Ticked off, CU Buffs fans?
Miffed, CSU Rams faithful?
The cold, hard truth is this: You’ve got two choices when it comes to the fates of Buffs football coach Karl Dorrell and his Rams contemporary, Steve Addazio.
You can either:
a.) Write the school a massive check. And by massive, we mean one of at least six figures; or
b.) Hang in there.
Look, rebuilding is no fun, especially in a Pac-12 that saw a down USC (4-5) and an underwhelming Washington (4-6) fire their coaches this season. Or a Mountain West that featured a “transitioning” Boise State (6-4) under new boss Andy Avalos.
Yet it’s official now: The Buffs and Rams clinched losing seasons in unison this past Saturday night, with each taking 3-7 records into the third weekend in November.
It’ll be CSU’s fourth consecutive season without a postseason berth. It’s the 10th bowl-less December for CU over the past 12 years. Both programs have been bitten hard by injuries, wounded by transfers, and left their fans frustrated by close losses (CU had Texas A&M on the ropes at Mile High; CSU was poised to beat Utah State in Logan before, well, you know).
Nor has it helped that Dorrell (pushing a photojournalist’s camera) and Addazio (Vanderbilt postgame, Air Force postgame) took out their competitive frustrations or engaged in outright ranting against local reporters.
If the word for the pandemic fall of 2020 was “confusion,” then 2021 has been the autumn of “exasperation.” On all sides.
But if you’ve had it up to here in Boulder or Fort Collins, we’ve got some bad news, kids. Because when it comes to the Daz and Dorrell, you’re probably stuck with them. Both of them. At least through next fall.
Well, unless you’ve got a few million to burn.
We’ve gotten some emails about buyouts for Addazio and Dorrell as of late, as you might imagine, and here are the details:
• CSU would need to fork over $5 million to can Addazio anytime from now through Dec. 1. On Dec. 2, that buyout drops to $3 million. On Dec. 2, 2022 — and that might be the date to keep an eye on — the payment drops to $1.5 million. From Dec. 2, 2023 through Dec. 31, 2024, CSU would owe Daz’s base salary (scheduled to be $1.65 million in ’23, $1.7 million in ’24) from the termination date through Dec. 31, 2024.
• Should he be fired without cause, CU would owe Dorrell his remaining salary in the year in which the termination occurred, as well as whatever other unpaid compensation remains in the contract. The Buffs coach is making $3.4 million this season. That’s slated to go up to $3.6 million in 2002, $3.8 million in 2023, and $4.0 million in 2024.
Bottom line: If you’re already looking to pass the hat, it better be of the 10-gallon variety.
While the Buffs and Rams keep wallowing in the bottom third of The Denver Post Best of the West College Football poll, Air Force (7-3) and Wyoming (5-5) both moved up in the latest installment as the Falcons and Cowboys continue to chase bowl berths.
The Post’s Best of the West College Football poll ranks the top 25 FBS programs from the Front Range to the Pacific Ocean, as culled from the Pac-12, the Mountain West and BYU.
Post columnist Sean Keeler (@SeanKeeler), Post deputy sports editor Matt Schubert (@MattDSchubert) and Post reporter Kyle Fredrickson (@KyleFredrickson) vote on the top 25.
The rest of the latest rankings follow, with in-state teams listed in bold:
THE DENVER POST BEST OF THE WEST TOP 25 POLL — NOV. 15
| School | Previous | Up next |
| 1. Oregon (9-1) *(3) | 1 | at Utah |
| 2. BYU (8-2) | 2 | at Georgia Southern |
| 3. Utah (7-3) | 3 | vs. Oregon |
| 4. Utah State (8-2) | 4 | vs. Wyoming |
| 5. San Diego State (9-1) | 7 | at UNLV, Fri. |
| 6. Fresno State (8-3) | 8 | Bye |
| ▲7. Air Force (7-3) | 11 | at Nevada, Fri. |
| 8. Arizona State (8-3) | 7 | at Oregon State |
| 9. Boise State (6-4) | 10 | vs. New Mexico |
| ▼10. Nevada (7-3) | 6 | vs. Air Force, Fri. |
| 11. UCLA (6-4) |
13 | at USC |
| 12. Oregon State (6-4) | 11 | vs. Arizona State |
| 13. Washington State (5-5) | 10 | vs. Arizona, Fri. |
| 14. USC (4-5) | 15 | vs. UCLA |
| 15. Wyoming (5-5) | 16 | at Utah State |
| 16. California (3-6) | 18 | at Stanford |
| 17. Washington (4-6) | 14 | at Colorado |
| 18. San Jose State (5-6) | 17 | Bye |
| 19. Colorado (3-7) | 20 | vs. Washington |
| 20. Stanford (3-7) | 19 | vs. California |
| 21. Colorado State (3-7) | 22 | at Hawaii |
| 22. Arizona (1-9) |
23 | at Washington State, Fri. |
| 23. UNLV (2-8) |
25 | vs. San Diego State, Fri. |
| 24. New Mexico (3-7) | 24 | at Boise State |
| ▼25. Hawaii (4-7) | 21 | vs. Colorado State |
*First-place votes in parenthesis
▲= Biggest climb of the week
▼= Biggest drop of the week
The next Best of the West poll will post Monday, Nov. 22.
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