Colorado State Rams vs Colorado Buffaloes Football Preview

It’s only week three of the college football season, but there’s just a slight pinch of desperation in the Rocky Mountain air. While the Colorado State Rams have managed to avoid an upset loss in their first two contests, the Colorado Buffaloes find themselves reeling. If the boys from Boulder can’t get off the deck and corral their archrival from Fort Collins, the whole of the 2011 season is going to acquire a distinctly grim and gloomy feel.

It is a historically-good rivalry matchup each year between Colorado and Colorado State, and this year’s Rocky Mountain Showdown shapes up to be yet another good battle. The Rams and Buffaloes will battle at Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium in Denver, where the rivalry will call home for the next nine years. Over the last 11 matchups, eight have been decided by a touchdown or less. Colorado holds a 7-4 advantage in that time frame. The Buffaloes hold a 60-20-2 lead in the all-time series, but they need to bump that number up by one if they want to feel good about the rest of this college football campaign.

As for this season, the teams are trending in opposite directions, although a great deal of that is due to level of competition. Colorado State has itself at 2-0 with a close win over MWC doormat New Mexico and a win over FCS-level Northern Colorado. Colorado, on the other hand, took a loss on the islands at Hawaii, then fell in overtime to Cal in a conference battle that won’t count in conference standings.

The Buffs strength has definitely been its passing game, currently ranked 11 th  in the nation after Tyler Hansen threw for 474 yards last week. Hansen found a new favorite target in sophomore wide-out Paul Richardson, who caught 11 passes for 284 yards and two touchdowns. The Rams will definitely need to corral that Buffalo and minimize big plays to make Colorado work harder for its yardage.

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Colorado State will need better consistency out of its offense. Quarterback Pete Thomas is definitely growing into his talent, but threw three interceptions last week. Mistakes like that will be more costly against Colorado. Despite playing sub-par competition, the Rams have produced less-than mediocre output, scoring just 23 points per game. They will also be without defensive leader Mychal Sisson; the linebacker has a fractured ankle.

Colorado was so agonizingly close to beating California and reviving its season last weekend. Had the Buffaloes been able to achieve that particular triumph, they would have been able to harbor visions of a bowl bid. Now, CU must start from scratch; doing so against a revved-up rival will hardly be easy, especially since CSU has thwarted the Buffaloes’ plans in the past. Colorado has to marshal not just its football skills, but its mental resources; a letdown this Saturday in Denver is simply not an option for the Pac-12 Conference’s newest member.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer