The Colorado Buffaloes (5-1, 2-1 Pac-12) head north to Seattle for a second straight Pac-12 road game against the No. 15 Washington Huskies (5-2, 3-1 Pac-12) on Saturday afternoon. Both teams are coming off a losing effort last week. The Buffs fell 30-21 to USC late Saturday night and Washington lost 30-27 in an overtime blunder against No. 12 Oregon at Autzen Stadium. The last time Colorado defeated Washington was the 1996 Holiday Bowl, a 33-21 end to the Pac-10/Big 12 matchup. Colorado makes the trip to the Emerald City for the first time in five years and just the second time in coach Mike MacIntyre’s tenure. Washington has won the past eight contests in the series, including a 41-10 thrashing of Colorado two years ago in the Pac-12 Championship. The Buffs have broken the 30-point mark only twice (1989, 1996) in 17 games of the 103-year history of the series. After a 10-7 halftime lead, the Huskies beat up the Buffs with a total of 254 rushing yards on the way to last year’s 37-10 win. Steven Montez threw two interceptions to Jordan Miller, along with a pick six to Myles Bryant on a cold, rainy night at Folsom Field. The rout wasn’t similar to the one in the championship game, but was nonetheless another methodical second half shutdown by Washington. Colorado’s loss to USC took the shine off of them being one of college football’s last undefeated teams. Although, coach Mike MacIntyre and his staff have the Buffaloes a step in the right direction after already equaling last seasons win total while firmly in line for another bowl berth. Washington came into the season as a favorite to make the College Football Playoff, but appears to be out of the running with two losses. “Their offensive line is big and powerful”, MacIntyre said about Washington this week. “The thing they do a little bit different than other teams, their tight ends are excellent blockers; that bothered us a little bit last year in the running game. So that is something we’re going to have to handle.” Washington’s offense has gone from electrifying to balanced and efficient with Bush Hamdan taking over at offensive coordinator/QB coach for Jonathan Smith, who departed for a head coaching position at Oregon State. Hamdan, a former Boise State quarterback (2005-08), started his coaching career as a graduate assistant under Dan Hawkins at Colorado in 2009. Since that time, he has coached various positions for six different schools, along with a brief stint in the NFL last year as a quarterback coach for the Atlanta Falcons. Hamdan returned to Chris Petersen’s staff after spending time as a quality control/wide receiver’s coach for two seasons in 2015 and 2016. Quarterback Jake Browning has thrown for 1,751 yards, 10 touchdowns and six interceptions thru seven games. UW’s all-time leading passer currently sits tenth in Pac-12 history with 10,855 career passing yards. Another returning starter for the Huskies is their all-time leading rusher Myles Gaskin. He’s tied for second in the nation with 139 carries for 623 yards and five touchdowns. Two of Gaskins’ career best games have come against Colorado in recent years. If healthy, he’ll be a challenge for the Buffs defense to contain after putting up 202 yards and two touchdowns in last year’s meeting. Colorado’s defense is ranked 45th against the run this year, allowing an average of 136.8 yards per game. Browning and Gaskin are a majority of why Washington is 20th in total offense, averaging 442 yards per game and 28.9 points per contest. On the other hand, Colorado’s offense is comparable to Washington’s on a couple different levels. Both have terrific talents who’re capable of morphing into game changers. What sets them apart is the Huskies stack up well with depth at every position, something Colorado hasn’t been able to rely on through the years. Steven Montez will try to overcome the struggles he was faced with last week against USC. Montez has a lot of game experience against the Huskies in the past two years, and even more film to breakdown to formulate a better strategy with Buffs QB coach Kurt Roper. Perhaps the biggest factor to CU’s overall success will be the injury report prior to game time. Explosive playmaking wide receiver Laviska Shenault Jr. (ankle) and senior Jay MacIntyre (concussion) are both doubtful to play on Saturday. They’ll have a tremendous impact on how the Buffs are preparing for Washington’s defense. If Shenault and MacIntyre aren’t able to go, Juwann Winfree and Kabion Ento will likely be replacing them in the lineup. Even without playing most of the second half vs. USC, Shenault is currently third among FBS receivers with 780 receiving yards and 11 total touchdowns. News and Notes Colorado looks to snap a 28-game losing streak on the road to ranked teams dating back to 2002. Washington is the first ranked opponent for CU this season. The Buffs are 2-18 against ranked teams in the Mike MacIntyre era. Overall, Colorado is 6-6-1 all-time in the state of Washington (4-4-1 in Seattle, 1-0 in Spokane, 1-2 in Pullman). From the desk of Dave Plati “Talk about some bizarre numbers in the CU-USC game. In the first half, just 13 out pf 73 plays were in plus territory (USC 8, CU 5); there were 45 of 145 by the end of the game (CU 27, USC 18). USC was 2-of-10 on third down, with all attempts six yards or more (six of 10-plus). CU forced three turnovers but didn’t convert any into points. USC had 16 tackles for loss, second-most ever against a Colorado team, but also had 13 penalties (for 123 yards). The Trojans gained 159 yards on four pass plays (65, 39, 28 and 27, or 39.8 per) … and gained 175 yards on its other 57 plays (3.1 per).” Obscure stat of the week: “Colorado has been pretty good thus far this season in third down defense; opponents are converting at just a 32.9 percent rate (28-of-85). But looking inside-the-numbers, foes are 9-of-12 on 