"T.I.P.S." for CU v. UCLA / Plus: ASU Parts Ways With Herm Edwards: Will Karl Dorrell Be Next?

I am joined for this episode by Brad Geiger and Neil Langland. We open with a brief update on the decline of the NCAA and college football as we know it, perhaps summed up best as: “The only parties who have the power to put an end to the current chaos are the ones who are benefitting the most from the chaos”.

We then turn our full attention to your Buffs and to stories we expect to see from the offensive side of the ball this spring.

There will be plenty of fluff pieces on the progress the team is making during its closed practices. So, with this episode we try to identify the headlines which are going to truly be worth your time to click on, and which stories are just column fillers which are being spoon fed to the media.

Which stories are which? What should CU fans be looking for when there is a story about the battle for the top running back and wide receiver positions? Is the battle for the backup quarterback position going to be settled this spring? Are there going to be any stories about the offensive line development which are not going to be must-read?

Let’s find out ...

I am joined for this episode by Neil Langland, and we are here to discuss the disintegration - or re-invention - of college football as we know it. We take a brief detour into the history of litigation which brought us to the current chaos, from Jeremy Bloom’s case against the NCAA twenty years ago, to the landmark decisions in the O’Bannon and Alston cases, which lay the groundwork for the tectonic shifts taking place today.

So ... With the Dartmouth case allowing players to vote on forming a union, and the Tennessee and Virginia lawsuit against the NCAA likely to bring about a stripping of almost all NIL regulations, where is the sport heading in the near and long term future? ... Will the Big Ten/SEC “advisory group” develop solutions, or are even the big boy conferences merely wholly owned subsidiaries of ESPN and Fox? ... And, most importantly for Buff fans: Will Coach Prime have enough time to salvage the CU brand, giving the Buffs a chair to sit in when the music stops? ... Or, is it time for schools like Colorado to accept, and perhaps even embrace, a future in a new mid-tier college football world where the Buffs can once again compete on a level playing field with its competition?

The Colorado 2024 Big 12 schedule was announced this past week. Buff fans have known for years who the non-conference opponents would be this fall, and we have known for some time which of the remaining 15 Big 12 teams would fill CU’s nine-game conference slate. But, it wasn’t until this week that the Buff Nation was introduced to the schedule for the Buffs’ first season back in the Big 12.

This episode will be taking a deep dive into how CU’s fall lays out. Which teams have a bye week before playing the Buffs? Which teams will be coming off of a tough road contest or a rivalry game? Which teams may be looking past the Buffs to a “more important” game the following week?

So … Will playing a top level FCS school, followed by two rivalry games on the road, derail optimism in the second season under Coach Prime, or will the non-conference slate be a springboard to a winning season? … Will the Buffs, replacing Oregon and USC with Baylor and Central Florida to open conference play, be able to take advantage of an easier opening schedule? … Will CU’s back-loaded conference schedule, with the potential to finish against three ranked teams, lead to another frustrating just-short-of-a-bowl-game finish? Or, as it did in 2016, when the Buffs vanquished ranked opponents on their way to the Pac-12 title game, use the tough slate of games to make their case as a Big 12 title contender?

Let’s find out …

Tough as it may be to believe in January, what with the Transfer Portal commitments still flowing in and another Transfer Portal window coming in April, but the CU roster – as is the case for most Power Four teams – is already 80-90% complete. Yes, the CU coaching staff is still in the market for quality transfers, and yes, there will be defections at the end of spring practices, but, unlike 2023, there will not be a wholesale makeover of the roster between now and Fall Camp. What CU has right now is largely what you will see on the field this fall.

So … Which units on the CU roster can be clearly considered as having Power Four conference quality and depth? … Conversely, which units remain in serious need of upgrades? … With new transfers coming in this spring, room will have to be made on the roster to keep CU under the 85-man limit. Which units are most likely to see attrition between now and the kickoff to the season on August 31st?

Let’s find out …

Included in this episode:

– Half of Coach Prime’s coaching staff, including both of his coordinators, have left for other opportunities. Should Buff fans look at these moves as a compliment - that CU has coaches worth hiring away? Or is it cause for concern that Coach Prime will have to reinvent his staff for the 2024 season?;

– Only 11 scholarship players from Colorado entered the Transfer Portal in the first window. Is this number a surprise? Will there be a mass exodus come April? Or, is the Buff lineup of 85 scholarship players largely now in place for the fall?;

– Now that there is a settlement - at least in principle - between the outgoing Pac-10 and the leftover Pac-2, will Oregon State and Washington State have enough resources to survive, and be relevant when the next round of realignment begins?;

– The offensive line room is being completely overhauled. With the transfers coming in, and the signing of five-star phenom Jordan Seaton, does CU have enough quality starters and sufficient quality depth in the offensive line to compete in the Big 12?; and

– What are our picks for the national championship game, and should CU fans have a rooting interest one way or the other?

Let’s find out ...

We first discuss the overall look of the CU Recruiting Class of 2024, and whether it was a success - the most four-star recruits ever signed in one day by a Colorado coaching staff - or whether it was a disappointment, as the jewel of the Class failed to sign his Letter of Intent, and there were no surprise flips from other programs.

We will then take a unit-by-unit look at the CU Class of ‘24, which was dominated by signees playing in the trenches on both sides of the ball. There were also a few talented skill position players joining the Herd, whetting the appetites of Buff fans looking for even more spectacular plays next fall.

