Neu Coach?

Made you flinch, didn’t I?  Amusingly, I have heard Neuheisel’s name twice mentioned as a possibility, first by the recent CU graduates behind me at the Colorado-Air Force basketball game (incidentally, the same idiots first alerted me to the Embree news-gotta get me on twitter).  Surprisingly, I haven’t heard anyone calling for Dave Logan (yet).

Local TV reporter Vic Lombardi was on the Ralphie Report podcast earlier this week and had some interesting pieces of news.  First, he said that a major reason Bohn made the move was due to the fact the he had contacted at least two coaches about possibly becoming coordinators and they both quickly declined (although one said “call me if you need a head coach”) and who would want to come to a basically lame duck situation with no security whatsoever.  We have no idea who those guys were, or what positions and situations they are currently in.  However, Embree told Ivan Maisel he had a LB guy lined up to become defensive coordinator and I find it hard to believe that Embree was lying, given the rumors last week about Cabral’s departure and the look on Cabral’s face when I called out to him before the Utah game. (There are also some rumors circulating about Cabral’s health, but I have no idea if that really is a factor for him.)  The second “scoop” Lombardi had was that two of the candidates in which CU is interested are coaching this weekend, which limits it to a few head coaches-Dave Doeren at N. Illinois, Butch Jones at Cincinnati or Gus Malzahn at Arkansas St. Or maybe Bohn has been blowing smoke and he is actually targeting some coordinators like Alabama DC Kirby Smart or either of Stanford’s coordinators.  That is why Lombardi thinks it will be at least a week to ten days for me and so many others to keep mindlessly speculating.

I am curious if the CU job can even serve as “raise-getter” for a not-really-interested coach who feigns interest in order to get his current employer to ante up even more cash to keep him. Maybe Anderson, who has lived in Utah basically his entire life? Troy Calhoun did this last time around here and Les Miles just pulled it with Arkansas to get a huge extension at LSU. 

Bohn has said his top choice is a current BCS level head coach, and I just can’t imagine anyone making that “lateral” move. Floyd Keith, executive director of the Black Coaches and Administrators, sent a list of potential black candidates, but has not heard any type of response from CU. Here is another update on some of the names still being talked about, mostly names from non-BCS conferences, in the CU coaching search:

Mike Bohn flat out said that they are not hiring Bobby Petrino; and I think that goes for anyone else with “baggage”, including Mark Mangino, who supposedly has asked to be taken out of consideration for CU-whatever Mark, your PR guy is working overtime to get your name out there! Gary Anderson, Utah State: Cal is flirting even stronger than CU and it is unlikely he leaves Logan for Boulder.

Tim DeRuyter, Fresno State: He has a connection with Bohn from their time at Air Force, but would also probably stay put in Fresno before coming to Boulder.

Sonny Dykes, Louisiana Tech: He has also been mentioned with so many other schools that I can’t imagine he would end up here.  He has reportedly interviewed with NC St. and maybe be their top choice.

Dave Doeren, Northern Illinois: He is getting a lot of attention for numerous jobs and is one of those coaches with games this weekend, but he could be compared to a poor man’s hawkins (bad PR move), coming from a smaller program, but without nearly as much national success.

Gus Malzahn, Arkansas State:  He would be a splash name, is coaching this weekend, and seems to be gaining momentum in Buff land, but he is not known as a very personable guy and doesn’t really seem like a good fit here.

Butch Jones, Cincinnati:  Woody Paige wrote a piece endorsing Jones, another getting hoter-by-the-day commodity, who is also coaching this weekend. Jones has coached with many great offensive minds and kept both Central Michigan and then Cinci rolling after he succeeded Brian Kelly at each place. [Paige also said that at least $750,000 has been donated to CU since the Embree firing.] http://www.denverpost.com/paige/ci_22095246/woody-paige-put-butch-jones-atop-colorado-football

Paige also endorses BYU’s Bronco Mendenhall (first time I have seen his name mentioned).

Another new name thrown into the mix by ESPN was Navy’s Ken Niumatalolo.  I don’t know much about him, but I believe Navy still runs the option!

Mike McIntyre, San Jose State: He has been mentioned with at least a half dozen schools but insists he has not been contacted by anyone, even though SJSU is talking contract extension.

Willie Taggart, Western Kentucky:  His AD has said no one has contacted him from any school for permission to talk to Taggart.

Jeff Tedford seems to be keeping a low profile, probably deciding how to spend and invest his $6.9million so he never has to friggin coach again.

Frank Solich, Ohio: This one kills me!

Dream on if you are really thinking Charlie Strong, who already makes $2M+ and has a huge buyout, not to mention the interest of all four SEC schools.  And no way Bohn hires a second black coach.

Next Coach?

Ivan Maisel of ESPN wrote a great piece on the coaching situation (he also discussed it with Chris Fowler on his podcast) and gave a few new tidbits, including the fact that Bohn had actually made this decision last week and would have fired Embree even if they had pulled out the Utah game (can you imagine the uproar if that had happened?).  It also confirmed that Embree had indeed already told DC Greg Brown AND LB coach Brian Cabral (no bigger Buff than him) that they would be let go and that he was bringing in a new DC, which was not unexpected, however, he was a LB coach (who that was we may never know).  Maisel’s best line on the ordeal was: “In the end, actually, Colorado handed Embree a poker hand with a four, five, seven and eight and fired him for not drawing a six.” Here’s the link: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8685178/colorado-buffaloes-troubles-leave-plenty-blame-go-college-football

I still have no clue as to who Bohn thinks he is going to convince to come to Boulder.  Maisel also mentioned how former Oregon coach Mike Belotti turned down the job the last time around because he “judged that Colorado had too many impediments to win.”  If anything, it is a worse situation now than it was two years ago because of what Bohn has done.  Anyway, here is an update on some of the most mentioned names in the coaching search:

Gary Anderson, Utah State: Even though he has said that he is staying in Logan, he appears to be the “guy” Bohn had his eye on from the get go.  However, CU is by no means the only school who is highly interested in him (at least Cal and also Kentucky, before they hired Mark Stoops).   I still contend CU has no chance at him as he will get more lucrative offerS from better situations.

