule on top of these games you start to question the sanity of the athletic department. Here is a glimpse into 2010 and some of the notable opponents...Colorado State, @ California, Hawaii, Georgia, @ Missouri, Texas Tech, @ OU, @ Kansas, @ Nebraska. The next year they were supposed to swap LSU for Georgia but in a great move based on the teams the Buffs are already lined up to play, the University announced that Fresno State would be taking the LSU spot for the 2011 - 2013 season in which the Buffs were able to get a 2 for 1 home scenario. I know Fresno is not a pushover because I was sitting in the endzone when David Carr torched the Buffs at Folsom in the first game of the year in 2001. Buffs win that game, they are probably in the National Championship. But lets face it - Fresno State or LSU? All in all, this was a great move for the Buffs. Yes, every Buff fan would love to see the Bayou Bengals roll into Boulder but its about taking a page from the Big 10's book of success...don't kill yourself in non-conference.

Other Friday Morning News -

Rivals.com list Colorado along with North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Michigan State, Washington and Alabama as teams who could rise to new heights within their respective conferences.

Derek Tolan moved down the leader board yesterday from 10th to 44th after shooting a 5 over 77 in the second round of the NCAA Championships in Indiana yesterday. Only the top 6 individuals not on a team will make the cut for the final round Saturday and as it stands now, Tolan is 15th of individuals not on a team. He is three shots off the pace to make the cut.

The Track & Field NCAA Championships get underway today. The Buffs Men's Team is fresh off a Big 12 Championship win and hope to have similar success in Lincoln, Nebraska this weekend.

Sunday Anyone?

Several news sources are reporting that the Rocky Mountain Showdown will be moved from a day game Saturday, August 30th to Sunday, August 31st at 5:30pm on National Television. This is great news in that it is good exposure for CU but also saves all of us who would have had to wake up at 7am on Saturday to properly pregame before the usual 10am start as it was last year. It would also be an exclamation point on what looks to be a great 2008 schedule with two BCS bowl game winners on the schedule in West Virginia & Kansas and formidable foes in Texas, Nebraska, Florida State, Texas A&M and Mizzou.

• Aug. 31 - Colorado State at Invesco Field @ Mile High
• Sept. 6 - Eastern Washington - 1:30pm
• Sept. 18 - West Virginia - 6:30pm - Thursday Night ESPN
• Sept. 27 - at Florida State
• Oct. 4 - Texas (Homecoming)
• Oct. 11 - at Kansas
• Oct. 18 - Kansas State
• Oct. 25 - at Missouri
• Nov. 1 - at Texas A&M
• Nov. 8 - Iowa State
• Nov. 15 - Oklahoma State
• Nov. 28 - at Nebraska