So ... Should the Buff Nation be alarmed that Coach Prime and his staff only signed five freshmen? ... Did CU bring in enough offensive line talent in the “Protect Shedeur” campaign to make sack reduction in 2024 a realistic possibility? ... Has the groundwork been laid for a winning campaign next fall, or is there still plenty of work left to do in the Transfer Portal between now and Fall Camp to make a bowl bid a realistic expectation?

Let’s find out ...

We will open this podcast with a review of Year One of the Coach Prime era. It’s hard to believe the impact Deion Sanders has had on the CU athletic department, the City of Boulder, and upon college football as a whole, but it’s worth taking a few moments to look back at what the Buff Nation has ... compared to what might have been.

Quick quiz: Which is the most unbelievable factoid from Year One of the Coach Prime era?

•That CU sold out every home game for the first time in school history (not to mention the Spring Game)?;
•That CU, after a 1-11 season, was nationally ranked in September?; or
•That more viewers watched the Rocky Mountain Showdown (with a 10:30 p.m., ET kickoff) than watched the prime time Pac-12 championship game between two top five programs in Oregon and Washington?

After our short trip down memory lane, we turn our attention to the reshaping of the coaching staff and roster, with a look ahead to how Signing Day might influence CU’s won/loss record next fall.

So ... Was the loss of offensive coordinator Sean Lewis, with his “most likely” replacement being Pat Shurmur, a net loss or a net gain for the program? ... If Coach Prime brings in well-known names, like Warren Sapp and Brian Leftwich, who have no collegiate coaching experience, will that help or hurt the development of the roster? ... And ... Are there enough quality offensive and defensive line transfers out there, who can be counted upon to turn CU’s front lines into strengths instead of weaknesses?

Let’s find out ...

First, a program note. The review/preview episodes have been posted on Tuesdays during the regular season. After this week’s podcast, we will be going back to posting every other week, with the new episodes being posted on Fridays. So look for the next podcast, talking about roster moves and recruiting, to be posted the first weekend of December. 

We will open this podcast with a review of CU's ugly loss on the road against Washington State. As is our custom for the post-mortem on a game, we give our grades for what about the CU effort was Excellent, what was Satisfactory, and what still Needs Improvement - and we’ll leave it a secret as to which category requires the most comment after the Buffs’ humbling loss in Pullman. 

We will then move on to our “T.I.P.S.” for the upcoming matchup against Utah. Our preview will look at the game from the perspectives of Talent, Intangibles, Preparation, and Statistics, before giving you our predictions for a game which will be played on a crisp Saturday afternoon in Salt Lake City. 

So ... Will Shedeur Sanders play? And, even if he does, will the game be worth watching? ... Can the Buffs catch a down Utah team which has lost three of its last four games, or is it CU which has lost interest in the 2023 season? Will Coach Prime and his staff be able to rally the troops for one last push, or is it time for the Buff Nation to start looking forward to the 2024 season?

This is Stuart Whitehair, publisher and editor for the CU at the Game website, and your host for the CU at the Game podcast.

I am joined for this episode by Brad Geiger and Neil Langland, and we will open with a review of CU's hard-to-take 34-31 loss to No. 23 Arizona. As is our custom for the post-mortem on a game, we give our grades for what about the CU effort was Excellent, what was Satisfactory, and what still Needs Improvement for a tough loss - a game in which the Buffs never trailed the Wildcats ... until the clock read 0:00.

We will then move on to our “T.I.P.S.” for the upcoming matchup against Washington State. Our preview will look at the game from the perspectives of Talent, Intangibles, Preparation, and Statistics, before giving you our predictions for a game which will be played under the lights on a crisp Friday night in Pullman.

So ... In a game featuring two of the top ten passers in the nation, and two of the bottom ten rushing offenses in the nation - which team has the edge? ... Will the Court hearing on the dispute between the “Pac-2" and the “Pac-10" have an influence on the Cougar coaches and players, who are two weeks away from officially being orphans? ... Which team - the team which started out 3-0 and ranked 19th, or the team which started out 4-0 and ranked 13th - has enough emotional energy left in the tank to end their losing streak? ...

Let’s find out ...

First, before we talk football, a tip of the CU at the Game hat to the Colorado women’s basketball team. The 20th-ranked Buffs opened their season with a 92-78 win in Las Vegas over the No. 1 ranked - and defending national champion - LSU Tigers. The win represents the second time the CU women’s team has knocked off a No. 1 team, with the other coming in 2021 against Stanford, and the victory certainly bodes well for the remainder of the 2023-24 campaign.

I am joined for this episode by Brad Geiger and Neil Langland, and we will review CU’s 26-19 loss to No. 16 Oregon State. As is our custom for the post-mortem on a game, we give our grades for what about CU's effort was Excellent, what was Satisfactory, and what still Needs Improvement.

We will then move on to our “T.I.P.S.” for the upcoming matchup against No. 23 Arizona. Our preview will look at the game from the perspectives of Talent, Intangibles, Preparation, and Statistics, before giving you our predictions for the game which will be played before a sellout crowd at Folsom Field on Senior Day.

So ... Can the Colorado coaching staff finally find a way to protect its most precious resource, quarterback Shedeur Sanders? Or, will the most sacked quarterback in the FBS continue to be harassed by opposing defenses? ... Is it possible that Arizona, which has played five straight games against ranked opponents, winning the last three, will be looking past the Buffs? ... Can the Buffs find enough defensive and special teams magic to assist CU’s struggling offense, enough to cobble together enough points to send the Buff Nation home happy, with a victory in the final home game of the season?

Let’s find out ...