—
Colorado v. Georgia Tech: “T.I.P.S.” for the 2025 Season Opener
—
Welcome to the 17th season of my “T.I.P.S.” game previews (yes, CU at the Game has been around that long). Each week, usually on Wednesdays, I will be posting my predictions for CU’s game based upon T-Talent; I-Intangibles; P-Preparation/Schedule and S-Stats.
Thanks for coming along for the ride … I look forward to your comments …
—
Figuring out how a season opener will play out is always difficult.
To open the 2023 season, in Coach Prime’s first game as CU’s head coach, the Buffs were 20.5-point underdogs to No. 17 TCU. The result? Colorado 45, No. 17 TCU 42.
To open the 2024 season, the Buffs were 9.5-point favorites over North Dakota State, and were four yards short of an upset in a 31-26 victory.
Now, the Buffs are 5.0-point underdogs at home to Georgia Tech, a team which some have as a dark horse candidate to win the ACC.
Which team will come out best prepared? Which team wants it more?
Let’s find out …
—
“T.I.P.S” for Colorado v. Georgia Tech – Friday, 6:00 p.m., MT, ESPN
—
T – Talent
In the brave new NIL/Transfer Portal world of college football, fans are hard pressed to find an FBS team which can brag that they are returning their quarterback, their top running back, and their top wide receiver from the 2024 season.
Welcome to Georgia Tech, 2025.
Quarterback Haynes King is back … for Year Six as a Power Four quarterback. In 2024, King threw for over 2,000 yards, with 14 touchdowns to only two interceptions. King also ran for almost 600 yards with 11 – count ’em – 11 rushing touchdowns. In the epic eight-overtime 44-42 loss to Georgia last November, King threw for 303 yards and three touchdowns, while rushing for 110 yards and three more touchdowns.
Leading the rushing attack – which went for almost 200 yards per game last fall – was another Haynes, Jamal Haynes. Despite battling injuries during the season, Haynes had 944 rushing yards (about 100 yards more than CU had as a team in 2024), with a 5.6 yards/carry average and nine touchdowns.
Georgia Tech’s best wide receiver from last season, Eric Singleton, transferred to Auburn, but the Yellow Jackets’ leading wide receiver, Mark Rutherford, returns, joined by FIU All-American transfer Eric Rivers. Rutherford had 62 catches last fall for the Yellow Jackets, going for 702 yards and three touchdowns.
If there is a question about the Georgia Tech offense, it is along the offensive line, which must replace its center and both tackles. All-ACC guard Keylan Rutledge, though, is back.
Georgia Tech’s defense was good last season, putting up numbers similar to what Robert Livingston’s Buffs posted last fall. New defensive coordinator Blake Gideon comes to Atlanta by way of the Texas Longhorns, and will give CU’s new quarterback a 4-2-5 scheme to handle.
Only four starters return on the defensive side of the ball, and the defensive line is almost a total rebuild. All-ACC linebacker, Kyle Efford, who led the team in tackles last season, returns. (He’ll be easy to spot from the stands. Efford wears the old-fashioned neck roll).
Georgia Tech went 7-6 last year, despite injuries and some tough luck losses (including the aforementioned eight overtime loss to No. 7 Georgia). There are returning starters at every key position both on offense and defense. Head coach Brent Key is a Georgia Tech alum who has a background as an offensive lineman and as an offensive line coach, so running the ball and stopping the run are the mainstays of a Brent Key team.
Georgia Tech will come to Boulder wanting to run the ball … and has the option quarterback and returning running back to make that a genuine concern for the Buff Nation.
—
I – Intangibles
Something to prove … Much will be made by the media (certainly the ESPN crew in the pregame introduction to the game) that Colorado and Georgia Tech shared the 1990 national championship. Ready to hear about the Fifth Down game, the clipping penalty on The Rocket’s punt return, and the AP/UPI Coaches poll split?
Whatever.
None of the player who will play in the 2025 season opener at Folsom was even within a decade of being born in 1990, so it’s safe to say that the first-ever game between Colorado and Georgia Tech has much more meaning to some members of the fan bases than it will to any of the players.
—
Chip on their shoulders … The Buffs finished the 2024 campaign with a 9-4 record, the best season for CU since 2016. The 7-2 record in CU’s first season back in the Big 12 was in sharp contrast to the back-to-back 1-8 conference records posted in the Buffs’ last two seasons in the Pac-12.
With a great season in recent memory, complacency might be a fear. Instead, the Buffs and their coaches have, if anything, prepared this off-season with a chip on their shoulders.
While Georgia Tech, coming off of a 7-6 season, is getting a great deal of love from the media (picked to finish 4th in the ACC; outside chances at the ACC championship game and a College Football Playoff berth), the Buffs aren’t being picked by anyone to again finish in a tie for first in the Big 12, much less compete for a Big 12 title.
The Buffs under Coach Prime have played some of their best games when the least was expected of them. CU isn’t a 20-point underdog in their opener, like they were against TCU two years ago, but most prognosticators have the Buffs falling in their opener.
