CU Buffs Football: Monday Notebook

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1. Average team grades across the board. Not only does Pro Football Focus' analytics have analytics for each player, it also has grades for various team categories. For the Buffs' most recent loss to the Arizona Wildcats, CU had a season low game grades in pass coverage (46.5), rushing (55.5), overall defense (54.6), and run defense (62.6). As a team, the Buffs also graded poor in pass protection (57.4) and pass rush (58.1). Colorado's highest team grade was passing with a 71.4 grade.

2. Offensive linemen grades were pretty bad. I think this may have been the worst overall game by OL this season according to PFF. Here are the individual offensive grades on the OL for the Arizona game: William Sherman, 64.1; Colby Pursell, 58.3; Tim Lynott, 56.2; Brett Tonz and Josh Kaiser, 62.8; Frank Fillip, 56.2; and Aaron Haigler, 51.6. Remember, anything above 80 is considered very good, above 70 is good as well, but under 70 is average, and under 60 is more along the lines of a "poor" grade.

3. Juwann Winfree was Colorado's highest graded player. Winfree was Steven Montez's favorite target on Monday night, as he caught eight pases on nine targets for 101 yards. Winfree earned an offensive grade of 75.6 on 68 snaps (PFF snap counts include penalty plays). Winfree had a 23 yards after catch and six of his receptions went for a CU first down.

4. Mekhi Blackmon played the entire game. For the first part of the season, Delrick Abrams Jr. was a staple as a starting cornerback, and Dante Wigley and Trey Udoffia split snaps for the spot opposite of him. However, Abrams has battled injury, and the Wigley and Udoffia combination hasn't exactly impressed this season. A few weeks ago, Colorado announced that Mekhi Blackmon, who was seeing some snaps on special teams, would redshirt. Well, not only is he not redshirting, he played every snap at cornerback against Arizona, while Udoffia, Abrams, and Wigley played as well. Abrams is still not 100%, and once he is, he'll likely play all the cornerback snaps as well. It does seem that Blackmon has jumped Udoffia and Wigley on the depth chart. Blackmon played 73 snaps, while Abrams, Wigley, and Udoffia saw 46, 18, and 9 snaps, respectively. As far as the grades go on these four, nothing good to report. All four graded between 58.0 and 49.0.

5. Derrion Rakestraw played admirably. The Buffs' safety saw his most action this season, as he also played every snap at free safety. He recorded 10 tackles, missed two tackles, and had a respectable tackling grade of 71.7. Rakestraw's overall defensive grade was 72.6, which was second best on the team behind Chris Mulumba at 74.4, but Mulumba played in just 22 snaps. Rakestraw had a (by far) team best in pass coverage with a grade of 75.5. Rakestraw also had a key interception on Khalil Tate.

According to ESPN's Football Power Index, the Buffaloes have a chance to win the Pac-12! Just a .1% chance, as the Buffs will need plenty of help.

Just a few weeks ago, Oregon was considered a dark horse to win the Pac-12 and a CFP contender, but now they don't have a chance to win the conference.

Washington has the best chance to win the conference, even though they have to go at Washington State in the Apple Cup on November 23, which will be easily the biggest game in the Pac-12 this season if both teams continue to win headed into the matchup.

Here's the Buffs route to winning the Pac-12 South. Just a bit of a longshot!

- O-Line Hat Trick. Colorado started three freshmen on the offensive line for the second straight game; the first time in its history was last week. The same trio started: LT Will Sherman, C Colby Pursell, RT Frank Fillip; Fillip is a true frosh.

- Busting Through. The 59-yard punt return in the first quarter by CB Ronnie Blackmon was the second-longest by a Buffalo in the last 13 seasons; Isaiah Oliver returned one 68 yards for a TD against UCLA in Boulder in 2016. It was the longest away from Boulder by a Buff since Jeremy Bloom returned one 80 yards for a TD against Oklahoma in the 2002 Big 12 Championship Game.

- Firsts/Bests:

WR Tony Brown. first career TD catch.

S Derrion Rakestraw: first career interception in his first career start.

CB Ronnie Blackmon: career long punt return (59 yards).

PK Tyler Francis: first career action.

TE Brady Russell: first career start.

INDIVIDUAL LINER NOTES

QB Steven Montez (42-27-1, 343, 3 TD, 151.7 rating; 16-(-24) rushing, 319 yards total offense) He is now tied for third all-time at Colorado with 44 touchdown passes (with Joel Klatt, 2002-05); Cody Hawkins (2007-10) and Sefo Liufau (2013-16) top the list with 60 each. With 319 yards of total offense, he has become the fifth player with 7,000 yards (7,159). It was his sixth 300-yad game this year, the 13th of his career, as he has tied Sefo Liufau for the all-time record in CU history. He has five 300-yard passing games this season, giving him 10 for his career; Liufau owns that school mark with 11. He had a streak of 82 straight passes come to an end without an interception (his third of 80-plus in his career).

WR Juwann Winfree (8-101 receiving) He had his second career 100-yard game while catching a career-high eight catches.

As the Pac-12's lone one-loss team, the Cougars are the only team with a chance to represent the conference in the College Football Playoff. They came into this past weekend as the No. 8 ranked team in the CFP rankings. To reach the CFP, they'll need to win out and get some help from the teams ahead of them.

Washington State is on a five game winning streak, and their lone loss of the season was a 39-36 defeat at USC in September.

The game kicks off on ESPN at 1:30 MT, which is the best time slot for games. The Buffaloes will have a chance to make a big time statement at Folsom Field in front of a big national audience.

Washington State opened as a four point road favorite.

Pac-12 North

1. Washington State (8-1, 5-1 Pac-12)

2. Washington (7-3, 5-2)

3. Oregon (6-3, 3-3)

4. Stanford (5-4, 3-3)

5. California (5-4, 2-4)

6. Oregon State (2-7, 1-5)

Pac-12 South

1. Utah (6-3, 4-3 Pac-12)

2. USC (5-4, 4-3)

3. Arizona (5-5, 4-3)

4. Arizona State (5-4, 3-3)

5. Colorado (5-5, 2-4)

6. UCLA (2-7, 2-4)

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Pac-12 contests this weekend (November 10)

Washington State @ Colorado, 1:30pm MT ESPN

Oregon @ Utah, 3:30pm MT Pac-12 Network

Oregon State @ Stanford, 7pm MT Pac-12 Network

California @ USC, 8:30pm MT ESPN

UCLA @ Arizona State, 12pm MT Pac-12 Network