§ MAJOR CORRECTION: Oops! The game WILL BE TELEVISED today at 4:30 P.M. mountain time, on Root Sports. I really thought I had read that it was not?! I thought I had even seen it in an Arizona article. Sorry for any confusion. I guess Root Sports-Arizona decided top pick it up and then regionally we got it also. I am not really sure at this point if that is a good a bad thing-maybe I just didn’t want to watch it?! But we might get to see ASU’s marown uniforms after all!
§ Injury Update: ANTHONY PERKINS upgraded to probable!
§ It appears Tyler has not been cleared and so we will continue to get a look at Nick Hirschman will get his first college start. He is trying to get a leg up on Conor Wood and Shane Dillon and, besides the added reps in practice, is spending a lot of time in the film room.
The secondary gets a few other bodies back as Ray Polk, Travis Sandersfeld (maybe?), Jason Espinoza and DD Goodson all appear to be good to go for ASU. Brian Lockridge is still listed at 1-2 weeks, and it looks like between his hamstring and concussion problems, TFr. speedster DB Wil Harlos is shut down for the season-he had played a decent amount on special teams and likely would have been in there last week instead of KT Tu’umalo if he had been healthy.
§ Josh Hartigan is “probable” and should play if his neck doesn’t act up.
§ No official word on P-Rich as I post so I am assuming he does not play.
§ I wonder if EB will open up the play book a little this week. The biggest thing Hirschman offers is better accuracy, especially on the longer balls, so I would like to see a little more aerial-oriented attack with some deep shots. Hopefully, with all the reps in practice he has developed some better chemistry and timing with his receivers and can hit someone for a big play or two. I think we can avoid the shutout predicted by Kyle Ringo in the Camera.
§ If Tyler is indeed out, then TFr. walk-on John Schrock, who surprised everyone with his arm and how quickly he picked up the offense in Fall camp, will be the backup. I am guessing they also traveled JC transfer Brent Burnette, who, although his arm is worse than Tim Tebow’s, he does have some D1 game experience from his time at Middle Tennessee St. They need to be prepared for an aggressive defense led by ASU LB Vontaze Burfict.
§ Embree on Burfict’s play: “He plays to the echo of the whistle.” Indeed, Burfict incurs quite a few late hit flags, as does his whole team, but he makes them worthwhile.
§ I hate to mention it but since everyone else has…The Buffs have been one of the stingiest teams in the country having only committed 7 turnovers all year. This needs to continue against ASU, who is one of the top turnover producing defenses, for a bevy of reasons.
§ One aspect in CU’s favor is that the game could feature many punts, as both teams are terrible at converting third downs, and Darragh O’Neill may end up being team MVP this year, with his booming kicks and improving knack for hitting the coffin corner. That brings me to the Plati stat of the week: Against Oregon, O’Neill set school records for the most punts inside-the-20 with six, and inside-the-10 with four (old marks were five and three, respectively). He is fourth in the Pac-12 and 22nd in the NCAA with a 43.5 average (on 50 punts), which is tops in the nation among true freshman and second to LSU’s Brad Wing (44.4) for all freshmen. He now has 14 punts inside-the-20 on the year with just one touchback; that 14-to-1 ratio is third best nationally for those players with 10 or more placed inside-the-20.
§ The team used the practice bubble for the first time this season after the snow earlier this week-an interesting preparation for Tempe, where the last time we visited it was over 100 degrees for an evening kickoff.
§ The disappearing act that is Terrel Smith has been given a shot at every position in the secondary (both CB spots, both safeties and the nickel and dime spots) and can’t seem to stick anywhere-whenever he comes in he then gets yanked for something soon thereafter. He has been surpassed and replaced by a long line of freshman and offensive players switching to defense. I believe he has been healthy throughout all of this. He can hit but I guess he just doesn’t get his assignments, so with so many guys coming back from injury I wonder if he will see the field at all on defense.
§ It seems that another underachieving player, DE Nick Kasa, is exploring a change to TE. He was wearing a black offensive 90 instead of his usual white 44 at practice this week and catching passes from Conor Wood.
If you need some reading to pass the time until kickoff:
§ Buffnik of AllBuffs had not yet posted his “uncensored” preview but does have this nice Part 1 historical perspective look into CU football. He has promised a Part 2 but no word yet. http://www.allbuffs.com/content.php/1083-CU-Football-in-the-Modern-Era-(Pt.-1-History)
Go Buffs!
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