Colorado Buffaloes 2016 Season Preview - BionicBeard52's Dynasty

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Colorado Buffaloes 2016 Season Preview

Posted on July 7, 2016 at 02:11 PM.

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It's that time of year again as we usher in another year of Colorado Buffaloes football. This season will mark head coach Zach Fanko's 2nd season at the helm after posting a 5-7 mark in year 1.

Despite missing out on a bowl game in 2015, the Buffaloes improved immensely last year and return 16 starters from a team that lost many close games.

One of those returning starters is senior QB Sefo Liufau who had an up and down year in 2015. According to some CU coaches, Liufau has had an outstanding Summer working out and is expected to have a breakout season. If the dual-threat QB can cutdown on his turnovers then Colorado could have one of the better signal-callers in the Pac-12.

While last season's leading rusher Christian Powell is gone, senior HB Michael Adkins III returns after winning National Kick Returner of the Year in 2015. Adkins didn't get many carries last season but scored 2 TDs and averaged 4.4 yards per carry.

The strength of Colorado's team will most likely be it's defense with 2 pre-season All-American's in DE Derek McCartney and MLB Addison Gillam. McCartney, a Junior(RS), broke CU's school record for sacks in a season with 17. Meanwhile Gillam, the senior LB, led the Buffaloes in tackles with 68(13 for loss), had 2 sacks, and also had 2 interceptions. Colorado's front 7 should be among the best in the conference and the secondary is experienced as well with 2 senior corners projected to start.

So how good can Colorado be in 2016? Well a home friendly schedule that includes 8 games within the state of Colorado should help CU a lot. The toughest stretch of the season will be when the Buffaloes go on the road to face USC and Oregon before hosting UCLA all in consecutive weeks. If Colorado can come out of that with at least 1-2 wins they could be in a good position to receive an invite to their first bowl game since 2007.

Colorado Buffaloes 2016 Schedule
DATE	OPPONENT	RESULT
Aug 30	vs Colorado State (Neutral Site)
Sep 6	vs Nebraska
Sep 13	vs Kansas
Sep 20	vs California
Sep 27	at Washington State
Oct 11	at USC
Oct 25	at Oregon
Nov 1	vs UCLA
Nov 8	vs Washington
Nov 15	at Arizona State
Nov 22	vs Arizona
Nov 29	vs Utah