Rocky Mountain Football: Cal at Colorado GameDay Open Thread

Cal wins 36-33 in OT. Click here to revel in victory on the postgame thread!

All the Quarter Threads:

First Quarter | Second Quarter | Third Quarter | Fourth Quarter | Overtime(s)

September 10, 2010, California Memorial Stadium: Cal 52, Colorado 7. 52 to 7. Fifty-two to seven.

Yes, we all remember what happened 364 days ago on a sunny afternoon in Berkeley. Cal hung a full deck of cards on Colorado. It was a dominating performance.

You know who else remembers it? Colorado. And today, the Buffaloes will be out for revenge as the Bears travel to Folsom Field in Boulder. It will be a beautiful Rocky Mountain setting for college football. Will it be a beautiful game for the Bears? Or will the Buffs exact their revenge for last year's humiliation at Strawberry Canyon?

Cal is coming off last week's 36-21 season opening win against Fresno State at Candlestick Park. Colorado, meanwhile, is 0-1 after losing its opener 34-17 at Hawaii.

This is your pregame thread. Get our your pregame tensions here. Watch here for links to the first, second, third, and fourth quarter threads as the game goes on. Also watch here for updates on stream links for the game.

If you want to discuss any of today's Cal volleyball action (either versus SacSt or Georgetown), click here. And if you want to discuss any of the non-Cal morning or afternoon college football action, click here. GO BEARS!

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Game basics:

2011 CALIFORNIA FOOTBALL
Saturday, Sept. 10, 12:30 p.m. (PT)
Cal (1-0, 0-0 Pac-12) vs. Colorado (0-1, 0-0 Pac-12)
Folsom Field, Boulder, CO

Live Coverage
TV: Comcast SportsNet California - Barry Tompkins (Play-By-Play), Mike Pawlawski (Analyst), Kate Longworth (Sideline Reporter)
Cal Commercial Radio: KGO 810 AM (San Francisco) - Joe Starkey (Play-By-Play), Troy Taylor (Analyst, Pregame Show), Todd McKim (Pregame Show, Sideline), Lee Grosscup (Postgame Show), Kate Scott (Postgame Show)
IMG College/Cal Radio Network Affiliates: *KFPT 790 AM (Fresno), KESP 970 AM (Modesto), KPRZ 1210 AM (San Diego), KMZT 1260 AM (Los Angeles), KTKZ 1380 AM (Sacramento), ^KFIG 1430 AM (Fresno).
All-Access Radio: The Cal commercial radio broadcast feed of the game can be heard on the Internet thorugh the All-Access channel on CalBears.com. All-Access can be found under the Multimedia tab at the top of the page.
Cal Student Radio: KALX 90.7 FM (Berkeley) - KALX 90.7 FM (Berkeley) - Danny Freisinger (Play-By-Play), Elliott Schwimmer (Analyst)
Sirius XM Satellite Radio: The Cal commercial radio broadcast feed of the game can be heard on satellite radio on Sirius Premier channel 211 and XM channel 193.

Other reading to get you ready for the game:

Ralphie Report has a "Reference Tool Box" with a cornucopia of content on today's game from the Colorado Buffs' perspective.

Q&A with Ralphie Report, which answers our probing questions about Colorado football

norcalnick previews the Colorado defense that Zach Maynard & company will try to conquer today:

Thanks to a late Hawaiian start time on ESPN2 Cal fans were given the chance to preview the changes Jon Embree has made in Boulder. In an effort to get a sense of what the Colorado defense can do I watched play on ESPN3’s archived stream of the game and charted the entire performance.

My conclusion? Goodness, the Buffalo are aggressive. Colorado ran a 4-2 or a 3-3 defense against Hawaii and they sent a blitzing linebacker with impressive frequency. While charting the Colorado defense I noted the result of the play and assigned a grade. A zero is a play that finished evenly and neither the offense or the defense clearly won the battle. Your typical 3 yard run play, a short pass that is reasonably well defended, etc. If the defense makes a good play, like a run stopped for no gain or a pass defended, they got a +1. If the defense makes an excellent play, like a sack or an interception, it’s a +2. If the defense gives up a decent but not huge gain it’s a -1. If the defense gives up a huge play and/or makes a major mistake (missed tackles, blown assignments etc.) it’s a -2.

And in his weekly "Know Your Enemy" post, ManBearCal previews the Colorado offense. A strength of that unit is the Buffaloes' receiving corps:

With Colorado's all-time leading WR Scotty McKnight (50 receptions for 621 yards in 2010) moving on to bigger things (being cut by the Jets), the WR corps for CU has a lot to prove this year. What McKnight lacked in size, he made up for in productivity. Arguably the most dynamic and productive returning WR is Sophomore UCLA transfer Paul Richardson (34 recs for 514 yds, 6 TD's). Outside of Speedy Stewart, Richardson was the biggest weapon for the Buffs in Week 1...snagging three passes for 49 yards and two TD's. He's got good height and can make big plays, as indicated by his 15.12 ypc last year. Also returning with good experience is Michigan transfer Toney Clemons, who hauled in 43 catches for 482 yards and 3 TD's in 2010. Sadly for Toney, he had no catches against Hawaii last week. Clemons has really good size but hasn't been quite the big-play threat he was heralded to be upon arriving in Boulder. In addition to Richardson and Clemons, look out for rangy true freshman Tyler McCullough, who at 6'5" is drawing comparisons from Colorado faithful to former Bronco Ed McCaffrey...which is about as original as comparing every small, white wide receiver to Wes Welker. Sigh. Kyle Cefalo also should see time as the fourth WR in the slot when the Buffs choose to spread out. This is a pretty good group.

Enjoy the game, CGBers. Let's try to go 2-0, shall we?