Tuesday Buffs Bits: CU Wideouts Vs. CSU DBs An Intriguing Matchup

BOULDER — One matchup that will have everybody's eye in Friday night's Rocky Mountain Showdown will be Colorado's veteran receiving corps against a CSU secondary that starts a pair of sophomores, including one converted wide receiver.

The Rams do have a pair of relative veterans in senior cornerback Kevin Nutt Jr. (12 career starts) and sophomore safety Jamal Hicks (six starts). But they are paired with sophomore Anthony Hawkins (first career start at corner last week) and senior safety Jordan Fogal (first career start last week).

The Buffs, meanwhile, bring a veteran receiving corps into the game, a group that includes seniors Shay Fields, Devin Ross and Bryce Bobo, along with junior Jay MacIntyre. Together, those four represent not only 82 career starts, but they have also combined to catch 31 passes for 444 yards in their careers against the Rams, along with a pair of touchdowns.

Fields is the Buffs' active leader in games against CSU, with 14 catches for 204 yards and a touchdown in games against CU's in-state rival. Ross has caught 10 for 133 and a touchdown while Bobo has 5 for 99 and MacIntyre 2 for 8.

The Rams' secondary was by no means dominant in Colorado State's 58-27 opening win over Oregon State. The Beavers finished with 304 yards and two touchdown passing — but the Rams also picked off three OSU passes, including one that linebacker Tre Thomas returned for a touchdown.

That performance was enough to earn a warning from Colorado State head coach Mike Bobo, who noted that Oregon State left some big plays on the field when quarterback Jake Luton overthrew some wide open receivers.

"There are a lot of bad things from the field where they didn't hit open receivers," Bobo said. "Colorado's looking at it and is like, 'We're going to have a chance to hit this pass here, work this seam here, work this coverage here.' We've got to get it corrected. Just because we had five turnovers last week doesn't mean we're going to go out and create any turnovers this week. We have to correct some things defensively, offensively and special teams, because they're going to take advantage of that."

What Bobo saw in the game film hasn't gone unnoticed in Boulder. Tuesday afternoon, Buffs quarterback Steven Montez created a minor social media stir when asked about CSU's defense. But Montez only provided an honest answer — the way most quarterbacks would respond about the vast majority of defenses in the nation.

"We can definitely do some stuff with our receivers and our run game that can hurt the Rams defense," Montez said. "I think that there are some weaknesses in that defense and we're going to try to exploit them as best as we can."

Montez's statement wasn't news to the Rams. They are well-aware the Buffs believe they can throw the ball against them.

"Last year they did get a few over the top, and they're thinking they're going to be able to come here and do it again when we go down to Denver," Nutt said. "I believe the secondary we have now is better than what we had in past years, and we have a challenge to face because they're going come into the game and try to go over the top and see what we can do with this new secondary."

NEW DEFENDERS: While the Buffs do have plenty of veterans on their defense, they also have some newcomers in the lineup, as well as three new defensive coaches. Senior safety Afolabi Laguda, one of the returning veterans, spent much of fall camp answering questions about how the Buffs would fill the holes — and he answered a few of those questions again in Tuesday's press conference.

"Faces may change but expectations never do," Laguda said. "Our expectations are high, we're definitely ready to go. Our coaches are on board and we're on board with our coaching staff. They're going to lead and we're going to follow right behind them. We're all going to go to war together."

McCARTNEY READY TO RETURN: Buffs senior linebacker Derek McCartney will play in his first game since the third week of last season, when he suffered a season-ending knee injury at Michigan.

"I'm really excited," McCartney said. "I'm just going to be thanking the Lord because I know that not a lot of people get the opportunity I get. When I got it taken away, I realized it even more. I'm just thankful for the opportunity to come out and play again with my teammates."

While Friday will be his first game in almost a year, it's been much longer than that since McCartney played in Folsom Field — not since November 2015, to be exact. McCartney played in last year's opener against Colorado State, but didn't play the following week in CU's home opener against Idaho State, as he rested a sore knee. He was injured the following week at Michigan, meaning his last game at Folsom was CU's November 2015 game against USC.

NOBODY TAKING RAMS LIGHTLY: CU head coach Mike MacIntyre stressed that the Buffs have never taken the Rams lightly, and have been preparing throughout the summer for a quality team.

"Our guys have been watching the film," MacIntyre said. "They saw the plays they made last year at the end of the year. We watched our game and then watched how they improved as the year went along. That just put a stamp on it that they are a good football team, they can make plays and they're really powerful offensively. Defensively, it looks like they improved there also. Our guys understand how good they are. In no shape or form will they take CSU lightly, even if they wouldn't have had that game. It's such a good rivalry game with a lot of intensity involved in it. You've always got to come ready to play."

MAC ON RIVALRY: Every year, MacIntyre is asked whether he thinks the game is a true "rivalry." Every year, he has basically the same answer.

Yes. It's a rivalry.

"I've said for a long time, it's a 365-day rivalry," MacIntyre said. "I saw a guy the other night and he showed me a picture of an outfit that he had to wear to work and he said, 'Coach, I don't want to have to wear this outfit again. I had to wear it in 2014.' You have little things like that, little ribbings. I even had one person who lived in Fort Collins and every time CSU beat CU, they'd get letters about going to a funeral from a bunch of friends. It's one of those things that reverberates throughout the state. You've got side things like that that make it more of a rivalry. I think it makes it cool and fun. That's why there'll be 75,000 people there. They're excited about watching it happen."

TICKET COUNT: By mid-Tuesday afternoon, CU had more than 33,500 tickets out for the game while CSU was near 30,500.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu