Colorado University Athletics
Colorado-Arizona State Notes
October 30, 2011 | Football
FIRST PAC-12 CHAMPIONS Colorado swept the Pac-12 Conference Cross Country Championships this morning here in Tempe. The men raced first, so they were the first champions in any sport in Pac-12 history; CU had 46 points, followed by Stanford (53) and Oregon (93). In the women's race, CU had 50 points, Washington 71 and Stanford 73; Oregon led CU by 14 after the second split but the Buffs blew by them down the stretch. Back in 1996, both CU teams also won the inaugural Big 12 titles.
QUICKLY Arizona State now leads the series 3-0 (all games since 2006)...Colorado has now lost 22 straight road games (23 straight out-of-state including one neutral sitethe '07 Independence Bowl)...CU has lost seven straight against ranked teams (last win: 34-30 over Kansas in 2009); the Buffs have lost 18 straight road games against ranked opponents, with the last win a 31-17 over UCLA at the Rose Bowl in 2002...Opponents have now scored touchdowns on their first possession four straight games...
CU's conversion on 3rd-&-17 at the end of the first quarter (18 yard pass from Tyler Hansen to Keenan Canty) was the longest conversion made by CU in 2011 (coming in, CU was 1-of-17 on 3rd-&-15 or longer)...Colorado committed a season-high five turnovers (after having just seven in the first eight games this year)...With DB Justin Gorman and TB Josh Ford returning kickoffs today, that brings the number of players to 13 who have done that this year (the most was 14 in 1956)...Of the 61 healthy players on the trip, 55 saw game action...ASU gained 27 yards on its last possession to finish with 522 for the game, thus CU has now
allowed 500-plus yards in four straight games for the first time in its history...CU has also allowed 30 or more points in six straight games, which last happened in 2003.
INDIVIDUAL LINER NOTES
OL Shawn Daniels saw his first action in 2011 when he appeared on the FG/PAT unit in the second quarter; he last played in the 2010 season opener against CSU when he suffered a foot injury; he had been out all of this season with a calf injury.
DB Vince Ewing also saw his first action of the year after experiencing swelling in a surgically repaired knee in August.
CB Travis Sandersfeld played for the first time since being injured in practice (leg, Sept. 13). He was credited with the forced fumble that led to Josh Moten's touchdown.
DB Justin Gorman had his first touch when he returned a kickoff in the third quarter.
CB Josh Moten's 16-yard fumble return for a touchdown was CU's first non-offensive touchdown of the season; the last fumble return for a score was by Michael Sipili last year versus Iowa State (45 yards).
WR Toney Clemons (8-97, 1 TD) now has seven career TD receptions including today's 21-yard grab; those seven have covered 202 yards, or 28.9 per. He matched his CU career best with the eight catches and was one yard shy of his yardage high (he had 8-for-98 against Texas Tech last year).
WR Logan Gray had CU career bests of four catches and 93 yards, as well as a career long play (53 yards).
TB Josh Ford saw his first extensive playing time and had career bests of 10 carries and 73 yards.
FIRST TIME STARTERS Two more players made their first career starts today: QB Nick Hirschman and DB Josh Moten; that's now 21 players making their first career starts for CU this season.
QB BREAKDOWN Nick Hirschman started the game and engineered three drives (16 snaps, 90 yards); Tyler Hansen engineered 10 drives (58 snaps, 330 yards) and piloted CU's two scoring drives.
QB TYLER HANSEN (35-22-2, 285, 1 TD) He moved into fifth place all-time on CU's passing yards list, closing the game with 4,851; he passed John Hessler (4,788) and Mike Moschetti (4,797) today. He also became just the seventh player in CU history to attain 5,000 yards of total offense, as he now has 5,231; he passed Hessler (5,064) into sixth.
COLORADO INJURIES One player injured today did not return: TB Malcon Creer (knee).