Welcome!

Teacher by day, Buff fanatic by night, and, actually throughout the school day also. I was raised in Boulder during the dark Chuck Fairbanks years by two University of Michigan alums. I knew "Go Blue!" long before "Go Buffs!", but when a relatively unknown defensive coordinator was hired to lead the Buffs, my interest was slightly piqued. By the time I reached high school Bill McCartney was building a solid foundation with homegrown talent like Jon Embree and I remember the day in 1986 when Boulder celebrated the win over Nebraska. In college I sold beer, watched Coach Mac win a championship, Rashaan Salaam win a Heisman and I was hooked forever. When Jon Embree was hired, I renewed my season tickets and hit the practice rail. I wrote up a few things for some relatives, forwarded them to a few friends, and then made it a blog. Now I find writing about my Buffies is fun, more informative and therapy! I'll post a few times a week during the season, less in the offseason, with news, musings and links. Go Buffs!

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Game Day Grazing-WSU

§  There were still over 3000 ticket available as of Friday morning-let’s get families and friends out there to fill Folsom and usher in the Pac-12 era!  Come on Buff fans!
§  TE coach JD Brookhart said RFr. Kyle Slavin will play some this week!  That will make him the 26th player to make his debut this year, 8th redshirt frosh to play, along with 12 true-I guess OL Paulay Asiata has played on special teams, leaving 10 2011 recruits left with redshirts, of which only DB Sherrard Harrington (if his hip heals and they get desperate), RB/KR DD Goodson and WR Nelson Spruce have a chance to play.
§  Turns out Sr. TE Ryan Deehan, who has been great, has also been dealing with shoulder problem that has limited his practice work, and likely his production in the game, much like Speedy.  They both have been good, but not at 100%.  Even more surprising we haven’t seen more of Thorton and Slavin, and Jones and Ford.  That looks to be changing this week.
§  Brookhart also said there will be 3-4 new faces on each Special Teams unit-most of those being players from the two-deep.  CU has played 57- or 58 players in each game so far this year (not necessarily the same ones each game) but that number should go down this week, unless we can get a big enough lead and let the backups play late.
§  The other missing name from the CB list is Sr. Jonathon Hawkins, who is away from the team due to a family medical situation.  When it rains, it pours.
§  One great stat: Buffs are lead Pac-12 teams with 14 sacks!  Josh Hartigan leads the conference with 4 and Rippy and someone else with 2.5 each.  With the banged up secondary and the Wash St passing attack, Greg Brown will need to be creative with blitzes to support the D-line getting continued pressure on Lobbestael.
§  Wazzu fans call their receiving core “Party of Nine”(there’s some serious heckling potential), although 5 of them didn’t even get a target last week.  Marquees Wilson, leading the nation in receiving yards, is probably the only one to worry extra about and our safeties will have to watch and likely bracket him the way opposing teams have been approaching covering P-Rich.  They like to get him the ball on bubble screens to the outside, with another receiver or two take out the DB(s) in front of him, and let him do the work.  The RB Ricky Galvin is small and fast like Speedy and they will use him in a similar way with some screens and swing passes.
§  However, CU has been pretty good at picking up on teams’ tendencies (see CSU’s RB screens) so Brown and the boys should be ready for both the WR bubble screens and the RBs catching balls-they see that every day in practice.
§  Woody Paige mentioned it this week and I have always said this about any team in Colorado-we should utilize some form of hurry-up/no huddle on offense to take advantage of the altitude.  Embree has already talked about them being the best conditioned team so we should push teams to their limit.  Hawaii was dying last year in the fourth and every team should be sucking wind at Folsom as we all hold up four fingers.  This approach keeps defenses on the field throughout without being able to substitute, so players get tired and they don’t get the situational packages on the field they want.  If the running game gets going, then it’s devastating, especially being able to churn out yardage and eat up time on the clock like at the end of CSU.  It also would put Tyler really in charge and give him time to see the field as they line up.  They don’t need to try to be like Oregon and snap the ball in 12 seconds, but just call more plays as they go to the line.  It would certainly catch anyone off guard the first time we started it, whether it is today or somewhere down the road.
§  WSU is the first of three teams (over the next five weeks-Wash and ASU) that will have a bye to heal and prepare the week before they face us.
§  Here’s the WSU game notes: http://www.cubuffs.com/fls/600/gameday/wsu11/wsunotes.pdf
§  and CU Notes: http://www.cubuffs.com/fls/600/gameday/wsu11/cunotes.pdf?SPSID=3843&SPID=255&DB_OEM_ID=600
§  RR’s Tool Box http://www.ralphiereport.com/2011/9/30/2461445/colorado-buffaloes-vs-washington-state-cougars-reference-tool-box
§  Buffnik’s uncensored preview http://www.allbuffs.com/content.php/1-University-of-Colorado-Sports-News
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