Tim DeRuyter, Fresno State: He might not even be a bug enough name for Bohn, so by the time Bohn settles for him, he will also likely have gotten numerous offers much better than Colorado’s.

Mike McIntyre, San Jose State: His name is growing quickly, being mentioned prominently around Cal and other programs as well.  He has probably moved into the “will get better offers” category.  [It is very possible that one of McIntyre or DeRuyter gets the Cal job, as both have ties to the Bay Area and have been prominently mentioned for that job.]

Sonny Dykes, Louisiana Tech: Son of coaching legend Spike Dykes is being talked about for the SEC openings, so I really can’t imagine him settling for CU either.  

Willie Taggart, Western Kentucky:  He is an intriguing possibility with his west and east coast recruiting experience but I really haven’t heard that connecting him and CU.

Darrell Hazel, Kent State: Another small school coach, who just doesn’t fit the “splash” profile at all, with few western ties, doesn’t seem likely.

Dave Doeren, Northern Illinois: A new name to pop into the race of whom I know next to nothing about except that he has had great success at his current job and has worked as numerous big-time programs across the country.

Gus Malzahn, Arkansas State:  He was formerly the OC at Auburn and built his reputation mainly on Cam Newton, but he would be a splash name and create an interesting rivalry with CSU, but would he really come here?

Butch Jones, Cincinnati: Same story, why come here?  He has no ties and no reasons to move.

Frank Solich, Ohio: I couldn’t bear a former Nebraska coach, period!

Troy Calhoun, Air Force: Bohn has even said he wasn’t really considering Calhoun since he turned it down last time. 

Jeff Tedford, formerly of Cal, was a definite but he has told people he is not interested in this difficult situation (who can blame him?), and he has 6.9 million reasons not to rush into a new job, and could probably have one of the others if he really wanted one anyway.

Mines coach Bob Stitt is probably a long shot and a local favorite and is personally very interested, but CU wants to make a bugger splash and sources have said he is not a candidate.

Mark Mangino, former Kansas coach:  Thankfully, it appears that the volatile Mangino (think bigger, fatter, white Eric Bienemy) is not a candidate for any position at CU.

If none of the names that have been mentioned seem likely to actually come here, and even more doubtful that some “bigger” name will jump, and that Bohn only wants to steal a current coach and isn’t considering coordinators, who the hell is it going to be, and more specifically, when, because recruiting is crucial. [Note: Remember that Embree put together last year’s 25^th ranked recruiting class, most of it down the stretch, getting 4-star players Crawley and Wright and a few others at the last minute.  Unfortunately, he and his staff won’t get the chance to do it again.]

 Assistant Coaches:  Since none of the assistants have actually been fired (yet, and are supposedly trying to keep recruits in the fold-“No, seriously, you should stay with CU, even though they just screwed my boss and I doubt I’ll be there.”) and whose fate will be decided by the new coach, I wonder if any, such as Cabral, who has survived every coaching change, will be asked, and then if anyone would actually continue working under Bohn’s “leadership”.

New Coach?

There are many names being bantered around as possible replacements for Jon Embree.  Unfortunately, CU really needs to replace Mike Bohn first, as he has not done the two most important aspects of his job: maintaining the cash cow that is a Division 1 football program and raising lots of money to keep said program up with the Joneses (those two will fund and support everything else).  While the basketball program has greatly improved, Bohn cannot take credit for that, except for his original hire of Bzdelik.  However, even there he was bullied by Bzdelik to include the facilities improvements as an element of his contract, and he is the one, not Bohn, who truly deserves the credit, handing two NBA prospects (he lucked out somewhat in bringing in both Alec Burks and Carlon Brown) to Tad Boyle whose hire was really perfect serendipity for Colorado, and especially Bohn.  Now all Bohn does is bask in that spotlight, while whining and complaining that football boosters and donors haven’t anted up enough for him to do his job. 

            He has failed miserably in both aspects and is in turn rewarded with a chance to pick yet another coach, even though the football program has not been “galvanized”, has been on a downward “trajectory” and whose “brand” has gotten progressively worse under each successive decision during his tenure.  He has shown himself over and over to be arrogant and smug, dodging questions, and it appears has been blatantly deceitful.  Who would want to come here in this environment? (See previous post and I didn’t even mention the academic restrictions that the university has in place on top of any NCAA or conference.)

            Bohn has said he definitely wants a coach with head coaching experience and that he has at least one name in mind that is currently a head coach. That might eliminate many of the “hot” coordinators who are being mentioned for the numerous open positions.  The biggest names being thrown around-Louisville’s Charlie Strong-won’t even bother looking at Colorado with so many other, more attractive and lucrative situations out there, and let’s just take Dave Logan out of the conversation. Tom Kensler of the Denver Post suggested that they target a big name offensive guy, as the offenses today are able to make a much quicker impact than defense, and then try to get a great defensive coordinator.  Here’s a list of the coaches that people somehow think would actually want to come to CU and the possibilities they might actually take the jump:

Gary Anderson, Utah State, has said that he is staying in Logan and isn’t interested in any job.  Translation: “It will take a buttload of money to lure me away from this great small school.”  Although CU has supposedly already contacted him, he is one of the hottest names out there for many of the job openings, and he will get a more lucrative offer from a better situation than CU could offer.

Tim DeRuyter, Fresno State, knows what he would be getting into after witnessing firsthand what the young Buffs can actually do on the field.  He will also likely get offers much better than Colorado.

Sonny Dykes has done a great job with Louisana Tech and is a third head coach at a smaller school who is about to make the jump to the big time.  He should also receive better offers than CU’s.

Mike McIntyre, who has turned San Jose State around in two seasons, and has good recruiting ties in California, is another hot name.  I don’t know much else about him, but he actually might have a profile that would fit many of CU’s needs and would not be as expensive as the previous three names.

Willie Taggart, a Harbaugh protégé at Stanford, is now leading Western Kentucky.  He is an intriguing possibility with his west and east coast recruiting experience.

Of course, Air Force coach Troy Calhoun was mentioned often in the early hours, but that has seemed to die down a little.

Jeff Tedford, recently fired from Cal, is a definite possibility and would be a good offensive fit.  However, he is sitting on a $6.9M buyout and does not need to be in a hurry picking a new spot.

Mines coach Bob Stitt is probably a long shot, but a local favorite (this round’s “Dave Logan”) and offensive mind.  He is personally very interested and says he could bring CU back to relevance.  However, his hiring would not make nearly a big enough splash with recruits or boosters.

There are a handful of available coaches who have had great success but carry a lot of baggage, like Bobby Petrino and Jim Tressel, but I don’t think they will go in that direction.

One name who could be put into that previous baggage category is, Mark Mangino, the former Kansas coach who was run out for his verbal abuse of players.  Mile High Sports reported that both CU and Mangino had reached out to each other, and that Mangino was even willing to come as offensive coordinator if a defensive head coach was hired.  Thankfully, at least one source has said Magino is not a candidate for any position at CU.

Would any of these guys actually consider coming to CU with all of its baggage at this point?  How much money will it take to lure someone away from their current position? Or should I say how much money will someone settle for if they decide to take the job in Boulder?

Note on Assistant Coaches:  All of the assistants are still currently employed and will be “evaluated” by the new coach who will choose his own assistants.  They are essentially being used to keep recruiting going, instead of being allowed the freedom to search for a new job, while Bohn finds the man who will actually fire them.  It is quite doubtful any of them would stay on even if asked, after seeing the way their leader, Jon Embree, was treated.  This includes LB coach Brian Cabral.

Who would want to come here?

Jon Embree was emotional, honest, articulate as always in his exit press conference, focusing the first seven minutes on addressing his team, encouraging them to stick together and keep the heart of the buffalo always.  He got the shaft and made that known (he was constantly told they were all in it for the "long haul" by Bohn, therefore the exact definition of "long haul" is "23 months"), but he never lost his cool or ripped into Bohn for all the lying and deceit.

Although it is hard to argue with the results and I am hard pressed (as many others are) to describe what exactly should have been done, this was not it.  The last two days leave a terrible taste in your mouth, especially if you caught Bohn on any of his radio interviews.  He was smug, defensive and rarely actually answered the questions he was posed, speaking more business school jargon and bullshit.  He continues to bring up the facilities improvement plan, but with nothing concrete and no way of paying for any of it.  A few people commented that at times it sounded more like he was begging donors for money, and I am sick of him blaming us, the fans, for not giving enough cash.  We will never compete with USC, UCLA and Stanford for money, but what about Washington State, Oregon St, Utah?  We should be crushing them in fundraising, and facilities.  Who is in charge of that?  Oh yeah, that would be Mike Bohn. Not only local, but national media are questioning him and ridiculing him.

Many are asking, if Mike Bohn said that the whole picture wasn't working, the whole team wasn't "galvanized" and everyone had to get on the same page, who is in charge of that?  The one constant in the program over the last EIGHT disastrous years has been Bohn and university central leadership.  When do they, when does Bohn become accountable? He has failed twice in hiring and supporting new coaches, and that was after he so brilliantly handled the end of the Barnett saga.  Bohn wasn't hired because of his record of signing big coaches, he was brought in to fund raise, and although he has made some improvements in other areas of the athletic department (he can't take much credit for the basketball program because it is a way different game, although he did hire Bzdelik who got lucky with Alec Burks), he has failed miserable in raising funds for the football related projects.  So why does he get the chance to choose a third football coaches when he has been terrible at it, paying out almost $8 million in buyouts.  Embree was not his first choice and maybe not even top five. Bohn tried to point at other athletic directors who have chosen numerous coaches but comparing his situation to Kentucky (how many losing seasons have they had over the past decade at the bottom of the SEC?) and Texas (where AD Deloss Dodds raises tens of millions a year) is kind of a joke-one prgram that also sucks and another that has won national titles and has been ranked recently.  Bohn even had trouble explaining why a coach would want to come here at this point.

Bohn said in interviews that he is forming a search committee but that he has at least one current coach in mind, and that he wants someone with head coaching experience, but that nothing has been advanced yet.  The conventional wisdom is that he wants Troy Calhoun, who might just use this to get another raise out of Air Force as he did last time.  There are a bunch of coaches at very successful smaller schools like Utah State's Gary Anderson among others.

But why would they want to come to Boulder to coach this team in this environment?  Let's count the reasons why they might not want to take this job.  Besides the obvious state of the team in terms of talent (and could be less with defections) and morale after a 1-11 season, any coach has got to be worried about how fast he can turn it around, after seeing his predecessor gone after only two years.  He will have seen and read all the crap about Bohn and would certainly not feel trust in him, after the blatant lies he told Embree or after even listening to part of his press conference or interviews.  Plus, that person would have to be worried that if does not have immediate success, then Bohn might be the next one fired, leaving that coach in limbo with a new AD.  The department has very little money to spend on anything (but that's the fans fault as Bohn continues to insinuate). Embree had to bring his own desk from home and purchased things like water for the staff out of his own pocket.  The facilities are among the worst in the Pac-12 and the coaches are among the lowest paid, with the entire staff making less this past year than the average head coach salary in the league.  There are also about a dozen jobs out there, including 4 SEC, one Big Ten, one Pac-12, a couple of ACC and some smaller schools that any coach would probably prefer to the situation in Boulder, especially if they are not white.  Lastly, there is the matter of the one-year contracts in Colorado that limit how many decent assistants they can attract.  I believe that President Bruce Benson, Chancellor Phil DiStefano and AD Mike Bohn all have a multi-year contract (maybe not all three but...) but will any of them give theirs up for a coordinator?  Of course, not, which shows the level of support they are actually willing to give.

I am very concerned about the state of this program.  It is embarrassing to be associated with it, for the third time during Mike Bohn's tenure.  Do you trust Mike Bohn to make a good decision?  I didn't think so.

