K-State Preview

Senior Day.  While I didn't play football at Dear Old CU, I still got a senior day on Folsom Field.  My Mom was even in town, all the way from the City of the Chi, to see my final performance on the field.  And then CU proceeded to lose 30-3 to the fucking Huskers.  My soul died a little that day.  Anyways....

It's always bittersweet to see exiting seniors take their final bow in black and gold.  It's the nature of college football, but none-the-less, you sort of grow accustomed to seeing them on the field after 4 or 5 years.  To be sure, the 15 seniors on the 2010 Colorado Buffaloes have been through some wars.  From the hollow-promise of the early days of the Hawk era, to the current transitional period, these guys have formed the back-bone of of a team that has mostly struggled..  I'm sure they would've liked to put more wins up on the board, both for their teammates and their now-departed coach, but, none-the-less, they stayed true to the CU spirit and have fought all the way.

(With his father's employment situation dealt with, and a good game under his belt, Sr QB Cody Hawkins can enjoy his Senior Day.  From: the BDC)

It'll be a special moment for those 15 guys when they make their last run out from behind Ralphie on the East side of Folsom.  They've earned, through trial and tribulations, the right to take that final run with their head held high.  Whatever happens Saturday, they did their best during their time here, and have earned the respect of the entire CU community.

--
Rawr-Rawr

(Don't for get to bring your power-towel, or Ron Prince will kill your family)

We laugh about it, but K-State has been pretty successful over the years poaching talent from the lower levels of college football.  With a quick count I found 43 guys on their roster who transferred into the program from either a Juco or another D-1 school.  It's a tradition at K-State to get whatever talent you can, and try and make the most of it, and it's not surprising that they have to go that route.  It must be difficult to beg and plead high school athletes, who have the pick of free rides to multiple schools, to come to the "Little Apple."  Let's be honest, Manhattan is a shit-hole that rivals Waco, Ames and Lubbock in horribleness.  It's a testament to Coach Snyder's recruiting abilities (and the slack admissions standards) that he gets anyone, let alone players with talent, to go there as opposed to anywhere else.

Speaking of Coach Snyder, the living dead still roams the K-State sideline.  He even has his name on the stadium, yet there he remains, coaching on in geriatric spirit.  Even a semi-forced retirement wouldn't keep the old man down, as the Ron Prince era was so awful that the University had to go crawling back to an aging legend in order to return to some semblance of respectability (sound familiar?).

(He's... just... so... old!)

Old Bill is sort of a CU bogey-man.  Besides having built the perennial door-mat Wildcats into a pseudo-national power in the late '90s, he's routinely taken joy in sticking us where it hurts.  My most vivid memory of the man is him running up the score against us in 2003 as the clock expired.  We got him back the next year, however, as "Big-play" Ron Monteilh scored the only touchdown of his career in the final seconds to beat them 38-31 on 2004's Senior Day.  Good times. 


(Suck it, Snyder!)

This year's version of the Wildcats features a powerful rushing attack lead by Senior (and Juco transfer) RB Daniel Thomas.  Thomas is a beast.  Leaping onto the scene last year, he has continued to lead the Wildcats this season by racking up nearly 1,200 yards through the first 10 games.  He gets 5.2 yards per rush, and is damn difficult to tackle.  Expect a 100+ yard day from this guy every time.  The rest of the offense features the middling quarterbacking ability of Sr QB Carson Coffman.  Coffman will try and find Sr wide-out (and Juco Transfer) Aubrey Quarles when he isn't handing it off to Thomas.  Overall, their offense is pretty solid.  Coach Snyder doesn't mess around, and he utilizes a smash-mouth football philosophy built around the talented Thomas.  They get 368 yards per game this way, and usually score over 31 points.  It's a measured, forceful attack, and one that will be difficult for a typically poor tacking CU defense to stop.

 (We'll have a devil of a time stopping Thomas)

Defensively, the Wildcats have been prone to giving up huge chunks of yardage; 436 yards per game to be precise.  The team is currently mired in a 1-3 slump after a promising start, and much of that can be attributed to defensive struggles.  Over those 4 weeks the defense has averaged giving up 511 yards per contest, and the run is highlighted by Baylor's 683 yard offensive blitz 4 weeks ago.  We should be able to move the ball against this team.  The defense is lead by Sr (transfer) DE Prizell Brown, Jr LB Alex Hrebec, and Jr DB Tysyn Hartman.

 Prediction Time

Feel free to call me intrigued.  Like most members of the CU community, my interest was piqued by the intensity shown in last weeks 34-14 win over ISU.  I haven't seen that level of passion from my CU Buffaloes in years, and obviously that has something to do with the installation of Brian Cabral as the interim head coach.  However, as coach Cabral pointed out in his Tuesday press-conference, we're not going to sneak up on K-State.  The intensity must only go up from here.  Any let down will only lead to a season killing loss.

Most exiting senior classes leave a gift to their institutions of higher learning as they exit.  In that spirit, I expect that this class will leave the gift of a 5th victory on the season, and the right to play for bowl eligability against the hated Huskers (It's hate week in 3 days, btw).  The K-State defense has struggled of late, and, if there is any continuance of the level of effort seen against ISU, we should be able to contain (not necessarily stop) Daniel Thomas.

I may be a little homer-happy after last week, but I'm going out on a limb; look for Cody to have yet another massive game, and get the 332 yards he needs to pass negative-nancy Joel Klatt in the CU record books.  CU gets a big win and we move on to the hated corn with high spirits.  CU  38 - KSU 13 (Oh, boy is that a mistake in the making).

GO BUFFS!