Colorado vs. Arizona: Cliff Notes on the Buffaloes

Time to learn more about the Buffs

It’s been a remarkable turnaround season for the Colorado Buffaloes (7-2, 5-1 Pac-12) this year as they currently hold a half game lead over second place USC in the South Division. Even though the Trojans hold the head-to-head tiebreaker, courtesy of a 21-17 win in Los Angeles, Colorado still has a shot to earn its first Pac-12 Championship Game berth.

CU is on a three game win streak, fueled by a defensive unit that allowed a little over 10 points per game in that span. Offensively, the Buffaloes are led by junior tailback Phillip Lindsay, who averages 90.9 rushing yards per game. He happened to hang 219 rushing yards on Arizona State in a 40-16 blowout on Oct. 15.

Head Coach Mike MacIntyre

This season is head coach Mike MacIntyre’s fourth in Boulder and he is in the midst of guiding Colorado to its best year since joining the Pac-12. MacIntyre faced a tough road in having to completely rebuild Colorado when he took the job in 2013, fresh off a 10-2 campaign at San Jose State. Last season, the Buffaloes (like Arizona) did not have a bye and finished a grueling 4-9, including a season-opening loss to Hawaii on the road. Now Colorado is in position for a variety of bowls that include the Holiday, Alamo, Cotton or even the Rose.

MacIntyre played football at Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech. He bounced around the college ranks holding different coaching positions and then worked under Bill Parcells for three years with the Dallas Cowboys as a defensive backs coach. He returned to the college game as the Duke defensive coordinator before moving on to San Jose State.

And Twins

Starting left tackle Jeromy Irwin and starting tight end Sean Irwin are twins who are a combined 12-foot-8 and 545 pounds. The two have an older fraternal brother, John, that doesn’t play football and joined the U.S. Army.

It was a surprise to the Irwin family that they ended up with triplets because a third heartbeat never registered on the ultrasound during the pregnancy. The twins played high school football in Houston and had sights on playing together in college. The duo individually turned down scholarship offers from Arkansas and LSU to hold out for a packaged deal that led them to Colorado.

Their mom reminisces about feeding them seven pounds of meat at dinner when they were in middle school.

This Week’s Depth Chart

Colorado’s satirical depth chart before the September game versus Michigan drew high praise across the country. The weekly gag features depth chart profiles of fictional characters such as Forrest Gump, Bubba Blue, John Blutarsky, Dough Neidermeyer, Newman, and Cosmo Kramer.

This week’s depth chart lists Bugs Bunny, a three-year letterman, and redshirt freshman Roger Rabbit.

What’s in the Scrapbook?

The school formally adopted the nickname “Buffaloes” as a result of the school newspaper naming contest in 1934. A six-month old buffalo calf was donated to become a sideline fixture in 1967 and the calf was called “Rraalph” by the student body. However, upon discovery the baby buffalo was a female, she was renamed “Ralphie.”

It was a busy 13 years for the first Ralphie as she repeatedly led the football team onto the field before every game. During her time, she attended six bowl games that included the 1976 Orange bowl. In 1970, she was kidnapped by some Air Force Cadets who marched her around before a Falcon football game and stuck her between two large buns and a six-foot ketchup bottle. In 1971, Ralphie was voted Colorado’s Homecoming queen “at the height of the anti-establishment era”, according to the 2016 football media guide.

Today, Ralphie V’s team-leading charge was named best entrance in college football and the official Colorado Football twitter handle is @RunRalphieRun.

from Arizona Desert Swarm - All Posts http://ift.tt/2fL7G5k
via IFTTT