Buffzone football mailbag

Spring football is less than two weeks away. It will be interesting to watch competition at most positions on the depth chart. There will definitely be some new faces contributing on Saturdays in the fall.

It’s time for another edition of the mailbag.

Hey Kyle,

Mike Bohn has been mentioning attendance figures a lot lately as proof the football team is on the right track and that fan support is still high.  Any chance he’s forgotten how many buy-one-get-one tickets he’s given away or failed to notice how much more prevalent the opposing team colors are on Saturdays in Boulder?

Kent  (Fort Collins)

Kent, Very good points. I think Mike is well aware of those issues, but he’s trying to put the best face possible on a bad situation. I don’t envy him having to try to sell tickets for the product that has been put on the field recently, especially in this economic environment.

What about the Ralphie’s Kids Roundup program that contributed significant numbers to those attendance counts he is emphasizing? Those kids are in the stadium because of donors paying for tickets. In fairness to CU and Bohn, special deals and donor-funded tickets are not unique to CU, but you’re right in pointing out that the department has had to work very hard and has had to entice people to the stadium at times on Saturdays.

Hey Kyle,

Just read your blog post. I’m curious, what is your gut feeling on the likelihood of the Buffs ending up in the Pac 10? 50/50? I had kind of been dismissing all the talk as speculative rumors, but it seems to be gaining momentum.

Jason, Boulder

Thanks for the question Jason. It all depends on the Pac-10. If the league invites CU, I think it’s a done deal. Everyone on the hill loves to idea of moving to the Pac-10. From athletic department administrators to coaches to faculty and regents. It has been difficult finding anyone to criticize the idea from the CU perspective in the conversations I’ve been having with people.

It seems to me that everyone at CU is sort of waiting around with fingers crossed hoping the offer comes. The move would put CU in a league filled with schools with academic standards much more in line with what it requires. It brings CU into more regular contact with a large number of alumni up and down the West Coast. It puts the school in a league in which it will probably be more competitive in both football and men’s basketball over the long haul.

It’s a positive move in so many ways for the school. I believe it will happen, but it’s more in the hands of the Pac-10 than CU at this point.

Kyle,

Hi, I come from Sioux City, Iowa! Native Coloradan but still follow my Buffs out here! My question is, if Colorado was to move to the Pac 10, do you think Nebraska fans would do? I honestly, think at first they would rejoice. However, they would soon become jealous because they are going to quickly realize that Colorado will be doing quite well and then Husker Nation would miss the Colorado game and want it back. Also, wouldn’t it be cool if Colorado and Nebraska played in a bowl game?

Thanks!

Dennis Driscoll

Good question Dennis. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Colorado as the only team that leaves the Big 12. I know there has been talk of Missouri joining the Big Ten, but I see that league wanting to grab more of the northeast, especially the New York television market, more than areas such as St. Louis and Kansas City, where it already has some presence because of Iowa and Illinois.

Assuming the Buffs are the only team to leave the Big 12, I could see the league picking up TCU as a replacement and moving Oklahoma into the North Division and changing scheduling to make sure the OU-Texas game happens every year.This would also set up a good possibility of an OU-Texas or Nebraska-Texas championship game most years.

The OU-Nebraska game would return to an annual rivalry as well, which would make many in the corn giddy. I honestly don’t think Big Red would miss CU much, except for the trip west once every other year.

Watching CU and Nebraska play in a bowl game would be really interesting if it happened any time in the first 5-7 years after realignment. If it got too far removed from the switch before it happened, it probably would be as significant.

Kyle,

Spring football is starting early next month and I was wondering what you will be paying attention to? Is there one position battle you believe is most important to the success of the team next season?

Thanks for all your articles. Keep them coming!

Stewart, Aurora

Thanks for the question Stewart and thanks for reading. If I had to pick one position where improvement is needed most for the team to take a step forward in 2010, I would say it’s the offensive line. There is a lot of talent here and this unit ought to be playing better than it was down the stretch last year.

If the offensive line improves, the running game will improve and the quarterback play will improve as well. I think adding Eric Richter to the mix will be interesting. One of the biggest problem areas has been the guard spots, especially when Ryan Miller has had to move to tackle to replace Bryce Givens. Almost all of the guys who will be competing for playing time on the line are third and fourth-year players. The group also includes Nate Solder, who earned first-team all-conference honors from Big 12 coaches in 2009. There are no excuses now. It’s time for these guys to get the job done.

There are a ton of other things to keep an eye on. Linebackers will be battling hard to playing time. The wide receivers should be fun to watch. Who is going to replace Cha’pelle Brown in the secondary? My money is on Deji Olatoye. Then you have the normal focus on the quarterbacks and Zach Grossnickle will be taking over as the punter and could compete with Aric Goodman for the place-kicking job, at least in spring ball.

There are also two new assistant coaches (Ashley Ambrose in the secondary and Robert Prince with the wideouts) to get to know and keep and eye on. Plenty of story lines to keep us busy for a month and into the summer.

Thanks for all the questions everyone.

If you have a question for next week’s mailbag, please send it to me at ringok@dailycamera.com.