Vegas tragedy hits close to home
The Denver Post
The deadliest mass shooting in United States history hit close to home for Colorado assistant football coach Darrin Chiaverini. The Buffaloes’ second-year co-offensive coordinator had connections to two of the 59 people shot and killed late Sunday at a Las Vegas outdoor music concert.
Chris Roybal, 28, was an Aurora resident, a Navy veteran and Chiaverini’s brother Ryan’s former brother-in-law.
Hannah Ahlers, 34, was a mother of three and a longtime friend of Chiaverini’s wife, Shannon.
Chiaverini wrote on Twitter: “Our families hearts are broken with the passing of Chris Roybal and Hannah Ahlers in Las Vegas! Our prayers are with their families.” He spoke with reporters Tuesday and said, “Just a bad day, man.”
Gofundme accounts have been set up to get financial support for both families.
“When we all think about that (shooting), I think we all get angry and we don’t understand why,” CU coach Mike MacIntyre said. “An extremely sad situation all the way around. Please remember Darrin and their family and all the things they’re going through.”
CSU football coach Mike Bobo offered his condolences for those who suffered personal tragedy.
“We woke up like everybody in the country to that news, and it’s definitely saddening,” Bobo said. “I just want to let everybody know that our prayers and thoughts are with that city, those victims and their families.”
Rodriguez impressed.
Arizona has defeated CU in four of its last five meetings, but Wildcats coach Rich Rodriguez enters the Saturday matchup in Boulder with plenty of respect for the Buffaloes. CU rolled Arizona 49-24 in Tucson last fall.
“They’re a very sound football team in all three phases,” Rodriguez said on the Pac-12 media teleconference call Tuesday. “They’ve got good players. They’re well coached. You’ve got to make plays to beat them, but you’ve also got to make sure you don’t give up a big mistake … because they’ll take advantage of it. It’s going to be a tough environment.”
Utah State D tough.
Colorado State travels to Utah State for a 2:30 p.m. Saturday Mountain West showdown. One major note of interest for the Rams? Utah State is tied with South Florida as the nation’s top turnover forcer through five games — 16 total takeaways: nine forced fumbles and seven interceptions.
“In my two years playing Utah State, they’ve always given us trouble (defensively),” Bobo said. “With the numerous pressures that they have and the numerous coverages that they play behind it, it’s got to be a good week for us offensively.”
Schedule updates.
CU at Oregon State on Oct. 14 will kick off at 2 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks. On the same date, CSU hosts Nevada as its homecoming game for an 8:15 p.m. kickoff on ESPN2.