The article in Tuesday’s Camera by colleague Kyle Ringo “Attrition a challenge for CU”  has sparked some attention … and some research that suggests CU’s numbers over the last 10 years or so have been nothing out of the ordinary.

Here are some numbers courtesy of CU’s Dave Plati:

Over the last 25 seasons at Colorado, the average number of seniors per year has been 17.1.  And, there doesn’t seem to be any correlation between a big senior class and a successful season.

From 1989-96 (generally considered the best-ever stretch in CU history, as the Buffs had the fourth-best record in college football in that span, 78-15-4), the average number of seniors on the team was 14.9

That includes a grand total of 14 seniors on the 1989 team that went 11-0 and played in the Orange Bowl for the national title.

The number of seniors did jump dramatically the following season to 24 (the national title year). But it went back down to 13 in 1991 and 11 in 1992.

Even the 1994 Buffs, a team I still consider to be the most talented in CU history, had just 13 seniors.

Meanwhile, around the Big 12 last year, the average was about 19 seniors (a number skewed slightly by Kansas State, which had 26 seniors, including 12 JC transfers). Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri were on the low end with 14 seniors, while Texas Tech (24) and Baylor (23) were on the high end. National runner-up Texas had 18 seniors last fall.

Truth is, attrition is an issue everywhere.  It’s a natural occurrence — and it’s been a regular occurrence at CU for decades.

Here’s the season-by-season count of CU’s seniors since 1982:

1982—13

1983—25

1984—22

1985—16

1986—  9

1987—30

1988—10

1989—14

1990—24

1991—13

1992—11

1993—19

1994—13

1995—  7

1996—18

1997—22

1998—13

1999—22

2000—  9

2001—26

2002—23

2003—21

2004—11

2005—20

2006—26

2007—17

2008—17

2009—16

2010—15

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