The Mountain West football schedules released Wednesday revealed that the Front Range schools will have different challenges in coping with bye weeks.
Colorado State plays 12 games over a 14-week span, ending Dec. 2 at San Diego State, while Air Force gets its two byes in September, setting up an uninterrupted 11-week stretch, finishing at TCU on Dec. 2.
In contrast, Wyoming finishes its season two weeks earlier, at UNLV on Nov. 18.
CSU opens at home against Weber State on Sept. 2, and doesn’t play in Fort Collins again until Oct. 5 in its MWC opener with UNLV. CSU plays at home Thanksgiving weekend against TCU. The school hoped to avoid Thanksgiving weekend home games because of the difficulty in drawing a crowd.
Once again, Air Force will not have a game on Parents Weekend, Sept. 2, when most teams open the season. The Falcons wanted a league opponent on that date, but no one else wanted to play a conference game then. Air Force opens at Tennessee on Sept. 9, gets another bye and then plays 11 weeks in a row.
Hawkins man with a plan
CU coach Dan Hawkins and his staff have put together much of the playbook that has players – particularly on offense – salivating, and fans eager to see just what the new offense will look like.
Hawkins kicks off his first spring football practice as coach of the Buffs on March 13. But it is the game-week preparation that he says is the key to what fans will see next fall.
“We’re a big game-plan outfit, in all three phases,” Hawkins said.
Footnotes
Contracts for CU athletic director Mike Bohn, Hawkins and women’s basketball coach Kathy McConnell-Miller still have not been finalized. “That’s one thing we’ve got to get done,” Bohn said Wednesday, adding there were no specific snags. … CU’s home-and-home series against Minnesota has been finalized. The Buffs travel to Minneapolis in 2012 and get a return trip from the Gophers in 2013. … Andrew Plenn, CU’s lead fundraiser, has left the university.
Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-820-5455 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
