7/31/2019 CSU GameDay: Colorado St. vs. Colorado

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GameDay

CSU (0-0)

SCHEDULE

Today vs. C olorado ( Denver) 2 p .m.

Sept. 8 NORTH D AKOTA S TATE 5 p .m.

Sept. 15 at San Jose State 6 p.m.

Sept. 22 UTAH STATE 5 p.m.

Sept. 29 at Air Force noon

Oct. 6 FRESNO STATE 5 p.m.

Oct. 13 at San Diego State 5 p.m.

Oct. 27 HAWAII 5 p.m.

Nov. 3 at Wyoming 2:30 p.m.

Nov. 10 UNLV 5 p.m.

Nov. 17 at Boise State 1:30 p.m.

Nov. 24 NEW MEXICO 5 p.m.

TEAM STATISTICS

2011 season CSU opponent

First downs 220 251

Avg. time of possession 30:25 29:35

Avg. yards pergame 351.4 413.2

Avg. rushingper game 166.8 233.7

Avg. passing pergame 184.6 179.6

Sacked/yards lost 35-224 26-139

Completions/attempts 208/334 181/293

ompletion percentage 62.3 61.8

ntercepted 14 8

unting avg. 43.5 4 4. 8

enalties/yards 82/729 66/676

umbles/lost 21/12 21/14

COLORADO (0-0)

SCHEDULE

Today vs. CSU in Denver 2 p.m.

Sept. 8 SACRAMENTO S TATE 1 p.m.

Sept. 15 at Fresno State 6 p.m.

Sept. 22 at Washington State TBA

Sept. 29 UCLA TBA

Oct. 11 ARIZONA STATE 7 p.m.

Oct. 2 0 at S outhern C alifornia TBA

Oct. 27 at Oregon TBA

Nov. 3 STANFORD TBA

Nov. 10 at Arizona TBA

Nov. 17 WASHINGTON TBA

Nov. 23 UTAH 1 p.m.

TEAM STATISTICS

2011 season CU opponent

First downs 241 307

Avg. timeof possession 31:05 28:55

Avg. yards pergame 346.3 439.3

Avg. rushingper game 108.7 183.9

Avg. passingper game 237.6 255.4

Sacked/yardslost 31/216 32/189

Completions/attempts 250/450 271/414

Completion percentage 55.6 65.5

Intercepted 11 7

Puntingavg. 41.1 45.8

Penalties/yards 103/866 87/923

Fumbles/lost 18 /8 20/ 8

PASSING com. att. yards TDs int.

P.Thomas 161 261 1,607 7 8

RUSHING no. yards avg. TDs

Nwoke 200 1,130 5.7 9

RECEIVING no. yards avg. TD

C.Gillmore 45 468 10.4 4

OFFENSIVE STARTERS

Pos no. player ht. wt. yr.

QB 18 Garrett G rayson 6-2 215 So.

RB 6 Chris Nwoke 6-0 216 Jr.

WR 9 Marquise Law 6-4 215 Sr.

WR 24 Do miniqu e Vin son 6 -0 175 Sr.

HB 30 Jake Levin 6-2 212 Jr.

TE 10 Crocket t Gillmore 6 -6 2 53 J r.

LT 77 Joe C aprioglio 6- 6 315 Sr.

LG 75 Brandon H aynes 6-3 300 Jr.

C 70 Weston R ichburg 6- 4 297 Jr.

RG 64 Jordan G ragert 6- 4 300 Jr.

RT 78 Jared Biard 6-7 315 Jr.

DEFENSIVE STARTERS

Pos. no. player ht. wt. yr.

LE 57 John Froland 6-5 260 Jr.DT 65 Alex Tucci 6-3 300 So.

DT 47 Zach Tiedgen 6-4 265 Sr.

RE 56 Shaquil Barrett 6-2 250 Jr.

SLB 31 Cory James 6-0 235 Fr.

MLB 43 James S kelton 6-2 2 30 Sr.

WLB 37 Aaron Davis 6-0 215 So.

LCB 23 Bernard B lake 6- 0 175 So.

RCB 5 Momo Thomas 5-9 185 Sr.

SS 16 Trent M atthews 6-3 2 10 Fr.

FS 12 Austin Gray 6-3 208 So.

PASSING com. att. yards TDs int.

Hansen 231 412 2,883 20 11

RUSHING no. yards avg. TDs

Stewart 189 854 4.5 4

RECEIVING no. yards avg. TD

Stewart 45 571 12.7 0

OFFENSIVE STARTERS

Pos. no. player ht. wt. yr.

QB 4 Jordan Webb 6-1 205 Jr.

TB 26 Tony Jones 5-7 190 So.

FB 47 Alex Wood 6-2 245 Jr.