3rd-&-1 (8-of-10) and 3rd-&-2 (1-of-2); they haven’t had a single 3rd-&3 try yet, thus are 19-of-73 on 3rd-&-4 or longer (26.0). In the second half, CU has stiffened even more on third down tries by the enemy: they are just 7-of-38, or 18.4 percent; CU’s three Pac-12 foes are a combined 1-of-16 after halftime with 11 straight misses going into this Saturday (6.3 percent: UCLA, 1-of-7; ASU 0-of-5, USC 0-of-4).” Colorado travels to the heart of the Pacific Northwest for their second of back-to-back Pac-12 road games against No. 15 Washington on Saturday, Oct. 20 at 1:30 p.m. MT. A total of 998 miles is the distance between Boulder, Colorado, and Seattle, Washington. When all is said and done, counting bus rides from campus to airports to hotels to stadiums, CU will have traveled just under 4,000 miles when the team returns home Saturday night. TV: Fox (National) Radio: 850 KOA (Mark Johnson and Gary Barnett) Odds: -17.5 Washington Weather: 61° partly cloudy<doc-sep>The Colorado Buffaloes (5-1) have made the trip to Seattle to take on the #15 Washington Huskies (5-2). CU is a heavy underdog at -17.5 points, but they should be competitive because of their prolific offense. If everything comes together — Steven Montez picks apart their great secondary, the defensive line shuts down Myles Gaskin, etc. — the Buffs could put together an upset bid that would vault likely them to the top of the Pac-12 standings. Colorado Buffaloes vs. Washington Huskies Saturday, October 20 | 1:30 p.m. MT Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium, Seattle, Washingon Television: Fox Internet: FOX Sports Go Mobile: FOX Sports Go Listen: AM 850 & 760 Odds: Colorado +15.5, O/U 51.5<doc-sep>UPDATE: KOA radio announced that Laviska Shenault Jr. (toe), Jay MacIntyre (concussion), Delrick Abrams and James Stefanou (groin) are out for the game against Washington. The Colorado Buffaloes (5-1) caught the injury bug last week in their loss to the USC Trojans. Now on the road against the #15 Washington Huskies (5-2), it looks like injuries will determine how competitive the Buffs can be. We have absolutely zero information on the injury report of the Buffs, but we do have Tarot cards, and this writer is willing to guess who will and won’t be available. Laviska Shenault Jr. — OUT Shenault suffered a toe injury against USC and sat out the fourth quarter. We don’t know what the toe injury is — we hear only rumors, tbh — but it seems he’s probably not going to play against Washington. Toe injuries are tedious and tend to linger, so it’s best for Viska to rest up while he can and come back only when he’s completely healthy. Travon McMillian — IN McMillian is dealing with a leg bruise also sustained last week, though we don’t know the severity. UW’s stout defensive line will be difficult to run on no matter who is out there, but McMillian stands a much better chance than backups Kyle Evans and Beau Bisharat. Hopefully he’s a go, but if not, CU will be happy to have him healthier later on. Juwann Winfree — IN Winfree hasn’t played since injuring his ankle against Nebraska on a late hit out of bounds that wasn’t called by the refs. His recovery has taken a while but it just feels like he’s going to play today. If he plays and Shenault sits, he will be the Buffs’ top receiver. Jay MacIntyre — OUT MacIntyre was under the concussion protocol after taking a nasty hit in the second quarter last week. We have no information to say whether or not he’s going to play, but if the Buffs are being safe about injuries this week, J-Mac should sit and let his brain heal. Even without Shenault (presumably), the Buffs have enough WRs (like Jaylon Jackson!) to not force MacIntyre into action. Delrick Abrams — OUT Abrams is dealing with an undisclosed injury that was suffered at an undisclosed time. He was expected to suit up, but Mark Johnson has reported that he will be out with whatever injury he sustained. JAMES STEFANOU — OUT Stefanou was also listed as out by Johnson, much to our surprise. He’s dealt with a groin issue that he picked up against Nebraska, but we don’t really know. It could be old age too, since 3-hour plane rides do sap a lot out of your body at that age.<doc-sep>
The Colorado Buffaloes are stepping their game up on the road against No. 15 Washington. A white jersey, sliver pants and gold helmet all-in-one combo moves away from a traditional or matching look for the Buffs. Colorado will take the field with the new look on Saturday afternoon (1:30 p.m. MT/ FOX). Colorado has lost eight straight vs. Washington, six of those as members of the Pac-12. This is technically the fifth time both teams are ranked before meeting each other in the all-time series. CU is No. 25 in the USA Today/ Coaches Poll and unranked in the widely-accepted AP Top 25 Poll. The prior two times were the 1996 Holiday Bowl (No. 8 CU/ No. 13 Wash) and 2016 Pac-12 Championship. (No. 4 Wash/No. 8 CU) An abundance of history between both schools going back over the past century. According to CU’s Dave Plati, “Two Washington head coaches had Colorado roots; most recently, Rick Neuheisel, who succeeded Bill McCartney as CU’s boss in 1995 and spent four years in Boulder (33-14 record) before Washington lured him away with a million dollar salary, and more importantly, a contract that he did not have at Colorado. Legendary UW head coach, the late Don James, was the late Eddie Crowder’s defensive coordinator from 1968-70 before being named head coach at Kent State in his native Ohio; that was his lone stop between CU and accepting the reins of the Huskies.” The last time Colorado beat Washington in Seattle was on Sept. 30, 1989. A 49-28 win in honor of quarterback Sal Aunese, who died during the prior week from complications due to stomach cancer. The Buffs went on to an 11-0 record before a 21-6 loss to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.