Colorado Buffaloes Football Predictions with 2011 Schedule
Colorado leaves the Big 12 and joins the former PAC-10 this season, now the PAC-12 with Utah also coming on board for the 2011 season. If the early welcome Colorado got last year when they played at Cal is any indication of things to come, it could be a long year for the Colorado Buffaloes, they lost that one 52-7. Actually, who are we kidding, it’s going to be a long year reGArdless, the Schedule for Colorado can only be described as brutal. There’s not an easy Game on the Schedule. It would be easier to peNCil in losses than wins on this daNCe card.
What makes matters worse for the Buffs is that they have a new coach, Jon Embree, who will be implementing new schemes, particularly on the offensive side of the ball where Colorado will move to a West Coast offense. We talk about this sort of thing all the time. College football players are recruited by coaches to play within a certain scheme. They are recruited because they fit in with the current system. When a new coach comes in and starts making changes, putting his stamp on the team, those changes are generally slow to catch on.
If there’s a bright spot, it’s that the Buffs return 8 on offense iNCluding QB Tyler Hanson and 7 on defense. They will benefit from having played together as a unit and you can be sure Embree will make the scheme changes gradual, keeping some things the same initially. But even if everything stayed the same, this team would have their work cut out for them as there were some pretty big GAps between Colorado and “good” teams last year. We already mentioned the Cal blowout. They were blanked by Missouri 26-0, lost 43-10 to Oklahoma and 45-17 at Nebraska.
There are simply no breaks in their Schedule. There are no bye weeks, and there are no Games against teams where it would be like having a week off. For example, Cal, who gets to play Presbyterian in week 3. For the Colorado Buffaloes, this hits just keep on coming. Cal, Ohio State, Stanford, Oregon, USC, Utah. It’s very difficult to imagine this team winning more than 3 or 4 Games this year.
From a betting standpoint, it may be best to steer clear of Colorado this year. September 10th will be worth watching. They host Cal and have a chance for a little revenge for that 52-7 blowout loss. We’ll have a better idea after that Game if they’ll be able to compete.
2011 Colorado Buffaloes Football Schedule
9-3-11 at Hawaii
9-10-11 CALIFORNIA
9-17-11 Colorado State @Denver, CO
9-24-11 at Ohio State
10-1-11 WASHINGTON STATE
10-8-11 at Stanford
10-15-11 at Washington
10-22-11 OREGON
10-29-11 at Arizona State
11-4-11 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (Fri.)
11-12-11 ARIZONA
11-19-11 at UCLA
11-25-11 at Utah (Fri.)