Posts Tagged ‘Jeremy Aldrich’

September 10th – Boulder          California 36, Colorado 33 OT

California quarterback Zach Maynard hit receiver Keenan Allen with a 5-yard touchdown pass in overtime Saturday at Folsom Field, giving the Bears a 36-33 victory over Colorado and keeping the Buffaloes winless in the Jon Embree Era.

Colorado got a record-setting passing performance from senior quarterback Tyler Hansen, who completed 28-of-49 passes for a school-record 474 yards and three touchdowns. Two of the scoring tosses went to sophomore Paul Richardson, who finished with 11 catches for 282 yards – also a single-game school record.

The new standards were not enough, however, as the Buffs squandered opportunities – four red-zone chances; zero touchdowns – and hurt their own chances – 12 penalties; 98 yards – leaving most of the sun-baked crowd of 49,532 disappointed along with their head coach.

The game started about as well as any Buff fan could have hoped. The Colorado defense forced a three-and-out from the California offense in the first possession of the game. On the Buffs’ first possession, the offense moved smartly down the field, but stalled at the Bear nine yard line. Rodney Stewart, who would have 73 yards rushing on the day, was stopped…

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CU Transition Classes

//posted 2.1.2011

Transition Classes

It is axiomatic that a new head coach will have a difficult time with their first recruiting class. After all, the new coach comes in late in the recruiting cycle, usually in December, well after other schools have their incoming class of recruits fairly well formulated. What’s more, in most instances, the new head coach is coming into a situation where the former coaching staff has been let go, with losing records most often the culprit.

Jon Embree became the 24th head coach in Colorado history on December 6th. He took over a program mired in a five year streak of losing records, the second longest streak in Colorado history. Because of the recent record, and because of his late hire, Embree is being given a pass by most of the Buff Nation on the recruiting Class of 2011.

But should that be the case?

For guidance, let’s take a look at the first recuiting classes of the past four Colorado head coaches …

Dan Hawkins – Class of 2006

Unlike Jon Embree, Hawkins inherited a team with a winning record. In fact, Colorado had won the Big 12 North title four of the previous five seasons, including the previous two. By the same…

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2004 – Game 13 – Colorado v. UTEP – Houston Bowl – December 29, 2004

 Bowling For Dollars

 The Buffs reward for winning the Big 12 North in 2004 was a trip to Kansas City to face one of the most dominant teams in the country. The result was a 42-3 debacle.

 Still, Colorado was still 7-5 on the season, and was still the Big 12 North champions. The winning season merited an invitation to play in the EV1.Net Houston Bowl against the University of Texas, El-Paso (UTEP).  It had appeared that Colorado was heading for the Champs Sports Bowl (formerly the Tangerine Bowl) in Orlando, Florida.  When the BCS final numbers were announced, though, Texas surpassed California, sending the Longhorns to the Rose Bowl instead of the Golden Bears.  With two teams from the Big 12 earning BCS bids (Oklahoma was slated for the Orange Bowl to play USC), every other Big 12 bowl team moved up a notch, putting the Buffs in Houston.

 UTEP was 8-3 under first year head coach Mike Price.  The Miners had won all of six games in the previous three years combined, so the infusion of a new coach had made a great…

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2004 – Game Six – Colorado v. Iowa State – October 16, 2004

 October 16th – Boulder           Colorado 19, Iowa State 14

 Colorado kicker Mason Crosby set several Buff field goal kicking records on his way to leading Colorado to an “ugly” 19-14 win over Iowa State.  Crosby kicked four field goals, including a school record 60-yarder, on an afternoon otherwise marred by sloppy play by both teams.  A total of seven turnovers and 20 penalties combined to leave the 44,285 in attendance, the smallest crowd to ever witness a Big 12 game in Boulder, mumbling to themselves.  “We played hard”, said Colorado head coach Gary Barnett, “It wasn’t beautiful and not Top-20ish.” 

 Colorado sophomore James Cox received his first start as a Colorado quarterback against the Cyclones.  Cox directed the Buffs to a 13-0 second quarter lead which could have been much larger. Colorado scored early in the first quarter after recovering a muffed punt at the ISU 11-yard line.  Three plays later, Cox hit tight end Jesse Warren from three yards out for a 7-0 lead.  The Buffs had a first-and-goal later in the first quarter turn into a 28-yard Mason Crosby field goal, and could get Crosby…

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Duck Soup

A game against the 6-5 Washington Huskies seemed the most likely scenario for the Buffs as championship games were being contested in other conferences . Along with the title games, though, was a make-up game between Miami and UCLA. The game, originally scheduled for September 26th, had been re-scheduled to December 5th due to fears that a hurricane would hit the Miami area the last weekend in September. For UCLA, playing the game in December proved disastrous, as the 3rd-ranked Bruins fell to the Hurricanes, 49-45. The loss eliminated UCLA from consideration for the National Championship game (once beaten Florida State being chosen to face undefeated and top-ranked Tennessee), with the Rose Bowl being the Bruins’ consolation prize.

UCLA being selected to host the Rose Bowl set off a chain reaction, as Arizona, which had hoped to head to Pasadena for the first time in school history, was now relegated to the Holiday Bowl and a match-up with Nebraska. Oregon, in turn, which had anticipated a trip to San Diego to face the Cornhuskers, was now in line for a Christmas Day bowl game, the Aloha Bowl, with Colorado.

Oregon’s loss was Colorado’s gain, as the Buffs were…

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 September 27th – Boulder            #16 Colorado 20, Wyoming 19

 Colorado won its Homecoming game for the 14th year in a row, defeating a very game Wyoming Cowboy squad, 20-19.  It was one of the most unlikely wins in Colorado history, as the Buffs came from nine points down in the final 4:29 to escape with a much needed win. 

 After Wyoming had scored on an 18-yard run to take a 19-10 lead late, the Buffs needed a big play.  The big play came, courtesy of diminutive cornerback and return man Ben Kelly.  The 5’10″ redshirt freshman took the Cowboy kickoff 99 yards for the score to cut the Wyoming lead to 19-17.  Kelly’s run was the first Colorado kickoff return for a touchdown since Lance Olander rumbled 86 yards against Drake on October 11, 1980.

 Even with Kelly’s run, Wyoming still had the ball and the lead.  The Cowboys were in a position to run out the clock and escape with a two point win, but running back Marques Brigham fumbled the ball while trying to run up the middle.  Linebacker Ron Merkerson scooped up the ball and thundered 33 yards to the Wyoming 25 yard line.  A nice pass…

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October 16 – @Oklahoma State           Colorado 25, Oklahoma State 25

It is hard to imagine that anyone would have a revenge factor in playing the Buffs in the early 1980′s, but that is what the Cowboys were playing for in 1982. Colorado had come from behind for an improbable, last second 11-10 win in 1981 in Boulder. Now it was Oklahoma State’s turn to right the wrong. Everyone else was getting healthy playing the powder blue Buffs, and the homecoming crowd of 47,250 expected nothing less from their squad.

Fans of both teams were to be treated to another last second game, but it was the Cowboy fans who were again left with a bad taste in their mouths.

Colorado seemed to have matters well in hand with only 4:39 left in the game, when Colorado’s sensational cornerback Victor Scott had just scored his second touchdown of the game, returning a pass interception for a 22-10 Colorado lead. Oklahoma State, though, promptly marched down the field, scoring a touchdown with still over two minutes left to play. 22-17.

Colorado went three and out on its next possession, punting the ball back to the Cowboys at their 22-yard line. The Colorado defense…

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