WR 87 Tyler M cCulloch 6 -5 210 So.

WR 22 Nelson Spruce 6-2 195 Fr.

TE 44 Nick Kasa 6-2 260 Sr.

LT 59 David B akhtiari 6- 4 295 Jr.

LG 71 Alexander L ewis 6 -6 2 85 So.

C 55 Gus Handler 6-3 295 Jr.

RG 52 Daniel M unyer 6-2 295 So.

RT 75 Jack Harris 6-5 305 Jr.

DEFENSIVE STARTERS

Pos. no. player ht. wt. yr.

LE 56 Juda Paker 6-3 250 So.DT 83 Will Pericak 6-4 285 Sr.

NT 99 Nate Bonsu 6-1 280 Jr.

RE 9 6 Chid era U zo -Dirib e 6 -3 250 Jr.

SLB 31 Jon Major 6-2 235 Sr.

MLB 3 Doug Rippy 6-3 245 Sr.

WLB 1 Derrick Webb 6-0 230 Jr.

LCB 2 Kenneth C rawley 6 -1 170 Fr.

RCB 20 G reg H end er so n 5 -11 185 S o.

SS 41 Terrel Smith 5-9 190 Jr.

FS 7 Ray Polk 6-1 205 Sr.

COLORADOSTATE COLORADO

at

WHEN: 2 P.M. TODAY TV: FX RADIO: KLZ(AM 560), KCOL(AM 600),KOA(AM 850)

PLAYER TO WATCH

#6Name: Chris NwokePosition: Running backBio: Juniorfrom HighlandsRanch ranfor 1,130 yards andnine TDsas a part-time starterlast year.

PLAYER TO WATCH

#4Name: JordanWebbPosition: QuarterbackBio: Transfer from Kansasthrew for1,884yards and12touchdowns last season fora2-10 Jayhawks team

2011 I NDIVIDUAL L EADERS 2011 I NDIVIDUAL L EADERS

PreviewbyPositionBY KELLY LYELL

CSU CU

MY PICK

Miles Blumhardt Dan Watson Kelly Lyell Jeff Bersch Stephen Meyers Matt Stephens Kevin Lytle

CSU vs.CU CSU 21-20 CSU 24-21 CSU 20-17 CSU 20-17 CU 17-14 CSU 17-14 CU 24-17

Wyoming at Texas TEXAS 35-13 TEXAS 20-19 TEXAS 45-17 TEXAS 41-17 TEXAS 37-10 TEXAS 45-17 TEXAS 4-14

Idaho State at AirForce AIR FORCE 45-17 AIR FORCE 43-13 AIR FORCE 42-7 AIR FORCE 28-10 AIR FORCE 38-9 AIR FORCE 35-3 AIR FORCE 31-10

Alabama vs. Michigan ALABAMA 24-13 MICHIGAN 2-19 ALABAMA 17-14 ALABAMA 24-20 ALABAMA 24-14 MICHIGAN 21-17 ALABAMA28-24

Southern Miss. at Nebraska NEBRASKA 35-21 NEBRASKA 44-20 NEBRASKA 35-10 NEBRASKA 38-14 NEBRASKA 35-20 NEBRASKA 28-14 NEBRASKA 35-21

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QUARTERBACK

The edge here goes to Colorados Jordan Webb,based on experience alone. The junior transferstarted19 games the past two years for Kansas,

while his CSU counterpart, sophomore GarrettGrayson, was forced into action late in the yearand now is adjusting to a new coach.

RUNNINGBACKS

CSUs Chris Nwoke came on strong late last season,finishing the year with 1,130 yards despite splittingcarries with graduated senior Raymond Carter.CUs top returnee is Tony Jones, who ran for 297yards and two TDs while backing up senior Rod-ney Stewart. CSU has a clear advantage.

RECEIVERS

Had CU not lost Paul Richardson for the season toa knee injury, the Buffs would be tough here.Instead, theyve lost their top seven receivers fromlast season. CSU, on the other hand, has its topfour back, led by tight end Crockett Gillmore andhis 45 catches for 468 yards and four TDs.

OFFENSIVELINEBoth teams have two full-time starters back fromlast season and others returning from injuries. CSUgets the edge here, thanks to the leadership ofcenter Weston Richburg and run blocking thathelped the Rams average 166.8 rushing yards agame last year to CUs 108.7.

SECONDARY

New CSU coach Jim McElwain expects his second-ary to be a strength this year, with two startersreturning and some talented youngsters. But itshard to give the Rams an edge over a CU unit thatwill start a true freshman at one corner but hasstarters back at the other three spots.

LINEBACKERS

Both teams look pretty good here, but Im givingthe nod to a four-man CSU unit led by ShaquilBarrett and James Skelton, who were the Ramstop two tacklers a year ago. Senior Jon Major, the

starting strong-side linebacker, was the Buffs toptackler last year.

DEFENSIVELINE

CSU took a tremendous hit with the expulsion ofsacks leader Nordly Capi for an incident this springand transfer of its other starting end from lastseason, C.J. James. CU, led by talented seniortackle Will Pericak and his 64 tackles last season,has the advantage.

SPECIALTEAMS

With both its kicker (Will Oliver) and punter (Dar-ragh ONeill) back, CU gets the edge here over aCSU team that is breaking in a new kicker in soph-omore Jared Roberts, a former walk-on who wonthe job over two others in fall camp.

COACHING

CUs Jon Embree has a year as a head coach under

his belt now, but it came during a 3-10 season.CSUs Jim McElwain is running his own programfor the first time but learned a lot from Nick Sa-ban while serving as Alabamas offensive coor-dinator the past four years. Call it a toss-up.

INTANGIBLES

Both teams are coming off disappointing three-win seasons. CSU has more experience comingback, particularly at the skill positions and alwaysplays this game with a bit of a chip on its shoulder.

FINALANALYSIS

McElwain has given the Rams a strong dose ofwhat they lacked most the past few years, confi-dence. And that should be just enough to get theRams over the hump in what should be anothertight game between the two rivals.

Finally, this days come. Were hungry, excited.Were ready to

go out there and show the world what weve been workingon.CHRISNWOKE, CSU running back

D , , , . .

nati in 2001, Baylor in 2002, Michi-gan State from 2003-06 and NewMexico in 2007-08.

Its hard to tell what were go-ing to get, CU defensive tackleWill Pericak said earlier thisweek.It couldbe some Alabama stufforUtah State theyre kind of simi-lar, so we expect a little bit of that.Really, though,they couldcomeoutwithanything,soweregettingpre-pared for anything.

Nwokemostlikelywillbethefo-cal point of what sophomore quar-terback Garrett Grayson said is anoffense that wants to establish it-self as a physical downhill run-ningteam thatwill punishoppo-nents. Grayson was forcedinto ac-tion as a true freshman late lastseason when starter Pete Thomaswentdownwitha knee injuryintheeighthgameof a 3-9season.He hasmade steady progress as a passer,McElwain and quarterbacks coachBilly Napier said, and he has theathletic ability to make plays withhis feet. He had 193 rushing yardslast season, even after subtractingthe eight carries for minus-43yards that were theresultof sacks.

McElwain said after practiceWednesday the progression ofreads and check-downs in the pass-ing game aresimilar towhat Gray-son learned underFairchild, allow-ing the quarterback to basicallypick up where he left off when thenew coaching staff arrived lastwinter. AndGrayson,who complet-ed43 of77 passesfor542 yardsandtwo touchdowns, with six intercep-tions, last year, has his top four re-ceivers from last season back.They are led by junior tight endCrockett Gillmore (45 catches for468 yards and four touchdowns)andseniorwideoutLouGreenwood(26 catches for 396 yards and twoTDs).

Thequarterbackdoesnthave tomake plays as much as just man-age thegame, McElwainsaid, not-ing that its the job of the coachingstaff to put him and the rest of theoffense into plays and formationswhere theyre most likely to suc-ceed.

The defense is different, too,with the Rams switchingfrom a 4-3alignment to a 3-4 and disguisingtheir coverages much like Ala-bamas defense does, McElwainsaid. The new coach, who signed afive-yearcontract with CSU worth$1.35 million a yearwithincentivesthat could push itto $1.5 million an-nually, has gleaned bits and piecesfromeach of the half-dozen collegeprograms and one NFL team hesworkedfor inhis27 years asan as-sistant.

Im eager to show the differ-ence from last year to this year,Grayson said.

After threeconsecutive 3-9 sea-sons and a season-ending eight-gamelosingstreaklastyear, every-one else is eager to see it, too.

ShowdownContinued from Page D1

KEYSTOTHE GAME

1. Will a CSU offense that ranked

among the bottom 20 teams in thenation in scoring and among the bot-tom 15 in third-down conversions in2011 be able to sustain drives and putpoints on the scoreboard?

2. Will new CSU coach Jim McElwainand his staff be able to make good ontheir promise to put their players inpositions where they can consistentlysucceed?

3. Can junior running back ChrisNwoke pick up where he left off lastseason, when he ran for 1,130 yardswith 150 yards or more in three of finalfive games of the year?

4. Can an improved CSU secondarysuccessfully keep CUs passing game incheck?

5. And finally, will the Rams actuallywin a game for the first time since lastSeptember to snap an eight-gamelosing streak?