2012-13 Football Previews – (Pac 12) – Colorado Buffaloes
It’s hard to believe the Colorado Buffaloes won the NCAA Football Championship in 1990. This program is a proud program that has really fallen on hard times in the last few years. The Dan Hawkins experiment didn’t go as planned, and now Jon Embree has been left to pick up the pieces.
PAC 12 Conference 2012-2013 College Football Previews: Colorado Buffaloes
Head Coach: Jon Embree
2011 Record: 3-10
Colorado Gambling Odds from 5Dimes to win BCS Championship: +120,000
Colorado Gambling Odds from 5Dimes to win PAC 12 Conference: +14,000
Colorado Team Page – Players Stats – Roster – 2012 Schedule –>
The team did manage to win two of their last three games in 2011, but not many people cared since they finished 3-10. Embree has an extremely difficult job ahead of him again in 2012. Paul Richardson was the team’s star at wide receiver, but he tore an ACL in April and will miss the whole season. Right now, it seems this team can’t catch a break.
Team Strengths:
It’s extremely hard to find strengths on this squad, especially for a team that competes in a league as big as the PAC 12.
The linebacker spot is the strength of the defense. Leading tackler Jon Major is back for another season. Doug Rippy is the most explosive player on this defense, and the team expects him to be back from injury in time to play this season. There is plenty of football knowledge on this unit, and they should make a lot of tackles this year.
The offensive line is the strength of the offense. This is a unit that really came together as the season went along last year. Colorado has plenty of size up front, and this line has the potential to be pretty good in 2012.
Team Weaknesses:
Where should we start? No quarterback on this roster has attempted more than 35 passes in college football. Connor Wood and Nick Hirschman enter the season in a quarterback competition, but neither of them are really ready for the starting gig. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Rodney Stewart is gone and the Buffaloes are extremely thin at the running back spot. Tony Jones will likely start at tailback for the Buffaloes, but the coaches are a bit concerned about his blocking ability. Behind Jones it is a bunch of freshman who are complete unknowns right now.
Paul Richardson was head and shoulders better than any other receiver on this team, so losing him hurt a great deal. It will be up to some walk-ons and youngsters to step up on the outside.
The defensive secondary is a major weakness. Colorado managed to allow 34 touchdown passes while picking off only seven passes last year. The two starters at cornerback will be inexperienced this year, and it has to imagine this unit being much better in 2012.
2012-2013 Colorado Buffaloes Football Prediction: 2-10
Colorado is in for another very long season. Embree is a great motivator and he seems to be improving the team’s recruiting, but this team is just in above its head right now. The schedule is slightly easier at the beginning of the year, but it gets very tough during league play. With so many question marks at the skill positions, I’m predicting a 2-10 campaign in Boulder.
2012 Schedule
9/1/12 TBD JACST
9/8/12 TBD AUB
9/15/12 7:00 PM ET @TROY
9/22/12 TBD SALB
10/6/12 TBD @KENTY
10/13/12 TBD TENN
10/20/12 TBD MTENN
10/27/12 TBD @ALAB
11/3/12 TBD TXAM
11/10/12 TBD @LSU
11/17/12 TBD ARK
11/24/12 TBD @MISS
