The 3-2-1: Buffs to play five Top 25 teams, Colorado State now in sight

As the season gets closer to the Rocky Mountain Showdown against Colorado State on September 2nd, CUSportsNation.com will continue a new weekly feature: The 3-2-1. We'll breakdown three things we learned that week, two questions we have, and give one prediction.

Recruiting: Georgia Corner may visit Boulder | Rogers hopes to visit Colorado

Popular: Roster | Commits | Recruit Tracker

Three Things We Learned

1. The annual AP Top 25 College Football Poll came out this weekend and to no surprise Alabama was ranked No. 1 followed by Clemson at No. 2, Oklahoma at No. 3, Florida State at No. 4, and by LSU at No. 5. Glancing over the rankings a total of 5 teams from the PAC 12 were included. Colorado plays 4 out of those 5 teams. Stanford who the Buffs play on October 22nd is ranked No. 8, UCLA who heads to Boulder on November 3rd is ranked No. 16, USC who Colorado plays in Southern California on October 8th is ranked No. 20, and the Buffs also play No. 24 Oregon on September 24th. The fifth team Colorado plays from the AP Top 25 Preseason Rankings is No. 7 Michigan. The Buffs head to the Big House on September 17th.

2. The Rocky Mountain Showdown is just 11 days away from Monday, August 22nd. Last year Colorado defeated Colorado State 27-24 in Overtime, the 2016 match up opens with Colorado as a 10 point favorite according to VegasInsider.com. The Rams are led by second year Head Coach Mike Bobo who the Rams went 7-6 under in 2015 reaching the Arizona Bowl losing to Nevada 28-23. For Colorado State the Rams return quarterback Nick Stevens who threw for 2,678-yards and 21 touchdowns last year, but he has yet to be named the starter entering 2016 as the Rams are facing a three-way race at the quarterback position between Senior Faton Bauta, True Freshman Collin Hill, and Stevens who is a senior. The Rams are dealing with quite a few injuries on defense, starting inside linebacker Deonte Clyburn has already been listed as out for the season. Our complete Rocky Mountain Showdown Preview will be released next week.

3. Junior College Transfer Juwann Winfree is out for the season after an ACL injury. Big loss for Colorado as Winfree was projected to start on the outside at receiver for the Buffs. Winfree is the third player Colorado has lost over the last two months as Running back Patrick Carr announced he was leaving the team in July and True Freshman Ca'Ron Baham was moving back to Louisiana.

Two Questions

1. With Juwann Winfree out of the season, who will step up for Colorado at the receiver position? 6-foot-2, 190 pound Junior Bryce Bobo looks to be that guy. Last year Bobo played in all 13 games hauling in 24 receptions for 207-yards. Jaleel Awini a 6-foot-2, 215 pound Senior could also play that role. As for a third guy to step up and provide depth at the outside receiver position? Could it be Kabion Ento another junior college transfer who has shined during Fall Camp.

2. Is the starting offensive line being closed to finalized? What we have seen this fall camp, the projected starters look to be Senior Sam Kronshage at tackle, Gerrard Kough at guard, Tim Lynott at guard, Alex Kelley at center, and Jeromy Irwin at tackle. "I think we have a pretty good idea of who's going to work together, once we get onto the field on Monday and move to game prep we have got to give those guys (starters) a full two weeks to work together," said Colorado Offensive Line Coach Klayton Adams regarding the Buffs' starting offensive front.

One Prediction

The Colorado Defense holds Colorado State to less than 3 touchdowns. We're thinking the Rams score between 17 and 10 points at the absolute max.