0 FARI UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BUFFALOES / SPORTS INFORMATION SERVICE www.CUBuffs.com 2150 Stadium Drive (574 Champions Center), 357 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0357 © 2021 CU Athletics Telephone 303/492-5626 (E-mail/FB contacts: [email protected]; [email protected]) David Plati (Associate AD/SID), Curtis Snyder (Assistant AD), Troy Andre (Associate SID/CUBuffs.com Managing Editor), Linda Sprouse (Associate SID), COLORADO Seth Pringle (Assistant SID), Shaun Wicen (Assistant SID), Neill Woelk (Contributing Editor/CUBuffs.com), Alex French (Graduate Assistant) RELEASE NUMBER 7 (March 31, 2021) CUBUFFS.COM BUFFALO BITS … The Colorado Buffaloes closed out their 131st season of intercollegiate football though last year’s scheduled game in College Station was canceled due to the with a 4-2 record, which included a 3-1 mark in Pac-12 play for second place in pandemic ... With the A&M game in Denver, CU will play seven games in the state the South Division ... Looking at preliminary numbers for next season, Colorado of Colorado for the ninth time in 10 seasons ... The friendly reminder that CU will return 73 lettermen for 2020, including 18 starters (10 on offense, with a does not add bowl game stats into our season statistics (one of the last holdouts); tie at left guard, and eight on defense), along with all five specialists; 19 others when the NCAA adds in all bowl games and not since just 2002, then so will we ... with either significant starting or game experience ... The Pac-12 released the CUBuffs.com/media is all things Buff (on-line media guide, game notes, live 2021 conference schedules on March 2 (see below) ... Minnesota appears on stats, etc.). CU’s schedule for the first time since 1992, Texas A&M for the first since 2009, DEPTH CHART ON PAGE 67; ROSTERS ON PAGES 68-70; STATISTICS 71-79 2021 COLORADO SCHEDULE (FW—Family Weekend; HC—Homecoming) Date Opponent Site Date Opponent Site Date Opponent Site S 3 (Fri.) NORTHERN COLORADO BOULDER O 9 —BYE— N 13 at UCLA Pasadena S 11 Texas A & M Denver O 16 ARIZONA (FW) BOULDER N 20 WASHINGTON BOULDER S 18 MINNESOTA BOULDER O 23 at California Berkeley N 26 (Fri.) at Utah Salt Lake City S 25 at Arizona State Tempe O 30 at Oregon Eugene D 3 Pac-12 Champ Game Las Vegas O 2 SOUTHERN CAL BOULDER N 6 OREGON STATE (HC) Pasadena COACH “DORR-WELL” The 27 head coach in CU history, Karl Dorrell started 4-0 in his CU coaching career; only Harry Heller (won his first seven in 1894), Willis Kleinholtz (six in 1905), T.W. Mortimer (five in 1900) and Rick Neuheisel (five in 1995) won as many or more to open their CU careers (and Dorrell was OC on Neuheisel’s staff). Dorrell was the sixth CU coach to open 3-0 in conference games, but the first since Jim Yeager in 1941. ► Named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year by both the Associated Press and the league coaches, the sixth coach to be recognized in CU’s history with the honor; ► Named Football Writers Association of America’s First-Year Coach of the Year, honoring the top coach among those in their first-year at a new school in 2020; ► Of the 23 new head coaches in 2020, he was the last of the group who was undefeated come Dec. 6 (finished with the fourth-best winning percentage). ► He was the third CU head coach to lead the Buffs to a bowl game in his first season, joining Neuheisel (’96 Cotton) and Gary Barnett (’99 Insight.com). ► He was the first CU coach in his first season to have his team go from unranked to ranked (No. 21 AP, No. 22 USAT/Coaches on Dec. 6; No. 21 CFP on Dec. 8), leading a team that many prognosticators were saying would win maybe one if any games (the over/under in Vegas was 1½ wins). STAT OF THE YEAR Sacks Allowed. The Buffaloes allowed just six quarterback sacks in the regular season, and seven including the bowl game and for a minimum number of yards lost (31 and 40, respectively). Nationally, including bowls, CU tied for eighth in fewest allowed with the seven, and the 1.17 allowed per game tied for 10th. Looking at regular season numbers historically, using the per game average with the limited number of regular season games, the 1.2 allowed in those five were the lowest at Colorado since 1989 (0.82 per game), when the Buffs were running an option (I-Bone) offense. In 2020, the offensive line allowed only three of those. OBSCURE NOTE OF THE YEAR Rice-Stanley Connection. True freshman WR Brenden Rice had an 81-yard punt return and a 61-yard reception