Coach Prime has ’em just where he wants ’em …
—
P – Preparation/Schedule
Go West, Young Men … Like most teams in the SEC and ACC, Georgia Tech rarely ventures out of the friendly confines of the South and east coast. The Yellow Jackets haven’t played a game west of the Mississippi (or a game at altitude) since falling at BYU, 38-20, in 2013.
While the two time zone change likely won’t mean much to the Georgia Tech players, having a game at altitude just might. The Yellow Jackets like to play a physical brand of football, so, if the Buffs can keep the game close deep into the evening, CU might have an advantage in the final stanza.
—
Injury reports … This entry will be a fixture here on “T.I.P.S.” once we get to Big 12 conference play. This season, teams are required to submit injury reports a few days before each game. With categories of “Out”, “Doubtful”, “Questionable”, and “Probable”, fans will be given at least a general feel for how a roster may be affected by injuries.
This rule won’t be in effect, however, until Big 12 play (so the first for CU will be the road game against Houston on September 12th). For the Georgia Tech game, we know little about injuries, other than that we know running back Dallan Hayden suffered a hand injury during Fall Camp, and will be out for several weeks.
There may also be issues with the CU offensive line. Coach Prime said during a team meeting that CU has “got a lot of injuries on the offensive line.” He didn’t name any names or discuss the severity of the injuries. Coach Prime has also said that he has eight or nine offensive linemen that he trusts to start, so … fingers crossed.
There haven’t been any reports of injuries out of the Georgia Tech camp. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t any … we just don’t know if there are any injuries which might have an impact on the game.
—
Looking Ahead? … If Georgia Tech is going to be a player in the ACC, a win over No. 4 Clemson would go a long way towards legitimizing the Yellow Jackets’ chances at the College Football Playoff. The game between the two teams will be played in Atlanta on September 13th, with a noon ET kickoff and a national audience.
This would mean that the CU game would be a classic look-ahead game for the Yellow Jackets … if Georgia Tech didn’t have another game in between. The Saturday after playing at Folsom Field, the Yellow Jackets return home to face … Gardner-Webb. (In case you are wondering, Gardner-Webb plays in the Big South Conference, are known as the Runnin’ Bulldogs, and are coming off of a 4-8 season which included an exciting 42-35 win over Lindenwood).
Meanwhile, the Buffs stay at home to play FBS newcomer Delaware.
Which is a long way of saying that both teams will be giving their entire focus on each other.
—
S – Statistics
Do statistics matter? … Not as much as they used to. With the Transfer Portal, teams have such new rosters year over year that it’s often hard to predict what a team will do this year compared to last.
This past off-season, Georgia Tech added 24 new freshmen to its roster, together with 24 new transfers.
This past off-season, Colorado added 15 new freshmen to its roster, together with 33 new transfers.
That’s 48 new bodies for each team since the teams last played. Not complete overhauls of the rosters (CU has 79 scholarship players heading into the season), but significant changes from 2024 nonetheless.
That being said …
—
CU’s rushing offense has been offensive … In 2023 Colorado was ranked 130th in the nation in rushing, at 68.9 yards per game. After an off-season bringing in a new offensive line, last season the Buffs rushed for 65.2 yards per game, ranked 133rd (dead last) in the nation.
The good news is that CU went 8-0 in games in which the Buffs rushed for over 50 yards, which is not a high bar to reach (assuming CU’s offensive line doesn’t surrender a large number of sacks, which count against rushing statistics). The bad news is that the deficiencies in rushing attack last season were offset by the No. 6 passing offense in the country, which is a number which is also not likely to be repeated.
Meanwhile, Georgia Tech made its living running the ball. The Yellow Jackets ran for 2,431 yards last season (187.0 yards/game). The last time CU had a rushing attack which opposing teams had to respect? That was all the way back in 2016, with Phillip Lindsay leading the way.
Stat to keep an eye on as the game unfolds … If CU has over 125 yards rushing against Georgia Tech, it’s probably a Buff victory. Conversely, if Georgia Tech goes for over 175 yards rushing against CU … it could be a long night for the Buff Nation.
—
Prediction …
Colorado is a 4.0-point home underdog to Georgia Tech, which means that Las Vegas would consider the Yellow Jackets as being a touchdown better than the Buffs on a neutral field.
My head tells me that, in the first game of the season, it makes sense to go with a quarterback with five seasons of experience in the SEC and ACC over a quarterback playing for a Power Four team for the first time.
It makes sense to go with a Georgia Tech team which rushes the ball effectively, and going against a CU team which has brand new transfer linebackers assigned to stop the opponent’s rushing attack.
But, at least for this week, I’m going with my heart over my head.
My Essay last weekend was entitled, “Buff Nation Playing with House Money in 2025“. We talked about how lucky we are to have the Buff team we have right now under Coach Prime (a quick refresher … in the last game of the 2022 season, CU was a 29.5-point underdog to Utah … and that was the lowest point spread CU faced that November).
We don’t know what to expect from the 2025 Buffs. Reports out of camp are that this is one of the most talented and deepest CU teams in years. Whether that is true, and whether this roster will translate into victories on the field remains to be seen.
Let’s the games begin!