Only Two Years! Embree Fired, Program in Shambles

  The murmurs quickly made their way around the Coors Events Center as tweets and texts informed the Buff faithful that Mike Bohn had run out of patience and had fired Jon Embree.  There was more focus on this news than on the hoopsters playing a hard fought game and taking down the Air Force Falcons.  No one can say the firing is unexpected, despite the reports that the university was willing to give him one more year, the performance on the field, the results and statistics were all too awful to be ignored. I stand with very mixed feelings.  I don't agree at all with the idea in principle, but as Matt McChesney said: "I am not in favor of firing him after two years...it's a little hasty...That being said, can you blame them?
  Embree, however, felt he had the rug pulled right out from under him, having been assured of his job and having only had two years to right a sinking ship.  It is a shame that they gave Hawkins a lame duck fifth year, but could not even find a way to support Embree for a third.
  I just am not sure who will actually want to take this job where there is little support, money, fans, talent (both on roster and in-state) and a worsening national reputation as a tough place to win.  Add that to the fact that assistants can really only get one-year contracts and it appears now that any coach has a two-year window.  There are tons of names out there, but I doubt that many of them would even consider coming here over at least five other schools that are looking for head coaches. The new coach probably needs to be a big name that will make a splash with donors and recruits, but that will cost a lot of money to lure someone here especially given all the previously stated circumstances.
   My first pick is Jeff Tedford, recently fired from Cal who is an offensive guru, may not be looking for a huge contract with a $7M buyout and might be looking for a little Pac-12 revenge.  The crowd favorite at the basketball game was Air Force coach Troy Calhoun, who has already turned the job down once.  Among the other names that have been mentioned in early conversations: Jon Gruden, current head coahces: Charlie Strong, Louisville; Art Briles, Baylor; Sonny Dykes, Louisiana Tech; Willie Taggart, Western Kentucky; Tim DeRuyter, Fresno State; Gary Andersen, Utah State;  Top coordinators ready to make a jump? Oregon's Mark Helfrich; Washington's Justin Wilcox; UCLA's Noel Mazzone; Alabama's Kirby Smart; Clemson's Chad Morris; Oklahoma State's Todd Monken; and Michigan State's Pat Narduzzi. Both Stanford coordinators Pep Hamilton and Derek Mason also will merit a look. Oh and of course, Dave Logan.
  The other major question is how will this affect an already thin roster?  Who will transfer that is already here?  Frosh corner Jeff Hall already has speculated about transferring.  How many of the 13 middle of the road verbal commits waver?  Who will a new coach be able to bring in?
More to come, but check in for updates at CUattheGame.com and RalphieReport.com.

Utah Post Game

  The worst part of it is that it was by far the best game of the year for the Buffs, the most "complete" game, with probably the best offensive and defensive efforts...but of course, there were more than enough head-scratching negatives to bury the good again.  They even covered!  But it is extremely difficult to take any solace in that! Same old story for these Buffs: one step forward then get kicked backwards.  Nick Hirschman had a nice game and moved the offense to a season high 35 points, but also threw FOUR awful interceptions, each one at a worse time than the previous one.  Frosh RB Donta Abron also ran well, but gave up a crucial fumble.  After giving up a 26-yard TD at the outset, the Buffs defense held tight, didn't give up a whole lot more until the second half, holding Utah to 0-for its first 8 or 9 3rd downs attempts.   They actually took the lead, were up 28-20, and keeping in the game deep into the fourth.  However, as the second half rolled on, the defense began to crack, giving up chunks of yardage on the ground and through the air, and finally two second half offensive TD drives. Meanwhile, the CU offense stalled on both its last drives, even when the defense had forced a punt and gotten them the ball back with almost three minutes.  When push came to shove down the stretch, this team had no idea how to win the game.
  It was maddening to watch so many of the same mistakes made in the 12th game as the first.  Have to first mention the unbelievable amount of shoddy tackling and dropped passes.  Greg Brown still had his corners giving 8-12 yards cushion late in the game and allowed frosh Travis Wilson to look like a senior All-American on his last couple of drives.  The offensive line continued rotating Eric Richter in at RG, forcing Jack Harris to shift to RT, taking out R-Fr. Stephane Nembot, who needs every rep he can get.  Then, a few plays later, they would switch back, and again and again.  I don't know why they keep running the bubble screen out to a wide receiver-they have NEVER executed that play correctly, even though they can study film of teams using it perfectly against them every week.
  There were many play call issues again on both sides of the ball: the defense was often late getting players in and therefore confused and out of position; the offense had similar issues with not getting plays in quickly-they no idea what to do when they got to the one-yard line, waving to the sideline for a play, instead of automatically lining up for a sneak (which they eventually did); twice they had to call unnecessary timeouts: once on a two-point conversion they gave up easily anyway, and once on a late 4th down when they couldn't decide what to do; on the last 4th down, the play call was to throw the ball to a freshman who has had trouble holding on to the ball, and Gerald Thomas dropped it, effectively ending the game.
  The ultimate microcosm of this team's year was the exchange in the fourth where Marques Mosley made a spectacular individual (this was no textbook blocking setup by any means) effort to reverse fields and take a 100 yard kickoff to the house, to tie the game and ignite the Folsom crowd.  The fanatic cheering, and the Buffs chances died seconds later as the Buffs special teams showed their true colors by first kicking the ball to Reggie Dunn (already had 4 return TDs), and then promptly giving up a (escorting him on a?) 100-yard return the other way-and this one was textbook blocked, set up and executed.
  Not that it is any excuse, as this team lost this game for itself, but Pac-12 officials are absolutely terrible, making bizarre calls, constantly conferring because they are confused, and repeatedly using replay to check their poor judgement.  The worst call was on Utah's last TD where Jon Major was plowed straight in the back by a Utah blocker, right in front of the ref, who seemed to be peering around the illegal block to get a glimpse of the score. It was painfully obvious on the replays and Embree was pointing to it for the refs to see on the (beautiful, new HD) video screen-let's just say that Notre Dame fans wouldn't have complained at all if that had been the block on Ismail's return.
  Senior DE Wil Pericak was given the Buffalo Heart Award from fans after the game.  He was very deserving and a Boulder High grad, but I would have personally voted for Ray Polk this year.
   In the end too many stupid and costly mistakes doomed the Buffaloes yet again.  It is hard to even sift through the rubble of this game and this season to highlight any positives and hope for the future (although there are a few, as in the improved play of many of the frosh down the stretch, especially the running of Abron and Powell).  However, too many records of futility were set this season to even begin to list (however, here is a link with a pretty comprehensive list by Stuart if you really want to know: http://www.cuatthegame.com/2012/record-keeping/ ).There are a lot of questions to answer in the coming weeks and months.

  For the first time in recent memory LB coach Brian Cabral was not on the sidelines for a game. Rumors have been circulating all week that among the changes coming, is a basically forced retirement for Cabral. From my understanding, Cabral all but stepped aside to allow the team to pursue Greg Brown for Defensive Coordinator because he is all about this program and nothing else.  If this indeed happens, and he is made one of the scapegoats for this mess, it will be a crying shame, as he wasn't even given the opportunity to screw it up himself.  Cabral is the ultimate Buffalo, having withstood almost every storm this team has endured, as a player and coach, and owns a .667 winning percentage as head coach (2-1 as interim).  If Cabral goes, but Greg Brown keeps his job, I will give up my season tickets again because that to me would be as wholly unacceptable as keeping hawk for his fifth lame-duck season.

Coming Soon: 2013 Positional Outlook

Utah Utes Preview

One last chance to save a little, tiny bit of face. One last time to snatch a victory, and deny a winless home season. One last opportunity to grasp at some semblance of redemption.  One game time to frustrate, tease and disappoint.

§  Senior Day: The Buffs will bid adieu to eight seniors on Friday, most from a class that was touted as Hawkins’ foundation for the Buffs’ return to greatness.  However, most of the highly rated players from that class fizzled out due to academic or criminal issues, and most are out of football.  Wil Pericak rose from a relatively unknown Boulder High product, slated to play tight end, to a mainstay on the defensive line, playing all positions and starting every game of his career.  LBs Doug Rippy and Jon Major both struggled with injuries over the years and never quite reached their potential.  S Ray Polk is the likely winner of the Buffalo Heart Award voted on by fans for the senior who overcame the most during their career and Polk went through a lot, first switching from RB to DB as a freshman, then overcoming more injuries in his career than we have space to list, to being a team captain and unquestioned leader of the defense (which struggled so much without him).  Nick Kasa was one of the most highly rated players to sign with the Buffs, but also one of the most disappointing as he fought through injury and illness, could never find a place on the defensive line, finishing his career as mediocre TE. Ryan Dannewitz was solid, versatile backup offensive lineman who filled in every spot except center in his career.  Eric Richter set many strength records at CU and provided depth across both lines for seemingly forever, without actually contributing much on the field.  WR Dustin Ebner was a team guy, like his brother, and gave four years to CU, earning a scholarship this last season.  That’s it.  Goodbye and good luck guys!

§  Fourth-year juniors K Zach Grossnickle and WRs DaVaughn Thorton and Jarrod Darden are on course to graduate and were told in the summer that this year would be their last under scholarship, and therefore will be “honored” and thanked, and said goodbye to along with the seniors.

§  Burn the Redshirt: Most of the frosh who have played are contributing a lot.  Four starters any given day on defense (Tyler Henington got his first start at DT), with three more who play regularly, plus two who were injured last week but would have been on the field otherwise.  Add that to the one-two Upland RB punch of Powell and Abron, plus receivers Vincent Hobbs and Gerald Thomas on offense.  Plus, most of these guys participate a ton on special teams, including all the starting return men.

§  Depth Chart moves: Marques Mosley earned his spot back on the kickoff return team and made it count with the longest return of the year, a 59-yarder that set up the shutout killing FG.  Both lines continue to shuffle based on injury and youth progress.  Kenneth Crawley is technically listed as the starter at the left cornerback over Yuri Wright.

§  Injuries: There are a lot of guys who are definitely out: C Gus Handler, OL Ryan Dannewitz, RB Josh Ford, S Parker Orms, DT Justin Solis, QB Jordan Webb.

§  RB Christian Powell is doubtful, TE Vincent Hobbs is “day-to-day” with his concussion, as is Yuri Wright, who is still hobbled by an ankle;

§  DT Nate Bonsu is probable; both Ray Polk and Chidera Uzo-Diribe suffered stingers, but returned and are not listed on the injury report.  LBs Doug Rippy and Jon Major should be as healthy as they have been all year.

§  Utah Notes:   Utah may have hit the Pac-12 wall and is facing reality that the jump to “AQ” can be a little bumpy.  They will have their first losing season and will not go to a bowl game for the first time since 2002, pre-Urban Meyer. However, since Utah is 4-7, has been awful on the road and has really nothing left to play for, the oddsmakers have installed them as 23 point favorites.  The Buffs are bad and have lost any respect they might have still had nationally.

§  Pac-12 All-Academics honors: One positive note for the program as CU placed 16 players on the Pac-12 All Academic team, including DL Nate Bonsu, ST Justin Gorman, DL Will Pericak and QB Connor Wood on the first team. DB Issac Archuletta, OL Brad Cotner, WR Dustin Ebner, OL Stephane Nembot, PK Will Oliver, WR Nelson Spruce and ST Richard Yates earned second-team honors while RB D.D. Goodson, WR Tyler McCulloch, OL Daniel Munyer, OL Marc Mustoe and P Darragh O’Neill were honorable mention selections. In order to make this list a player must have at least a 3.0 GPA and be a “significant contributor”, which is a little odd since about half of this group really doesn’t play that much, except maybe on special teams.

When the Utes have the ball:

§  Frosh QB Travis Wilson is getting better as he gets more time under his belt.  RB John White is a hard runner and should be yet another RB who loves to spend extra time watching film during CU game week, especially of Ka’Deem Carey gliding through Colorado’s defense.  Devonte Christopher, a solid WR who has had an underachieving senior season, leads a mediocre receiving corps (which is still way better than what CU can send into the huddle).

