After Saturday, the Odyssey can offer another piece of anecdotal evidence that climate change is a reality.
One of our senior correspondents, Matt Anctil, was rooting for his Buffs in Denver. For 57 minutes, they held 5th-ranked Texas A&M out of the end zone. Sadly for Colorado, the Aggies converted numerous third downs on the game-winning drive to escape in a 10-7 thriller.
Matt’s thoughts:
One defense was good and the other was surprisingly good. The Buffs’ linebackers were particularly excellent.
Matt lamented two missed opportunities for the Buffaloes. With 3rd and 1 from the A&M 5, the Aggies’ stout D stopped 2 runs to take over on downs. Cole Becker missed a makeable field goal. Of course, A&M fans can point to Zach Calzada’s lost fumble at the Colorado goal line.
Colorado’s QB, Brendon Lewis, is a dual threat who is more proficient as a runner. Matt believes that the Buffs would have had more luck in the 2nd half with more rushing attempts.
After Calzada come on in relief of injured Haynes King, he finally came alive on the game-winning drive. His pass to Isaiah Spiller in the corner was both accurate and well conceived as Spiller was too athletic for the CU linebacker in coverage.
Matt did not feel that the combination of the 90-degree heat and the altitude had an impact on the outcome.
While Colorado had to be bitterly disappointed that a big upset did not come to pass, Buff fans have to be pleased with their coach, Karl Dorrell. When Mel Tucker bailed for many MSU greenbacks after only 1 year in Boulder, Colorado was left holding the bag. Dorrell, the former UCLA coach, has turned out to be a very pleasant surprise, which slightly soften the hard feelings that still exist toward Tucker.
The Odyssey’s on site coverage typically is exclusively on FBS teams – the big boys. However, after no less than 6 lower-tier FCS teams toppled their FBS “big brothers” in week 1, the Odyssey decided to change its stance. One of the teams that pulled off such an upset were the UC Aggies — one of 3 Big Sky teams to beat FCS squads in week 1. Week 2 had the Aggies travelling to University of San Diego.
USD football has intrigued me for two reasons:
1) Jim Harbaugh started his coaching career at USD.
2) USD has excelled in football despite the huge handicap of offering no football scholarships. The Toreros have been frequent participants in the FCS playoff – including 4 straight years from 2016-19, when they beat two scholarship programs in the playoffs – Cal Poly and Northern Arizona.
This intrigue and the presence of the upstart Aggies prompted the Odyssey to pay a visit to the Toreros’ beautiful campus on a very warm afternoon. UC Davis was duly impressive, routing an outmanned USD squad 53-7, the worst beatdown of USD in 25 years. Former Boise State and Colorado head coach, Dan Hawkins, has found a comfortable landing spot in Davis. I was amused that after each of the Aggies’ first-half touchdowns, the Aggies went for 2. Shades of Chip Kelly during his Oregon heyday!
I noted that the ticket prices were all of $10 – $5 for kids. Refreshing! I craned my neck to look for the band at halftime. There was no marching band – just piped in music. Disappointing! The Toreros’ conference, the Pioneer League, is one where football scholarships are not offered. Before they dive into conference play, they travel to Bozeman on Saturday to play one more scholarship team – an excellent Montana State squad. After their opening 3-game gauntlet against the Big Sky, USD will be able to provide ample testimony as to Big Sky excellence.