for touchdowns in the 38-21 loss to Utah on Dec. 12; WR Dimitri Stanley had key blocks on both plays. So how ironic was it that Dimitri’s father, WR Walter Stanley was the last Buff to accomplish the same – scoring on 87- and 74-yard receptions and a 70-yard punt return in a 45-27 win over Texas Tech on Sept. 12, 1981 (the last CU player to score TDs receiving and on any kick return until Rice turned the trick). REVISED 2020 COLORADO SCHEDULE & RESULTS (4-2, 3-1 Pac-12) Date CU* Opponent Opp* TV Result/Time Record Series This-N-That or ’19 rewind NOV. 7 --- UCLA (N) --- ESPN2 W 48-42 3-4 5-11-0 Buffs roll to 35-7 second quarter lead and hang on; Broussard has record night Nov. 14 --- at Stanford --- ESPN W 35-32 4-2 6- 6-0 Noyer runs for two TDs, throws for two: just the eighth time in CU history NOV. 21 RV ARIZONA STATE RV (ESPN2) Canceled 2-2 3- 8-0 Game was cancelled on 11/15 due to COVID-19 issues in the Sun Devil program Nov. 28 --- at Southern California 19 ABC Canceled 5-1 0-14-0 Game was cancelled on 11/26 due to COVID-19 issues in the Trojan program Nov. 28 --- SAN DIEGO STATE --- PAC12 W 20-10 4-4 2- 0-0 SDSU scheduled as replacement opponent; defensive battle (427 total yards) Dec. 5 RV at Arizona (N) --- FS-1 W 24-13 0-5 15- 8-0 Broussard (301 yards) and Buffs (407) run wild, rally from 13-0 down in 2nd Qtr DEC. 12 21 UTAH --- FOX L 21-38 3-2 32-32-3 Buffs take 21-10 lead on first play of 3rd Qtr; Utes score 28 in a row to end game Dec. 19 --- Oregon (at Los Angeles) --- FS-1 Canceled 4-3 9-13-0 Game was cancelled on 12/14 when UO had to replace UW in P12 title game Dec. 29 RV Texas (Alamo Bowl) 20 ESPN L 23-55 7-3 7-12-0 UT led 17-10 at halftime, but eventually took advantage of a depleted CU defense KEY: *—AP rank at time of game; —Pac-12 Conference game; N—Night game; All times mountain. GAMES CANCELED DUE TO PANDEMIC: at Colorado State (Sept. 5), Fresno State (Sept. 12), at Texas A&M (Sept. 19), at Oregon (Sept. 26), Washington State (Nov. 7), at Washington (Nov. 21). In Revised Schedule: Arizona State (Nov. 21), at Southern California (Nov. 28); vs. Oregon in Los Angeles (Dec. 19). 2020 COLORADO FOOTBALL The Media Page Page 2 Credentials. CU does not utilize an on-line Satellite Radio: Sirius-XM is the satellite COLORADO MEDIA SERVICES credential system; we prefer the personal touch. Email home of the Buffs; the Aloha Bowl (KOA broadcast) Head coach Karl Dorrell will hold a Monday Dave Plati with request ([email protected]). will be on Sirius, XM & Internet Ch. 84; national Zoom Conference call at 11:00 a.m. (Nov. 9-Dec. Collegepressbox.com is the official media on Ch. 80 on all three mediums. 21); the lone exception being Tuesday, Nov. 3 since the website for Division I football. Access and download team cannot practice with it being Election Day (hoping weekly game notes, quotes, statistics, media guides, PRONUNCIATION GUIDE to return to in-person whenever the pandemic ends or headshots, logos and more for each conference and its Coaches/Staff is under control). It will be more or less an extended member schools. Register for access at: Darrin CHIAVERINI (shiv-ah-ree-knee) version of what we have been doing daily Zooms. www.collegepressbox.com/register. Karl DORRELL (door-el) Starting with Nov. 9, the press conference portions The Pac-12 Mountain Network is the Darian HAGAN (hay-gun) will be streamed live on www.CUBuffs.com. television home of the Buffaloes; it produces a variety DEMETRICE Martin (dee-meat-riss) Note: There was no Front Range Huddle this of programming featuring all 12 member institutions. Brian MICHALOWSKI (michael-ow-ski) Mitch RODRIGUE (row-dreeg) summer; look for it to resume in 2021 in Denver. Season Interview Schedule. With daily THE BUFFS ON THE INTERNET Players COVID testing, it eliminates the larger window we had The official CU site on the Internet can be found 6 Daniel ARIAS (are-e-us) 25 MEKHI Blackmon (muh-kye as in eye) for interviews (over an hour lost). Dorrell will speak on at www.CUBuffs.com has the most up-to-date Mondays and Wednesdays; players available on 23 JAREK BROUSSARD (jerek brew-sard) information, releases, game notes, press conference 17 Grant CICCARONE (sis-a-roan) Tuesdays and Wednesdays (most have heavy academic broadcasts (free), articles by longtime journalist and 0 ASHAAD Clayton (ah-shod) schedules which eliminate Thursdays); assistant CUBuffs.com contributing editor Neill Woelk along 57 John DEITCHMAN (dych-mon) coaches on all three days if requested in advance.