Wiz correspondent Greg Laughlin made the trek Friday night to snowy Boulder, Colo., where the USC Trojans squared off against the Colorado Buffaloes. Matt Barkley passed for a team-record six touchdowns as the Trojans rolled to a 42-17 victory before 50,083 at Folsom FIeld.
Now if you've never been to Boulder, your life is not complete. It's one of the most picturesque campuses in the land, as you will see from photos after the jump. To view Greg's complete gallery, click here.
New coach Jon Embree and his Colorado players will build up the frequent flyer miles in September, opening at Hawaii and closing the month at Ohio State. In between are a neutral site game in Denver against rival Colorado State and a home game California, a team that embarrassed the Buffaloes by 45 points last season.
What's it like when the new guys arrive in town? The Boulder Daily Camera was waiting at nearby Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield on Sunday night when Jon Embree and Eric Bieniemy arrived by private jet. They will be formally introduced Monday at a news conference in Boulder.
Embree, who takes over the head coaching job from the fired Dan Hawkins, is reportedly getting a five-year deal that will pay him around $1 million a year, less than the $1.4 million Colorado annually paid Hawkins.
Bieniemy, who will be offensive coordinator, also has a five-year deal that reportedly pays $500,000 a year, making him the highest-paid assistant in Colorado history.
Embree coached his final game Sunday as a Washington Redskins assistant. Bieniemy will return to his job with the Minnesota Vikings until the end of the season.
McCartney, 70, has openly lobbied to become Colorado's coach, replacing Dan Hawkins, who was fired earlier this month. It's a job McCartney held from 1982-94.
Although he was wildly successful as a coach — his Buffaloes won a share of the 1990 national championship and three consecutive Big Eight Conference titles — critics say used his position to push anti-gay and sexist agendas.
Chancellor Phil DiStefano has received 15 to 20 letters from members of the campus community who have expressed "deep concerns about Coach McCartney's candidacy," according to the Boulder Daily Camera. An email is also circulating that raises questions about McCartney's off-the-field remarks on abortion and gay rights, as well as the criminal records of his players.
"McCartney has every right to have his own beliefs," said Glenda Russell, who works as a psychologist on campus. "But he stepped over the line on a number of occasions when he used his position at the university to promulgate those beliefs and insist that other people join him in behaviors that were associated with those beliefs."
A slight chill in the air, the changing of seasons in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains and a college football game. Boulder is a great place to be on a fall afternoon, and Wiz correspondent Greg Laughlin was on hand for Saturday's Big 12 matchup between Texas Tech and Colorado, won by the Red Raiders, 27-24. View Greg's complete gallery by clicking here, and check out the video of Ralphie making the pregame run around Folsom Field at the end of this post.
The surprise entering 2010 for the Buffaloes is that Dan Hawkins is back for a fifth season as coach. Hawkins is only 16-33 at Boulder and his 2009 team suffered several embarrassing moments, starting with the coach predicting 10 victories. It became clear after Week 2 — a 54-38 loss at Toledo — that the Buffaloes weren't going to come close. They didn't, finishing with a 3-9 record. The smart money was on Hawkins getting fired, but with the Colorado athletic department deep in debt and needed nearly $3 million to buy out his contract, Hawkins was given another chance.
As a run-up to the start of the season, the Wiz will display one
poster each day until our supply is exhausted.
Then we turn it over to readers, who will vote on the poster of the
year. In the meantime, send your team's poster schedule to jayzuma (at)
gmail.com.
Last year, the site
displayed 69 posters. This is poster No. 62 for 2010. Thanks to Justin!
