Sept. 15th – New Hampshire – Meeting (and Exceeding) Expectations

Travon McMillian ran 162 yards and two touchdowns, leading Colorado to a 45-14 victory over New Hampshire. The Buffs led 28-0 at halftime, with a McMillian 75-yard run for a score on the first play of the third quarter, putting to rest any doubt as to the final outcome.

Steven Montez went 14-for-19 for 166 yards, including a 28-yard touchdown pass to Laviska Shenault to open the scoring. In all, the Buffs posted 491 yards of total offense, to 270 for the Wildcats. In the first half, when the Buffs were building a 28-0 lead, the Colorado defense held the New Hampshire offense to 76 yards on 39 offensive plays.

“First of all, New Hampshire played incredibly hard,” said Mike MacIntyre after the game. “What a gorgeous day in Colorado today. It was extremely hot out there (90-degrees at kickoff). I thought our team came out and played hard and physical. We had a couple of mistakes that made the game last a little longer than it should have but I was very pleased with our state of mind and our aggressiveness in the game.”

Incoming UCLA head coach Chip Kelly was asked in July at the Pac-12 Media Day about whether the Bruins would be undergoing a rebuilding year in 2018. The Bruins had finished 6-7 in 2017, and had fired their head coach, Jim Mora.

Kelly response stuck with me. “I don’t think it’s my job to temper or excite the fans,” said Kelly. “My job is to prepare our team as best we can … If there are expectations, that’s a good thing. I’d rather be in a place where there are expectations than in a place where they don’t care”.

Now, you would be hard pressed to find a fan base anywhere in the nation which declared, “We don’t care” (okay, with the possible exception of Kansas – at least until the past two weeks). Fans are passionate, and care deeply about their teams (if you don’t believe me, pause for a second and relive how you felt when Nebraska’s final pass to the end zone went wide on the final play of the game in Lincoln).

And yet … there are levels of passion. There are fan bases which care less about their teams success than do others. Fan bases at Alabama, Ohio State, and yes, Nebraska, are more fervent than the Buff Nation (case in point. Colorado sold 42,360 tickets for game against New Hampshire, but only 29,839 came through the turnstiles … and half of those left at halftime. Imagine that happening in Lincoln?).

Pac-12 South goes 2-4, leaving CU as the Pac-12 South’s only undefeated team … L.A. schools humbled (Fresno State 38, UCLA 14; Texas 37, USC 14) … Utah falls at home to Washington, 21-7 … Herm Train suffers first defeat …

Game Day!! … “New Hampshire is the most important game on our schedule right now, because it’s this week” … CU will try and re-establish its rushing attack against New Hampshire … CU Video’s Nebraska highlights, including CU locker room (Enjoy!!) …

Neill Woelk’s Friday Fast Five … How to catch the game … CU’s history against the FCS … Injury report … Laviska Shenault leads the nation in receptions and receiving yards … Utah leads the nation in total defense …

After two emotional rivalry games, the Buffs could be forgiven for not getting up for an FCS opponent, but will the out-manned Wildcats of New Hampshire be able to put up a fight against the resurgent Buffs? …