The 2006 Colorado Buffaloes football team represented the University of Colorado at Boulder in the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The previous year's team won the Big 12 North Conference. That marked the fourth Big 12 North championship for Colorado in the past five years. The team has its 23rd new head coach Dan Hawkins. The Sporting News gave out the only A+ to Colorado in the category of coaching hire. The Buffaloes played their home games in Folsom Field.
They finished the season 2–10 (2–6 in the Big 12 Conference) and had some major disappointments. Mason Crosby did not perform as well as last season (19 for 27) and the Hawkins era didn't start as many had expected with his success at Boise State. The offense appeared to struggle to learn the new system and early quarterback uncertainty did not allow the team to have consistency. The defense performed excellently at times and was good overall, but without the offense producing points, Colorado would lose, though many games were close.
Schedule
Preseason
With a new head coach, a new offensive system and the loss of several key players such as Joel Klatt (QB), Joe Klopfenstein (TE), Quinn Sypniewski (TE), Lawrence Vickers (TB) and John Torp (P), Colorado faced some challenges to hang on to their Big 12 North Title. (Jeremy Bloom, listed in the 2006 NFL draft as being from Colorado had not played football for Colorado since the 2004 season and thus is not a loss for this year)
Colorado did not appear in any of the Top 25 pre-season rankings (#26 in Collegefootballnews.com), and was selected to finish third in the Big 12 North with 2 selections to finish first in the Big 12 North.
Colorado played their first Division I-AA opponent ever, Montana State, on September 2. Colorado was one of the last 9 Division I-A schools, at the time, to have never played a Division I-AA or Division II school. The California Golden Bears also lost that status in 2006. The remaining seven teams were the (Michigan Wolverines, Michigan State Spartans, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Ohio State Buckeyes, USC Trojans, UCLA Bruins and Washington Huskies).
Tyrone Henderson and Gerett Burl, starters in the 2005–06 season, were permanently released from the team prior to fall practice. Both were in CU's top 5 tacklers for last season, having started 25 games between them.
James Cox was named the starting quarterback to replace Klatt on August 20. Despite having missed most of spring practice with a broken thumb, Coach Hawkins picked the senior over juniors Brian White and Bernard Jackson saying his seniority wasn't a factor and he simply wanted the best players on the field. With one year left of eligibility, Cox has seen playing time the previous 3 seasons behind Klatt, with two starts to his credit: the 2005 Champs Sports Bowl and in 2004 against Iowa State. In the 14 games he has played in prior to the 2006 season, his stats are 42 of 79 attempts for 423 yards with 3 interception and 2 Touchdowns passing and 37 yards rushing in 20 attempts with 1 TD (5 sacks for 28 yards).
The captains for 2006 were Mason Crosby, Brian Daniels and Thaddaeus Washington.
Preseason awards See for full information on pre-season awards. Note: Only first team All-American or All-Conference listed.
Mason Crosby Lou Groza All-America (Athlon, ATS Consultants, CBS Sportsline.com, collegefootballnews.com, Lindy's Big 12 Football, Football.com, Football News, Nationalchamps.net, Phil Steele's College Football, Playboy, Rivals.com, The Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Street & Smith's) All-Big 12 Football Team (Athlon, ATS Consultants, Big 12 Summer Media Poll, CBS SportsLine.com, collegefootballnews.com, Huskers Illustrated, Lindy’s Big 12 Football, Phil Steele’s College Football, The Sporting News, Street & Smith’s, USA Today Sports Weekly) Mark Fenton Outland Trophy Rimington Trophy Lombardi Award All-America (Street & Smith's) All-Big 12 Football Team (Athlon, ATS Consultants, Big 12 Summer Media Poll, CBS SportsLine.com, collegefootballnews.com, Huskers Illustrated, Lindy’s Big 12 Football, Phil Steele’s College Football, The Sporting News, Street & Smith’s, USA Today Sports Weekly) Thaddaeus Washington Bronko Nagurski Trophy Butkus Award Lombardi Award Preseason All-Big 12 Football Team (Athlon, ATS Consultants, Big 12 Summer Media Poll, CBS SportsLine.com, collegefootballnews.com, Huskers Illustrated, Lindy’s Big 12 Football, The Sporting News, USA Today Sports Weekly)
Hugh Charles Heisman Trophy (#74 by collegefootballnews.com) Doak Walker Award Street & Smith's Big 12 Best Athlete Brian Daniels Outland Trophy All Big 12 Conference (Phil Steele’s College Football) Abraham Wright Ted Hendricks Award
Jordon Dizon Butkus Award All Big 12 Conference (Street & Smith’s) J. J. Billingsley All Big 12 Conference (Athlon, collegefootballnews.com, Lindy’s Big 12 Football, USA Today Sports Weekly) Stephone Robinson All Big 12 Conference (CBS SportsLine.com) Terrence Wheatley All Big 12 Conference (Phil Steele’s College Football)
Game summaries Montana State
Colorado's season began against Division I-AA opponent Montana State on September 2. Colorado needed to add an opponent with the schedule increase to a 12-game regular season and could not find another I-A opponent. Montana State was ranked No. 19 in the I-AA Pre-season Poll. MSU finished 7–4 in the 2005 season. Starting off with this soft opponent will allow the Buffaloes to gage how the players have adopted the new system. However, Colorado has played Montana State 3 times with the last time in 1927. MSU leads the series 2–1–0 with the series tied (1–1) in Boulder. Although the schools have not played football against each other in 8 decades, they are rivals in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association competing weekly.
