Fowler: Buffaloes off. among Pac 12’s best, ‘tough to predict’ repeat

According to ESPN’s Chris Fowler, there’s some good news and some less than good news for the upcoming Colorado Buffaloes season.

Joining “Schlereth & Evans” on Wednesday, the college football commentator said the Buffs offense will be “good or better” than the 2016 squad that ranked 51st among FBS schools.

“I don’t think there’ll be a drop off in that area. I think they will have one of the league’s best offenses,” Fowler said.

The bad news: the cupboard is “thin” in some areas, Fowler said, especially after key members of the Buffalos top-20 defense made the move to the NFL, meaning a team that won half of its conference games by 10 points or less will lean more heavily winning “shootouts.”

“They’re not going to allow 22 points a game again. That far surpassed expectations last year,” Fowler said, adding, “I think they’re going to have to score more points. They’ll have to win more shootouts.”

Fowler also said he’s afraid it’ll be difficult for the Buffaloes to go 8-1 again in conference play and repeat as Pac 12 South division champs.

“I don’t know if have them down at the bottom of the division, but I think it’s tough to predict them to repeat at division champs with as good as USC appears to be,” Fowler said. “The competitive balance in the league, and even in that division, is really tough.

“I think they’re going have to win close games, get some breaks.”

But, what’s “exciting” for Fowler, himself a Colorado alum, is the Buffaloes are “not a doormat and not going to go back to being a doormat.”

“They’re on the way up. They got people’s attention,” Fowler said. “They’re going to get everybody’s best show this year, which is something that teams that are on top have to deal with. How they react to that when they’re young on the defensive side, it’s a good question.”

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @johnnyhart7.