Colorado Buffaloes Football: Monday Notebook

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1. Colorado had its worst performances of the season in several categories. According to PFF, the Buffs had its worst individual game grades in the following categories: overall offense, pass blocking, rushing, run blocking, overall defense, run defense, and overall team grade.

2. Offensive player grades were awful. The Buffaloes had just one player who saw more than 20 snaps on Saturday and had a grade higher than 70 -- Brady Russell (73.2).

3. Buffs were obviously missing Shenault. Through six games this season, Shenault has averaged 89 yards after catch per game. The screen game is an important part of CU's offense, and without Shenault, the short passing game wasn't as good. CU had just 57 yards after catch as a team against the Huskies.

4. Tough outings for Wigley and Udoffia. Washington threw at the Buffs' cornerbacks a combined seven times and completed all seven passes for 82 yards and a touchdown. Wigley had a defensive grade of 51.5 and Udoffia's was 63.2. On the bright side, UW only completed 1-of-8 passes on safety Nick Fisher, and the Huskies could not complete any passes on Chris Miller, going 0-of-2.

5. Here's Steven Montez's passing chart.

WR Daniel Arias became the 16th known player in CU history to score a touchdown on his first career touch when he caught a 37-yard TD pass from Steven Montez. Four of those 16 are on this current CU team (all WRs: Jay MacIntyre, Kabion Ento and Laviska Shenault, though Shenault’s came on a fumble return on a punt).

Three freshmen caught their first passes against Washington; in addition to Arias, WR Dimitri Stanley and TE Brady Russell did so as well.

CU started five freshmen against UW: LE Israel Antwine, CB Chris Miller, C Colby Pursell, LT William Sherman and WR Dimitri Stanley. That’s the most since Oct. 10, 2015, when six started at Arizona State (ILB Rick Gamboa, TE Dylan Keeney, RT John Lisella, WR Jay MacIntyre, CB Isaiah Oliver and WR Lee Walker.

Colorado -24 vs Oregon State

Utah -10 vs UCLA

Stanford -3.5 vs WSU

Washington -10.5 vs Cal

Oregon -20.5 vs Arizona

Pac-12 North

Team, Overall record, conference record

Washington (6-2, 4-1)

Washington State (6-1, 3-1)

Stanford (5-2, 3-1)

Oregon (5-2, 2-2)

California (4-3, 1-3)

Oregon State (1-6, 0-4)

Pac-12 South

Utah (5-2, 3-2)

USC (4-3, 3-2)

Colorado (5-2, 2-2)

UCLA (2-5, 2-2)

Arizona (3-5, 2-3)

Arizona state (3-4, 1-3)

Pac-12 schedule this weekend

Utah @ UCLA (Thursday, 8:30 MT ESPN)

Oregon State @ Colorado (1:00 MT Pac-12 Network)

Arizona State @ USC (1:30 MT ABC/ESPN2)

Washington @ Cal (4:30 MT FS1)

Washington State @ Stanford (5 MT Pac-12 Network)

Oregon @ Arizona (8:30 MT ESPN)

Every school in the South already has at least two losses. There is probably even a scenario where Arizona State, currently at 1-3 in conference, could still win the division, although it's very unlikely.

At 2-2 in conference, the Buffs are very much in the mix for the South crown. Of course, USC has the head-to-head advantage as they knocked off the Buffs, but CU has the tiebreaker over the now surging UCLA Bruins and have a huge tilt against Utah in November.

Colorado will also need to take care of business against Oregon State, Cal, Washington State, and Arizona. The Pac-12 South is a very close race; the winner of it could have three losses and could be decided by a three-way tiebreaker. It's going to be a crazy November.