Prior to this game, Colorado has won its last 20 season openers when it scores first, 4–14–1 when its opponent scores first in season openers and 73–38–5 in the 116-year history. In Boulder season openers, Colorado is 53–18–1 and 36–17 in Folsom Field. Dan Hawkins is 7–3 in season openers at the Division I-A level. Colorado coaches are 9–12–1 in their first game as head coach. The last coach to win his premiere was Rick Neuheisel, and before that was in 1932.
Colorado paid US$275,000 to Montana State for the game which showed Colorado had not yet figured out the new system. James Cox went 8–22 for 110 yards passing and Colorado had 106 yards rushing. The defense held two goal line stances to allow only field goals but the offense could not produce the needed points late in the game. Despite this limited success on defense, Freshman CB Cha'pelle Brown consistently failed to defend against the pass and Senior safety J. J. Billingsley missed too many tackles. Mason Crosby missed a 63-yard field goal that was well short. This loss extended the losing streak to 5 games.
For detailed information on the game stats see footnoteCUBuffs.com Game Stats and play-by-play summary see CUBuffs.com Play-by-Play summary.
Colorado State
The 2006 Rocky Mountain Showdown took place on September 9 at a neutral site, Invesco Field in Denver, Colorado. Colorado State University finished 6–6 in 2005. It was the 78th meeting, with the Buffaloes leading the series 57–18–2. The last ten games the Buffaloes won 7–3. They last played each other in 2005. The last four games were decided by 18 points total.
The game was broadcast on CSTV. Colorado could have lost out on US$400,000 from the Big 12 Conference since the game may not have met the classification of being nationally televised due to the limited market of CSTV. Big 12 pays its members if a televised game reaches 42 million homes. CSTV is available in 54 million homes, but only has 15–20 million subscribers. If the game meets the mark with last-minute deals with other networks, CSU is guaranteed $50,000 of the money in the contract. Failing to meet the number will not only cause the loss of money, but may affect future contracts and the future of the Rocky Mountain Showdown. On Thursday before the game, the Colorado Buffaloes announced that OLN would simulcast the show, increasing the coverage of the game.
In a surprise, Bernard Jackson got the start at quarterback (QB) instead of Cox. Cox saw limited action throughout the game. Jackson scored on a 3-yard touchdown (TD) run on a naked bootleg play to open the game and Colorado State answered later in the first quarter with their own QB, Caleb Hanie, scoring a 5-yard TD on an option play. Mason Crosby kicked a 43-yard field goal in the second quarter but the Rams then scored another TD with a 6-yard pass to TE Kory Sperry. The Buffaloes mis-managed the clock at the end of the first half and failed to get Crosby a chance at an approximately 52-yard field goal.
Crosby missed a 61-yard field goal to wind up the opening drive for the Buffaloes in the second half (he had made it when the play initially went but it was whistled dead because Colorado State had taken a timeout – it would have been the longest of his career). Colorado State's Jason Smith missed a 34-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. Colorado failed to answer the Rams in the second half. The defense played quite well, recording many sacks and limiting the Rams. The missed field goal and missed chance at a field goal along with a near perfect performance by Hanie proved costly to the Buffaloes.
Following the game, Brian White told Hawkins he was quitting the team. He intended to transfer to another school where he can receive more playing time. Tight end Patrick Devenny may move to the QB position to fill the hole for the season.
Arizona State
This was the first meeting between the two schools. Arizona State went 7–5 in 2005. The game was broadcast on TBS. Colorado's only score came on a fumble recovery deep in Arizona State territory. Colorado failed to move the ball effectively and had fumble problems throughout the game. This marks the seventh straight loss (including last season) for Colorado, which they haven't done since 1980. Jackson remained as the starting quarterback.
Georgia
This was the first meeting between the two schools. Georgia went 10–3 in 2005. The two teams are scheduled to play each other again in 2010. CU Quarterback Cox missed the game due to the death of his father. Coach Hawkins son, true freshman Cody Hawkins, was the backup to Jackson and redshirt freshman Patrick Devenny, who converted from quarterback to tight end this fall, was the emergency backup. Georgia was 3–0 and ranked No. 9 in the AP Poll and No. 7 in the Coaches Poll coming into the game. This was the first game against a SEC opponent for Colorado since 1980. Colorado has not lost 8 straight games since the 1962–63 seasons. Ralphie is also making the trip with an ESPN producer and cameraman documenting the trip to appear on College GameDay Saturday.
The game was televised as part of the SEC syndicated package produced by Lincoln Financial Sports and was also picked up locally in the Denver/Boulder market on KTVD My20 (Comcast's Channel 3 in Denver area), KRDO-TV (Colorado Springs) and KJCT-TV (Grand Junction) also picked up the broadcasts for their markets.
Colorado lead for the entire game until Georgia backup quarterback Cox (no relation to James) came in the 4th quarter and threw two touchdown passes, the second with 41 seconds left in the game to pull out the Buffaloes upset hopes. Colorado center Mark Fenton suffered a broken fibula during the second quarter of the game. He will miss most or all of the rest of this season. Bryce MacMartin is the replacement.
Missouri
This game signaled the start of conference play for the Buffaloes. University of Missouri went 7–5 in 2005. This was the 71st meeting between the two with Missouri leading the series 36–31–3 coming into the game. However, Colorado has taken 7 of the last 10 games. They played each other in 2005 where Missouri went 7–5 that season.