On November 16th the Daily Camera sports department ran an article titled, “Buffs Clinging to Dim Hope for a Bowl Berth.” Excerpts from the article follow.
A whopping 80 bowl game spots are available this year. Of the 128 teams in the FBS, 62 teams have already earned bowl eligibility, while 34 have no chance of getting to the magic number of six wins.
Among the other 32 teams, 18 are just a win away from the six-win mark.
That leaves 14 other long shots that haven’t had good seasons to this point, yet still cling to hope.
Colorado is among the 14.
CU’s hope, however, stems from the fact that there might actually be a shortage of bowl eligible teams this season. If that’s the case, a 6-7 CU team could slip in through the back door and go bowling.
With all due respect to the players, coaches, and program – the Buffs don’t deserve a bid to a bowl. The team made progress this season, but they are a losing program that finds new and exciting ways to continuing being a losing program. It is actually sad.
At this point in the season the Buffs are 4-7. They started off the season 3-1, with wins over Massachusetts (2-8), CSU (5-5), Nicholls State (2-8), and Oregon State (2-8). Combined these four teams have won only 11 games while losing 29. Ouch!
The story gets worse.
• Massachusetts had wins over Eastern Michigan (1-9) and FIU (5-6) – total 6-15.
• CSU beat Savannah State (1-8), University of Texas San Antonio (2-8), Air Force (7-3), Wyoming (1-9), and UNLV (3-7) – total 14-39.
• Nicholls State beat Lamar (5-5) and Houston Baptist (2-8) – total 7-13.
• Oregon State beat Weber State (5-5) and San Jose State (4-6) – total 9-11.
These four schools won 11 games. Only one of their opponents had a winning season (CSU beat Air Force). The combined record of these programs was 36-78.
In other words, CU was only able to beat teams that were capable of defeating only really weak programs.
This season will cap off a decade of losing seasons, although things were only slightly better in 2005 when they were 7-6. In the past nine seasons the Buffs were 31-79.
Here’s to a better season in 2016. The athletic program need a winning football team to generate more revenue to provide greater support for the minor sports.