Prediction … Colorado 27, Georgia Tech 23
–
2024 Predictions … (Straight up: 10-3; Against the Spread: 10-3) …
2023 Predictions … (Straight up: 8-4; Against the Spread: 7-5) …
2022 Predictions … (Straight up: 10-2; Against the Spread: 9-3) …
2021 Predictions … (Straight up: 9-3; Against the Spread: 7-5) …
–
—-
14 Replies to ““T.I.P.S.” for CU v. Georgia Tech”
Have you given up on the podcast?
Yes, the podcast has been discontinued. I was going to take the month of May off as it was a dead period, anyway, for college football. But then I never got the energy up to start again. It’s just too much work to do the website and the podcast, especially during the season, when we were trying to get out a podcast early each week.
Never say never, but for now, the podcast is going to remain dormant.
Stuart
Understood. Thanks for your efforts. My first source for Buffs news.
Had some down time and watched a good portion of the Kansas-Fresno game rerun. My hats off to whoever the Kansas OC is. No weird or unconventional formations. Usually some mild pre snap motion and most of the time some POST snap misdirection. The misdirection was not at the AF level but that and excellent play design and call timing kept Freson off balance most of the time. Add to that lateral zone blocking, as opposed to going directly at the guy in front of you, was also opening holes and cut back opportunities for the running backs.
If Shurmur is willing or able to do something similar, which would be a radical departure from any film Tech has then the Buff’s win for sure.
Sorry for earache as I am not promoting a basket full of hooks and ladders, statue of liberties or triple reverses for him to strawman. Just creative football a cut above the average.
Thank you so much for doing this coverage, Stuart. What I want to know is are you still going to do your podcasts?? I haven’t seen one out there since last April.
Hi Tim,
Thanks for the kind words.
No, the podcast has been discontinued. I was going to take the month of May off as it was a dead period, anyway, for college football. But then I never got the energy up to start again. It’s just too much work to do the website and the podcast, especially during the season, when we were trying to get out a podcast early each week.
Never say never, but for now, the podcast is going to remain dormant.
Stuart
Thank you for the quick reply, Stuart.
Your podcasts will be missed. But as a retired guy myself I can’t imagine how anyone can do a regular job, website and weekly in season podcasts. I will continue to follow your website which is an absolute must for CU fans like myself who are living out of state. Wishing you and yours all the best.
TIPS is back! Thank you as always for the amazing content.
So as the eternal optimist I am going to go with a solid win. No points.
Is Shurmur a genius who molded an offense around a qb that completes 70% of their passes and few interceptions? Will he mold an offense around a qb who when things break down he will run for 20-30 yards? While we will run the ball behind that massive line I see a lot of drop back passes where the goal is actually qb draw (all go routes to pull the defense deep and put Salter 1:1 vs the spy). I don’t know. I don’t think it is going to be all that creative. I doubt we will have lots of motion pre snap or weird formations. I think we are going to line our guys up and ask them to beat the guy in front of them.
On the other side I think Livingston year 2 is going to be real, real good. People are not talking about this defense enough.
My only question is linebacker. I don’t think we have any clue how good they are. If they are good we will be good. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the freshman at some point.
I’ve had this score written down since April, 27-24. But I didn’t have a winner as there are so many unknowns with this team. Always the hardest game to predict, the first. But I gotta go for CU…
No predictions here….especially with the first game of the season. It looks like the tale of two QBs that are fairly similar in styles. Seems to me Salter has the edge with the arm and the Tech guy may be slightly better with or uses more his legs.
I’m waiting to see if the Buffs have designed running plays for Salter or option plays where he can keep it and run. Or will it be just take off and run if everyone is covered.
2 keys to winning:
1. Take the legs out of the Tech QB. The Buffs have had problems with running QBs (maybe everyone has). They need to keep him bottled up. Koolaid says the Buff secondary should be able to handle the Tech passing game.
2. How many points are we going to score? For the first time reader here on this board, I am cringing until I see if Shurmer actually has a new offense that will keep the opposing DC a step behind and scratching his head.
Win this week, and C.U. will have an excellent opportunity to have recorded five wins and zero losses heading into the the three game stretch of TCU (away), Iowa State (home) and Utah (away). Win this week, and the season could shape up to be a truly memorable one.
So many “unknowns,” yet there is every indication that home versus Georgia Tech this week, home against Iowa State, home against Arizona State, and the final game – away at Kansas State could be the key challenges to a season that might have few, if any, blemishes.
We will see,…
The first thing that comes mind when I think of G Tech, it is the travesty that the hypocrite from Lincoln, “Dr” Tom perpetrated. I’m in my 60’s with a long memory and big grudge. I think most of the readers of CU at the Game feel the same.
Buffs will win and the ramblin’ wreck will be a stumblin’ mess. CU 62 the other guys 36.
Ditto
I was working with a crew in Wyoming when that went down. We were all Buff fans and that cemented the cobbs forever at the bottom of my chitlist. Don’t tell the wife I said that.
I think the Buffs eke out a win in a fist fight. The yellow jackets will try, and may mostly succeed, in running the ball down our throats. Kaidon salter, ann improved offensive line, and another batch of nfl receivers will be the difference.
Go Buffs