The Colorado Buffaloes surprised people with a positive and overachieving 2020 college football season. Yet, one of the cautionary notes about that 2020 season, if you remember, was that the Pac-12 shortened its season in the pandemic. The conference didn\u2019t begin its season in 2020 until early November. Teams in the Pac-12 played only six games while teams in other conferences played nine to 11 games. Colorado did well in its shortened 2020 season, but it was a shortened season in which other Pac-12 programs were severely disrupted and knocked off course by the pandemic. As the 2021 season arrived, Colorado had reason to be optimistic about the road ahead, given the events of 2020, but as it turned out, the pandemic was more significant for how it negatively affected a bunch of Pac-12 schools in 2020. Colorado\u2019s apparent progress was not as real, substantial, or sustainable as first thought. The Buffaloes plummeted to the bottom tier of the Pac-12 and struggled throughout the season. The 2020 campaign was a mirage. The 2021 season revealed the true nature of the program, and it was not a very pretty picture at all. The Buffaloes hit rock bottom, and now they have to pick themselves off the mat and try to regain what they lost last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Key Personnel Lost<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Brenden Rice, the son of legendary pro football superstar Jerry Rice of the San Francisco 49ers, went to Colorado as a wide receiver. However, he has transferred to USC to join Lincoln Riley and the Trojans\u2019 new-look offense. Colorado will need to replace Rice and find a way to develop a passing game which was a constant deficiency in 2021. The Buffaloes do not have a lot of depth on their roster, so any transfer out of the program magnifies their limitations heading into the new season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Important Incoming Freshmen<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Linebacker Aubrey Smith, safety Dylan Dixson, and linebacker Shakaun Bowser are some of the better recruits head coach Karl Dorrell was able to bring to Boulder in the offseason. They will be needed this year, given that USC, UCLA, and Utah \u2013 three of Colorado\u2019s chief competitors in the Pac-12 South Division \u2013 are all expected to have high-octane offenses which can attack defenses on various levels from all spots on the football field. Colorado has to develop its offense, but the defense has to be able to stand in the arena and hold up under immense pressure against the elite offenses elsewhere in the division. It could get very ugly if Colorado\u2019s defensive freshmen aren\u2019t able to make meaningful contributions in their first season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Key Position Battles<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Colorado has no shortage of huge position battles. Quarterback, offensive line, receiver, and defensive line are all hugely important position groups for a team which struggled massively in each of those areas last year. The Buffs need to see significant improvement and growth at those four positions. Otherwise, 2022 will be as bad as 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biggest Offseason Goal(s)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The internal operations of Colorado football came under immense scrutiny last year. Karl Dorrell\u2019s leadership of the program has been questioned. Players and coaches were not happy last season. There was a lot of dissatisfaction in Boulder. Getting everyone on the same page, creating a positive atmosphere and belief in what the coaching staff is doing, is the first goal. Colorado can\u2019t improve unless or until that basic goal is met.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Colorado Buffaloes surprised people with a positive and overachieving 2020 college football season. Yet, one of the cautionary notes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":6723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaaf"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22911"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22930,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22911\/revisions\/22930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}