Colorado-Nebraska Notes
November 26, 2010 | Football
Quickly Colorado finishes the 2010 season with a 5-7record, with an 0-3 mark against ranked opponents; just the fifth season in the last 23 that CU did not beat at least one ranked team ... The Buffaloes are now 6-7 in regular season finales when needing a win to become bowl - eligible (1-4 versus Nebraska) ... Colorado finished 60-60 all-time in Big 12 Conference league games, officially bidding the league goodbye in football today ... CU has now lost a school-record 17 consecutive road games, ending Big 12 play by dropping its last 13 conference games away from home (both school records) ... Colorado's streak of scoring in 12 straight quarters came to an end when CU didn't score in the first stanza today ... Not including center snaps (which four players did), CU only had five players touch the football in the first half: Stewart (14 carries, one lateral), Hawkins (8 passes), Walters (1 reception), Jaffee (1 KOR) and J.Smith (1 PBU) ... CU had one sack this afternoon (Forrest West), giving the Buffs at least one in 30 of the last 31 games, and 34 for the year (including four for zero, NFL style, which CU has always counted), the most since the 1995 team racked up 37 sacks ... The Buffs allowed 40 or more points in a game this year four times, the most since five in 2003 (all those were in a row).
CAREER FROSH TACKLE HIGHS-CB Terrel Smith (11 UT, 6 AT-17) and ILB Liloa Nobriga (7 UT, 7 AT-14) recorded career highs-Smith's 17, if it holds up under coaches' video review, will set a CU true freshman as it would top the 15 J.J. Billingsley had against San Diego State in 2002; it would tie the overall frosh mark of 17 by Matt Russell at Oklahoma State in 1993.
THE O-LINE-Colorado's offensive line allowed no sacks today (second time this year), but dating back to last year's NU game, allowed Nebraska's renowned defense just one sack (and that was on an intentional grounding call where the ball was tipped).
TB RODNEY STEWART (20-88, 0 TD) He finished the season with 1,318 yards on the year, the fifth highest singleseason total in CU history and he most since Chris Brown had 1,744 in 2002. His 88 yards enabled him to pass Hugh Charles (2,659) and Brown (2,690) into fifth place on CU's all-time rushing yards list, as he will enter his senior year with 2,744 (the third most yards by a CU junior, behind Rashaan Salaam and Chris Brown, who both left early for the NFL). -Stewart finished the year with 290 carries, second only to Salaam's 298 in 1994.
QB CODY HAWKINS (26-10-2, 163, 2 TD) He earned the last two major records within his grasp, moving into first all time in passing yards (7,409) and completes (667), overtaking Joel Klatt in both (7,375, 666). (Some have asked about including bowl stats, which CU does not; if we were to do, Hawkins had 7,731 yards, while Klatt had 7,708). He also finished first in attempts (1,214), touchdowns (60) and interceptions (41) and finished second in total offense (7,250; he passed Klatt, 7,245, into second but was well behind Kordell Stewart's 7,770).
WR SCOTTY McKNIGHT (3-10, 0 TD) He fell short in his bid to take over CU's all-time lead in receiving yards, finishing his career in third place with 2,521, in the shadow of the top two (Michael Westbrook 2,548 and Rae Carruth 2,540). He did finish as CU's all-time leader in receptions (215) and receiving touchdowns (22). He extended his NCAA-active best regular season streak to 48 games with at least one reception (every game of his career, 49 including postseason); he became just the 10th player in NCAA history to catch at least one pass in every game he played in his career (and the sixth to do so without missing any games due to injury). His fourth quarter fumble technically was the second of his career; his other was against CSU last year on a play the Big 12 Conference later informed the school was ruled incorrectly snd should have been an incomplete pass.
WR PAUL RICHARDSON (2-62, 1 TD) He set the record for the most receiving yards in a season by a freshman (true or redshirt) when he caught a 50-yard pass for a TD in the third quarter, and then added 12 more to give him 514 for the year; that broke McKnight's record of 488 in 2007. It was his fourth play for over 50 yards, the first Buff to have four over 40 yards since WR Derek McCoy had four in 2003. The top single-season receiving yard marks by freshmen in CU history (*-redshirt frosh):
Season Player Pos No Yards Avg. TD
2010 Paul Richardson WR 34 514 15.1 6
2007 *Scotty McKnight WR 43 488 11.3 4
1982 Chris McLemore TB 39 337 8.6 0
1991 *Michael Westbrook WR 22 309 14.0 5
COLORADO INJURIES C Mike Iltis (knee, re‐evaluation Saturday); CB Arthur Jaffee (neck sprain).