§  The Buff defense needs to build on it first half effort vs. Washington, a superior offensive team to the Utes. 

§  The freshmen, seven who are getting regular playing time on defense when healthy, are no longer truly freshmen as they say and need to start playing like it.Chidera Uzo-Diribe (we decided we should create a drink named after him for next season) had a good game until suffering a stinger and needs to step up this week and into the future for this defense to have any success. Even if he is double-teamed, he has to find a way to make plays.  Kirk Poston continues to surprise and make plays as well.

§  Without S Parker Orms, Terrel Smith should get some playing time in nickel situations, Jeff Hall will get some snaps and we might even see Jered Bell or Josh Moten.

§  Likewise, for seniors Wil Pericak, Doug Rippy, Jon Major and Ray Polk, this is it-their college careers are only 60 minutes long now (and only Pericak appears destined for the NFL)-what memory do want to leave Boulder with guys?

When the Buffs have the ball:

§  It appears that QB Nick Hirschman will start (how sad is it that we are glad that is the case?), albeit I would assume we will see at least one other QB during the course of the day, first Connor Wood and maybe even John Shrock.

§  Without C Gus Handler, Munyer will shift to center, Jack Harris to RG and Stephane Nembot will open at RT.  I am sure they will get Richter a few series at RG, which will likely cause Nembot to sit and Harris to shift out (what a waste of effort).

§  Whoever is at QB, whoever is on the offensive line, whoever is in the backfield, they must account for all-everything DE Star Lotulelei.  He is the leader of the defense and they find ways to move him around so he can wreak a lot of havoc behind the line of scrimmage.

§  Brian Blechen plays a roving safety/linebacker that wreaks havoc in the middle of the field if an offense can get by Lotulelei.

§  RB Christian Powell’s availability could be key, he had one less day to go through the concussion test progressions and is listed as doubtful.  Donta Abron has played well last week and will probably get the start.  Tony Jones should get one more chance to show that his one 84-yard run to spark the comeback vs. WSU wasn’t a fluke (at least we’re not the Cougs with Mike Leach).  Can Malcolm Creer hang on to the ball is he gets a shot?

§  The wide receivers are almost a non-factor at this point, with only Spruce and McCulloch ever getting any targets, except for the one or two times they run a play for Gerald Thomas.  Utah won’t give them much thought either, leaving them in single coverage and everyone else hanging around the box to stop the run and keep an eye on the tight ends, who are much less dangerous without Hobbs.

§  Unfortunately (?), outside of the oft-injured Nick Kasa, who has his last chance to provide game film for NFL scouts, there are no seniors contributing much on offense, the lack of veteran leadership one of the many reasons it has been so pathetic.

Special Teams:

§  Marques Mosley put a spark in the team last week with his 59-yard kickoff return that set up the FG.  MVP Darragh O’Neill continues to be excellent, as does his snapper.  Wil Oliver is and will continue to be a decent if not great kicker. 

§  Long snapper Ryan Iverson is 5^th in special teams points, only 5 behind leader Josh Moten.

§  However, punt return has returned to debacle state with the two returners going back and screwing it up-hope we don’t see that again. 

§  Buffs were also unable to tackle the Husky punter when he dropped the snap, instead allowing him to get off a decent punt.

§  Utah returns Coleman Peterson, the kicker who missed three field goals in the season-ending Buff win last year.

§  Overall, these are two bad teams, limping into a bowl-less offseason.  Who wants it more?

§  If you truly need something else to get you through Thanksgiving Day:

Stuart’s TIPS: http://www.cuatthegame.com/2012/coloradoutah-preview/

Plati’s CU Game Notes: Dave come through this week! http://www.cubuffs.com/fls/600/gameday/utah12/cunotes.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=600

Utah Game Notes: http://www.cubuffs.com/fls/600/gameday/utah12/utahnotes.pdf

Yet Another Discouraging, Disheartening, Disappointing Performance from and Uninspiring Team

With just over a minute left in the first half, the Colorado Buffaloes were tied with the Washington Huskies 0-0, yes that is correct, zero points for each squad.  Even when UW scored right before halftime, there was still cause for optimism as the game was tight and CU was definitely in the game; we all said in the stands that “we would take it”. Then, they came out after halftime and stopped the Husky offense, forcing a punt…which was muffed in a quite spectacular play (read more below), leading to a TD and the flood gates opened.  The first half was the best half of the season by far for the defense, but of course, the offense could do absolutely nothing, either with Connor Wood or Jordan Webb, and barely avoided a shutout with a FG set up with the team’s best kickoff return of the year by Marques Mosley. Overall, the team was described as looking “dead” by at least one Washington player.  The Buffs’ penchant for following anything positive with a gaff continued as Washington gave the Buffs every chance to take control of this game early, but they could never capitalize on Husky miscues, penalties and turnovers. 

The Buffs definitely had some costly penalties of their own (although this is a much improved area over last year), and most importantly, must frustratingly, redundantly continuing to make many of the same miscues that they have been continually making all season over and over again, every game in all phases, which makes it all the more frustrating that they keep making these same stupid mistakes again and again.  Here are some of my favorites:

·         Whenever the Buffs run a bubble screen with two receivers out wide, the second receiver fails to block the opposing DB who then easily tackles the catching receiver, often for a loss.  The 10-year-old sitting above us could see it.  These receivers aren’t just slow, they’re wimps.  If the ball isn’t right to them (which we know won’t be often and even then…) they also can’t go up and fight for a ball, either to take it for themselves or at least knock it away.  McCulloch is the worst culprit here (which I have been saying for awhile) and was being called out by Larry Zimmer throughout the game.

·         The whole Jordan Webb thing falls into this category, as it doesn’t seem he really gives us any worse of a chance than even Wood, who handles pressure poorly as well.  At least they stopped asking Webb to throw crossing routes since he is always behind, but they still have him throw these long sideline balls that are ALWAYS overthrown, and even if they are in a catchable the range, the pussy receivers are rarely going to come down with it.

·         Of course, it doesn’t matter who is under center, since they all make horrible decisions, but I would rather lean to youth and mobility so I would have rather continued with Wood, even with his erraticism, which is different, but no worse than Webb’s version.  Hopefully Hirschman is back next week.

·         When it is third or fourth down with one yard to go, they are horrible, telegraphing their plays, so that even if they don’t run it straight up the gut for nothing, the defense seems to know exactly what they are doing.  Against Washington they gave Powell a deep handoff almost every time in this situation and each time the Husky defenders got a huge push and hit him behind the line. The one instance they were “successful” on 4^th and 1 was when the refs had actually signaled and moved the chains for a first down, but Jordan Webb made a desperate scramble to secure the yard and set up 2^nd and 9.

·         The defense played relatively well in the first half, slowing down the Husky offense, albeit with the help of some stupid bad dog penalties, but they constantly had to deal with bad field position, either from turnovers or special team penalties and errors.

·         Speaking of penalties, the Buffs are actually way better than last year in this area, but they always seem to be costly, negating a big play, a defensive stop or adding on to an opponent’s return.

·         Across the board tackling is so shoddy that backup running backs chalk up yardage when the starters get tired of running all over. How many times does someone hit a runner behind the line of scrimmage, only to see him make a huge gain? The team couldn’t even wrap up the punter, who was already almost on the ground from a fumbled snap. 

·         I would rather have this defense facing a third-and-4 than longer because they always give up the long ones.  In fact, the longer it is, the more likely a team can convert.

·         What is up with DBs giving these gigantic cushions, making it so easy to convert short gains and longer conversions?  They STILL are falling so badly to this brand new innovation they call “the screen pass”?!

·         Is your long snapper supposed to be the first one down the field on punt coverage and one of your leading tacklers in that unit?  Ryan Iverson is consistently one of the first guys down the field on punt coverage and one of the team leaders in special teams points.

·         Worst of all is Eric Richter on the offensive line.  I am sure he is great guy, we know he is super strong, I would totally be supportive of getting him a few snaps next week for senior day, but it makes absolutely no sense on any level to have him rotating in for meaningful snaps at this point in the season.  The only reason a senior, or even junior at this point, should be playing over an underclassman is if they are significantly better. If that were the case with Richter, he would have been playing earlier and all the time.  More often than not when there was a bad play by the line, whether weak run blocking or terrible protection, Richter was in the game, and a few times was the obvious culprit. Who the hell rotates on the offensive line anyway?  If they do, it is by series, not every few plays.  This forces Jack Harris to constantly change what he is doing with his body and feet and who is doing it in conjunction with as he switches between RT and RG.  R-Fr. Stephane Nembot (who only has a few years of football under his belt) could be getting even more experience?!  It isn’t like they are “resting” Nembot, as he is sprinting in and off the field throughout the game.  Is this really the best thing for the line, the offense, the team?  Come on, man!

·         Lastly, I will close with the turning point, the huge mistake that exemplifies everything that is wrong with this team.  With the game still very much in question, the Buffs only down 7-0 and having stopped the Huskies on their first possession of the second half, they sent back their new punt return formation with both Nelson Spruce and Kenneth Crawley back to receive.  Of course, having two guys back there is supposed to make it safer, give whoever catches it a block and some help.  Instead, as the ball heads toward Crawley Spruce turns his back to the ball, Crawley doesn’t seem to communicate well and lets the ball bounce in traffic, and it ricochets off Spruce’s shoulder toward the sideline.  Indicative of its attitude and style, Washington players were dancing and bouncing on the sideline all day, flying around the field and hustling and finishing every play, and sure enough a Husky player dives and Larry Bird saves the ball back in bounds where Washington player swarm and recover the ball.  Boom touchdown 14-0.  Boom next possession Jordan Webb stands in pocket and is crushed, fumbling the ball into the hands of TE (yes, tight end) Austin Sefarian-Jenkins who is filling in for them at DE also (he’ll probably play some basketball in the offseason to keep in shape, for the varsity squad, seriously).  Boom touchdown, game over.

Washington Huskies Preview

The erratic Washington Huskies come to Boulder for an 11:30 AM kickoff for the second to last game of the year.  Washington has its best week offensively of the season last week, is playing well and must be salivating to face our defense.  Moreover, their defense is drastically improved this year under Justin Wilcox.  Washington has won their last 11 games that have been decided by 10 points are less, which doesn’t bode well for the Buffs, as it is really hard to see them running away with it against the Huskies.  Although UW are only 20 point favorites, it is hard to see anything but a blowout loss for the Buffs. 

§  Burn the Redshirt: John Shrock became the 22^nd frosh to play this year (13 true, 9 redshirt).  We can only hope, pray, sacrifice things to the football gods that all this experience for the youth pays off somehow next season and beyond.

§  Depth Chart moves: With Gus Handler and Ryan Dannewitz out, it looked like Stephane Nembot would get a whole game under his belt, but noooooo, they decided it would be better to get senior Eric Richter some time, and rotated him in at guard, forcing Jack Harris to shift back and forth between right tackle and guard. Then, Richter gave up the stupid hold that nullified a huge early TD that could have changed momentum.  Brilliant. Fortunately, Richter is currently only listed third at the LG spot behind starter Alex Lewis and T-Fr. Jeromy Irwin, so Nembot might get the RT slot all to himself.

§  T-Fr. S Marques Mosley and DT Samson Kafovalu appear to have solidified starting positions on the defense.  Parker Orms is not listed as injured on the depth chart, but is listed third behind Polk and Bell at free safety.

§  Injuries: Lots of “day-to-day” concussions-Hirschman, Kasa, Uzo-Diribe, Washington, Orms; Yuri Wright is questionable with his sprained ankle; DT Justin Solis, OL Ryan Dannewitz and RB Josh Ford are definitely out, Gus Handler is likely out again.

