Quick Post: Thoughts on the opening day of camp

With the first full days of practice finally upon Boulder, football is officially back in business.  There is no more looking back, this is the beginning of a completely new era in Colorado football.  A new coach, a new conference, and a brutal 13-game schedule are staring the Buff in the face as they begin the final weeks of work before the season officially begins on the first Saturday in September.

After 5 years, the sun is finally starting to peek out from behind the Flatirons.  The promise of a new day devoid of back-to-back delay of game penalties, a 2-minute drill that looks like a Sunday croquet game, and special teams that bring new meaning to the word 'special,' has many of the old Buff guard coming out from hiding.

It's true, the Hawk is gone, having long sense served his nefarious purpose, and he's now relegated to the television backwaters of Bristol, CT.  But does that end the long night of sub-.500 football in the Peoples Republic?  Not by a long shot.  Firing Hawk is not equivalent to waving a magic wand.  The damage done by the great Hawk will take years to recover from.

I heard CJ & Klatt yesterday say that 7-6 is a likely result from this year, as if turnarounds happen overnight.  I also noted Tyler saying that "We're going to surprise so many people."  I would love to be able to believe that, as I do recognize the talent and heart left in the squad, but I just don't see how it's possible.  It would honestly be one of the better turnarounds in recent sports memory if this team, faced with a new system and the most daunting schedule you could possibly conceive, found a way to do something the program hasn't been able to accomplish in half a decade.  But I just can't see it happening.

Yet there is hope, and reason to watch. 28 seniors, including a QB finally getting a true shot at the job, a RB on the cusp of breaking his coach's all-time rushing record, and a offensive guard, large as the surrounding mountains, who is one of, if not the best at his position, give life to the hope that this team could be something better than what history and logic would dictate.  Stranger things have happened, of course.

Give thanks, everyone: it's Buffs season once again.


Go Buffs!