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11 19 24 Voice of the CU Buffs Mark Johnson talks about the football team's success
But there's only one feeling like knowing your banker personally, like growing up with a bank you can count on, like being sure what you've earned is safe, secure, and local. There's only one feeling like knowing you're supporting your community. You deserve more from a bank. You deserve an institution that stood strong for generations. Bank of Colorado, there's only one. Member FDIC. I have a way to make your morning more efficient. You can get caught up on the news in about seven minutes. That is my promise to you as the host of the Seven Podcast from The Washington Post. And in that time, I will run down seven stories, everything from the most important headlines to fascinating new information you might miss otherwise. My name's Hannah Jewell. Go follow The Seven right now, wherever you're listening. And we will get you caught up. It's beginning to sound a lot like the holidays. The Roku Channel, your home for free and premium TV, is giving you access to holiday music and genre base stations from iHeart all for free. Find the soundtrack of the season with channels like iHeartChristmas and North Pole Radio. The Roku Channel is available on all Roku devices, web, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, Samsung TV, and the Roku mobile app on iOS and Android devices. So stream what you love and turn up the cheer with iHeart Radio on the Roku Channel. Happy streaming! So you Buff Football get to learn if they move up in the college football play of rankings poll later today. They currently sit at 17. Odds are good that they will move up. Joining us now on the Kway Common Spirit Health Hotline to talk more about it is Voice of the Buffs. Mark Johnson. Mark, thanks for your time. As always, the Buffs now eight and two for the season. Huge difference than what we saw last year. Let's just start with just a check-in. What have we seen this year that is better and more succeeding when it comes to the Buffs than what we saw last year? Well, first off, by the way, we've got to say Happy Birthday to Miss Peggy today. By the way, she turns to the 100 years old. Something else. By the way, the stadium's singing to her at the last game. That was something special. Oh. I'm telling you, I look over Gary and Gary's got tears in his eyes and I start watering up. I think everybody in the booth was about ready to start crying right there. So yeah, she's about as fine as him and being as ever going to mate. So Happy Birthday to Miss Peggy this morning. Now to Gina's question, holy cow, that's a big one right there. We can go all different directions. What prime has done in the two seasons that he's been here? Obviously, he's improved the culture, he's improved the roster, the talent level. It helps when you've got maybe the best quarterback in America, the most dynamic player in America, in Shadoor and Travis. But it really has been a total overhaul with what he's done in the last couple of seasons. I mean, he's going to be in the running for National Coach of the Year because of what he's done. But right now, this team is playing complete football and they're doing it at a very high level, which is why they're making a push for a big 12 championship and potentially spawning college football playoffs. Yeah, I was going to say, and that is a legit possibility. Obviously, the buffs have to win out, but that is a real possibility. But first, first, first, they face a Kansas team that just upset BYU this coming Saturday. I'll tell you this, Maria, about four or five weeks ago, maybe Gary Bard and I are talking about how the league and how things are looking and he says to me, "Can this might be the most dangerous team in this league?" Now, keep in mind what he said that they had two or three wins. And Mike, you've got to be kidding me. He goes, "No, no, no, because you've watched them a couple of times because that is a really good football team that has some awful luck early in the season. So we're playing a very good football team this weekend. They've been two top 25 teams at Iowa State and BYU, given those two teams their first two losses. This is going to be a heck of a game." And then my friends in Kansas City have been telling me that because of what Kansas has done the last couple of weeks, and what the bubble has done all season long, the kind of excitement, the generation of anticipation of this game is going to be out of it. I mean, it's going to be like a Broncos Chiefs game there. They're talking about the things sold out. You can't find tickets. You can't find parking. It's going to be just spectacular. So that's a big game coming up on Saturday, a very important game for Colorado, obviously. Like looking at this past weekend, aside from the 54,000 people singing Happy Birthday to Peggy on Saturday, what did you see on Saturday that you really liked when the buffs really stomped Utah, and what needs to continue heading into this weekend with Kansas? Well, you know, we knew going in, Jana, this was going to be an explosive offensive team. They are one of the top scoring teams of the league right now, and around the country, with the quarterback and all the receivers they have. But it's been the development of the defense. I think that has been most significant because you can score a lot of points, but if you give it up, a lot of points, you know, chances are you're not going to win a lot of times. So what this defense has done, number one, it leads the big 12 in sacks. It leads the big 12 in tackles for a loss. You've got NFL guys on the back end of that defense. This defense has become physical and stout, and it's a playmaking defense. They're forcing turnovers. They've forced in 10 interceptions and 10 four spumbles this season that they've recovered. I mean, it is really a problem for opposing offenses, and so when you pair the two as we well know, that's a very good day of the football field, and so I think that that's what I enjoyed watching you get on Saturday because they're always going to make the big place. So they were just going to find Travis and La Jante, and so this team is playing complete football right now. That's awful tough to beat. Mark, I'm sure you catch up with every so often and interact with the college football muckety mucks, I preference by saying this, I think most college football nation wants to see see you in the playoff, but at the same time, they're not thrilled and I don't think it'll work out that way, especially with the BYU loss, but they don't want to see more than one big 12 team in the playoff. Do you get that sense? Yeah. Yeah. The muckety mucks always seem to kind of favor the FCC. Don't tell you that. In the big 10. Yeah. Yeah. And the big 10 is some, some respects as well. What's happening right now in this league, and you're seeing, I think, a lot of leagues where there's a, you know, kind of beating each other up, which typically happens year and a year out, but yeah, they're leaning in that direction where I think right now in this conference, you've got a BYU, which is obviously a very good football team. Colorado is, obviously, making noise, and right now tied to the league in the conference. Iowa State, I think, is in the middle of this thing. Kansas State may have something to say. Arizona State, the team that nobody thinks about a whole lot in this league. I think they're playing really, really well right now, and so there is an opportunity. Now, it seems like the way this thing always unfolds, you know, maybe one comes out of this league, but we'll kind of see how, you know, things, things fall here in the next couple of weeks to kind of determine that. CU Buffs taking on Kansas J-Hawks Saturday afternoon. Our KOA coverage will begin at 11.30 on Saturday with kickoff at 1.30. Voice of the Buffs, it's Mark Johnson. Thanks, Mark. All right, guys. See you. But there's only one feeling like knowing your banker personally, like growing up with the bank you can count on, like being sure what you've earned is safe, secure, and local. There's only one feeling like knowing you're supporting your community. You deserve more from a bank. You deserve an institution that stood strong for generations. Bank of Colorado, there's only one. Member FDIC. I have a way to make your morning more efficient. You can get caught up on the news in about seven minutes. That is my promise to you as the host of the Seven Podcast from The Washington Post. And in that time, I will run down seven stories, everything from the most important headlines to fascinating new information you might miss otherwise. My name's Hannah Jewell. Go follow the seven right now, wherever you're listening. And we will get you caught up. It's beginning to sound a lot like the holidays. The Roku Channel, your home for free and premium TV, is giving you access to holiday music and genre-based stations from iHeart all for free. mobile app on iOS and Android devices. So stream what you love and turn up the cheer with iHeartRadio on the Roku channel. Happy streaming!