For the first time in four years, the Colorado Buffaloes are in the College Football Playoff rankings.
On Tuesday night, the undefeated Buffs (4-0, 3-0 Pac-12) moved into the latest CFP rankings, at No. 21.
It’s Colorado’s first CFP ranking since 2016, when it was ranked six times, including No. 10 in the final rankings.
The Buffs are one of just two Pac-12 teams in the CFP Top 25, joining No. 15 Southern California (4-0, 4-0). CU is also No. 21 in the Associated Press poll and No. 22 in the Amway Coaches’ poll.
“They’ve been talked about in the past because they were off to a 3-0 start,” CFP committee chair Gary Barta said of the Buffs. “They beat Arizona (last week), and obviously very impressed with (running back Jarek) Broussard and running for over 300 yards.”
Barta added that the Buffs are “a little bit more one-dimensional than USC offensively, so maybe that was one of the difference makers.”
The committee was also impressed with USC’s 38-13 win against Washington State on Sunday – the most dominant win either team has had this season.
USC needed last-minute comebacks to win its first two games, against Arizona State and Arizona, but has dominated in its last two games, beating Utah, 33-17, and Washington State.
CU and USC are the only undefeated teams in the Pac-12, but won’t get a chance to settle the South division title on the field. Their Nov. 28 matchup was canceled because of COVID-19 issues at USC. Both are still in contention for the division title, but USC is in the driver’s seat.
CU hosts Utah (1-2, 1-2) on Friday night, while USC visits UCLA (3-2, 3-2) on Saturday. If both the Buffs and Trojans win, USC will take the South title because of its 4-0 record vs. the division; CU would be 3-0.
The Buffs can win the division with a win against Utah and a USC loss to UCLA.
The top six in the CFP rankings did not change from last week, with Alabama at No. 1, followed by Notre Dame, Clemson, Ohio State, Texas A&M and Florida. Rounding out the top 10 is Iowa State at No. 7, Cincinnati at No. 8, Georgia at No. 9 and Miami at No. 10.
Another honor for Landman
On Tuesday, Buffs linebacker Nate Landman was named the Bednarik Award Player of the Week, honoring the nation’s top defensive player for last week’s games.
Landman had 17 tackles, three tackles for loss and a sack in the Buffs’ 24-13 win at Arizona on Saturday. A week ago, Landman was named the Bronko Nagurski national defensive player of the week.
He is just the second CU player ever to earn back-to-back national player of the week honors, joining quarterback Kordell Stewart, who was honored after the first two games of the 1992 season.
Landman has more national player of the week honors this month than CU’s had has a program in the previous 12 seasons combined (one, Steven Montez in 2016).
Room to grow
Dorrell said running back Jarek Broussard is about 90-95 percent healthy after returning from two ACL tears this season. Running backs coach Darian Hagan said Broussard needs to get in better shape “so he can finish runs.”
Remarkably, the Buffs believe the sophomore running back has more potential in his 5-foot-9, 185-pound body than he’s shown this season – and that’s despite having more rushing yards (733) through the first four games than anyone in CU history.
“He hasn’t even scratched the surface of the ceiling,” Hagan said.
Broussard, who is second in the country with 183.25 yards per game, had a career-high 301 yards against Arizona. Hagan was impressed, saw potential for even more.
“A couple of times he missed reads,” Hagan said. “His eyes were in the wrong spot, but I just tell him, ‘You’ve got to stay true to your foundations, stay true to the fundamentals that I teach you and you’ll be fine.’ A couple times he got lazy with his eyes and he missed big runs, so he probably could have had way more yards than he finished with.”
Coaches will always look for better in their players, but Hagan couldn’t be much happier with Broussard’s performance this season.
“He’s playing with extreme confidence, he knows what he’s doing, and he’s doing it fast,” Hagan said.
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