Editor's Note: Christian Alexander is back on the gridiron Thursday with a big winner. Stop losing and start winning with his non-conference system play. Click to win!

Thursday, October 1
Colorado (1-2, 0-0 Big 12) at West Virginia (2-1, 0-0 Big East)
7:45 PM ESPN
Milan Puskar Stadium (FieldTurf)
Sports.com Line: West Va. -17, O/U XX

After four weeks of ACC & SEC action, we finally get a little taste of the rest of the college football world this Thursday night when the Colorado Buffaloes of the Big 12 travel across the country to visit the West Virginia Mountaineers of the Big East.

Anyone with a little bit of college football knowledge will recognize that these are two tradition-rich programs who have produced some great players and outstanding seasons.

In fact, at halftime of this game former Mountaineer All-America quarterback Major Harris will be honored for his selection into the National Football Foundation's College Hall of Fame. Harris, arguably the greatest West Virginia football player of all-time, led the school to their first-ever undefeated regular season as a sophomore (1988) and went up against No. 1-ranked Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship, a game they would lose 34-21.

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Just a few years later, another dynamic quarterback would lead Colorado to a bowl game with national championship implications. An option QB, Darian Hagan was the starter for the Buffaloes in 1990 when Colorado won a share of the national championship after beating Notre Dame 10-9 in the Orange Bowl Game. Hagan is currently the running backs coach for the Buffaloes.

I just wanted to give that quick history lesson in case anyone out there wasn’t that excited for this game. Actually, if you’ve seen Colorado lately, you’ve got plenty of reason to be skeptical.

When Dan Hawkins left Boise State for Colorado in 2005 after coaching the Broncos to a 53-11 record, many thought the Buffaloes would soon return to their glory of the early 90’s. To say that hasn’t happened would be an understatement.

In Hawkins’ first three years in Boulder, the Buffaloes have gone 13-24 and 2009 is not off to a much better start. In their first two games of the season, Colorado allowed 77 points and 1,000 yards in losses to arch-rival Colorado State and Toledo. Those two ugly L’s quickly put Hawkins on a very hot seat.

The Buffaloes righted the ship the following week with a 24-0 drubbing of Wyoming but the season stats are still pitiful: Last in the Big 12 in total offense (342.7 ypg), last in the Big 12 in total defense (410 ypg), last in the Big 12 in scoring defense (25.7 ppg), and last in the Big 12 in rushing defense (183 ypg).

One of the few bright spots over the past year was in 2008 when Colorado held on to beat West Virginia in overtime on a 25-yard field goal by Aric Goodman. In that game, the Buffaloes scored two touchdowns in the first five minutes, and then held on for a 17-14 win in extra time. That victory was the last win for Colorado against a ranked opponent.

The biggest key to that win was probably location, as the Buffaloes haven’t been able to do much outside of their home turf. In fact, Colorado hasn't won on an opponent's home field since the 2007 season, when they took down Baylor (43-23) and Texas Tech (31-26), the only wins outside of Boulder during Hawkins' four-year regime. In total, Colorado is 2-14 on the road record since 2006.

And so now with whispers about his coaching future starting to reach the audible level, Hawkins and the Buffaloes will travel to WVU's Milan Puskar Stadium and the raucous 60,000 fans it seats. Not an ideal scenario to say the least considering that West Virginia is 29-5 at home since the start of the 2004 season.

The Mountaineers season got off to a nice start by beating Liberty and East Carolina and were looking good for win number three on the road at Auburn when they took a 14-0 lead early. Unfortunately for coach Bill Stewart, six turnovers – including a fumble and four interceptions by QB Jarrett Brown – doomed the Mountaineers and they ended up on the wrong side of a 41-30 final.

Turnovers have been an issue for West Virginia all season as the team has turned the ball over 10 times in their last two games to rank last in the Big East in that category. Still, the rest of the stat sheet for West Virginia, particularly on offense, looks pretty impressive. The team is averaging 37.5 points per game and is first in the Big East in total offense (485.3 ypg).

With Rich Rodriguez long gone to Michigan, West Virginia has retooled its offense under Stewart. During the Pat White/Steve Slaton era, the Mountaineers would run, run and run some more. In fact, when White passed for 332 yards against North Carolina in last year's Meineke Car Care Bowl it represented the first time WVU had passed for over 300 yards since a win over Mississippi in the 2000 Music City Bowl.

Now the West Virginia attack is much more balanced and Brown is thriving with consecutive 300 yard+ games and a total 798 passing yards, the most ever for a West Virginia quarterback through the first three games of the season. WR Jock Sanders is clearly Brown’s favorite target and is coming off a monster game against Auburn in which he hauled in 12 passes for 115 yards.

But don’t forget, this is very much still a West Virginia team that can burn you on the ground. RB Noel Devine might be smaller than Avon Cobourne, Amos Zereoue and Slaton, but he also might be faster than any of the great West Virginia tailbacks that dot their record book. Brown and Devine aren’t quite at the production level of White & Slaton but they can burn a defense in multiple ways and can pile up the yards and points.

To keep pace Colorado must get a good game from QB Cody Hawkins and a pair of running backs in Rodney Stewart and RB Darrell Scott. If that group can’t at the very least put together some sustained drives, it will likely be a very long night for Hawkins and the Buffaloes.

Game Notes:

--Both Colorado & West Virginia enter this game off a bye week

--The West Virginia defense should welcome back starting MLB Reed Williams (foot) however; DT Scooter Berry (shoulder) is likely a game-time decision

--Colorado is 1-2 against the spread in 2009 while West Virginia is 1-1 ATS

--West Virginia has won 15 of its last 17 night games at Milan Puskar Stadium, including a 6-0 record at home during Thursday night ESPN games

--Since 2007, the Colorado defense has given up an average of 45 points per game on the road