When the Huskies have the ball:

§  QB Keith Price had his best day of the year vs. Utah and will have his chance to have a breakout game against the worst defense ever.  Maybe they’ll play former Mullen star Cyler Miles just for fun so he can have a huge day in front of family and friends.

§  Even with two of their top three RBs out for the season with injuries, Bishop Sankey has quietly put together a very nice follow up season to Chris Polk, whom they thought would be too hard to replace. Sankey especially must be loving looking at Arizona-CU game film.

§  True sophomore Austin Sefarian-Jenkins is another beast at the TE position, maybe the best in the nation, and we all know how this defense has dealt with good tight ends this year: we ignore them and pretend they aren’t there, so then we don’t have to cover them. He is so versatile and athletic that they had him play some DE against Utah and likely will do the same in Boulder.

§  Greg Brown has no clue, no answer and soon should have no job.  He was always a great secondary coach, but he cannot handle more than that.  It’s too bad Cabral didn’t take the coordinator position and we could have kept Ashley Ambrose or added someone else for the DBs. [One interesting name thrown out there is former Buff staffer and current Temple DC Chuck Heater, who would bring some wide defensive experience, as well as still keep it “in the Buff family”.]

§  Former CU coach Eric Kiesau is the UW OC and he must like what he sees on film as well and will be looking forward to his return to Folsom.

When the Buffs have the ball:

§  It appears that Nick Hirschman will not be cleared to play after his concussion, and so Connor Wood has gotten all the reps this week and will get the start.  However, earlier in the week Embree did admit that he anticipated playing more than one guy and that Jordan Webb could be “in the mix,” or even possibly John Shrock, so nothing will surprise me under center. I don’t think it matters as all three “name” QBs have been big disappointments, and our future will be in the hands of scout team star Shane Dillon (who is currently getting to work with a healthy and practicing Paul Richardson).

§  The Buffs were actually able to muster a run game against Arizona with Powell and former high school backfield mate Donta Abron combining for 220 yards and 3 TDs. Although much of this was against a lackadaisical Arizona defense playing with a big lead, it is at least something to build upon.

§  Although they have eight players with at least ten catches this season, which bodes well for the future, but… the receiving corps overall is just lame, ineffective and not that talented. Against Arizona and a weak secondary, they were not even able to do much to help their quarterbacks. Tyler McCulloch had two nice catch and runs, but that was it; Nelson Spruce had a few decent catches, but all for short yardage; they say every wee k that they are going to get Gerald Thomas the ball, but against Arizona they didn’t target him until the very end of the game; when Kasa went out, it made it that much easier for the Wildcats to cover the rest of the receivers; TEs Slavin and Hobbs each had one catch, but they need to be more involved.

Special Teams:

§  The Buffs own the definite edge in punting and Darragh O’Neill is still my vote for team MVP.  Even when the team makes him do rugby style kicks, which he hates and is not really comfortable with, he can still nail a 61-yarder inside the five, which incidentally was followed by Denker’s opening fumble and then Powell’s first TD.

§  Long snapper Ryan Iverson has been named as one of 50 nominees for the Burlsworth Trophy.

§  It’s pathetic that in Colorado, at altitude, we can’t recruit a freaking kicker that can get the ball out of, or even to the endzone (and we have at least three scholarships devoted to kicker/punters, and that is not including walk-on O’Neill).  Instead, we have to try tricky “sky kicks” that work just as badly as letting the opponent return normally.

Overall,

§  If you really feel you need some more:

Stuart’s TIPS: http://www.cuatthegame.com/2012/coloradowashington-preview/

Plati’s CU Game Notes: It’s gotten so bad at CU that even Dave Plati can’t get his notes out before Friday?

Washington Game Notes: http://www.cubuffs.com/fls/600/gameday/uw12/uwnotes.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=600

From Ryan Priest of “UWDawgPound” (who is a little more articulate than HuskerMax): “The essence of every college football fan can be distilled into one simple emotion -- hope. It's an emotion that comes in many different varieties: hoping that a preseason No. 1-ranked team can live up to the hype, hoping that a favorite player can avoid injury and play to his potential, hoping that a team down 17 points at halftime against a rival can rally and win one for the ages. But perhaps no hope is stronger than the kind that manifests as a belief that no matter what happened in the days, weeks or years prior, victory is just around the corner. It's when this most desperate of beliefs is torn asunder that a team and its fans lose any semblance of positive morale, and resign themselves to the bitter choice of writing off the present in exchange for, yes, hoping for better results in the future. I write this because, at present, it is painfully clear that this is the situation in which the Colorado Buffaloes (1-9, 1-6) find themselves just prior to Thanksgiving 2012. (I don't expect too many Dawg fans to watch this team with any degree of schadenfreude on Saturday, though, considering how closely removed we are from our own program's painful nadir.) Of the 44 players on the offense and defense's two-deep, an astounding 17 are redshirt or true freshman, and another 12 are sophomores. This is simply a team that needs to grow up and become adults before they can compete in a talented conference like the Pac-12, and the biggest question for coach Jon Embree is whether or not the administration will have the patience to give him the time he needs to attempt a turnaround of this once-proud program.”  [Note: Only a few years ago UW went 0-12.]

The Buffs Cover.

Whoopty-doo!  This defense may the the worst defense, anywhere, in the history of sports in general, not just college football FBS, or football, but my god they are awful.  Once again, any positives that could be taken from the game (the running of both Christian Powell and Donta Abron, and Scottie Fernandez' 71-yard TD) are so overshadowed by the porous defensive effort that it doesn't matter.  The only "good" play on defense was the fumble recovery on the first play (the fumble itself had nothing to do with defenders), but it was all steeply downhill from there as Arizona, led by their backup QB, scored touchdowns on its next SEVEN drives.  Even the Buff QBs might look good against this defense.
When the Buffs offense settled for a FG on the second drive and Arizona responded with an immediate score and then another, it was basically over at 21-10 and no answer for KaDeem Carey who rushed for a video game-like 366 yards and 5 TDs plus some receiving.
Nick Hirschman looked decent, in command of the offense, until he completely ignored Arizona's best defensive player and threw the ball right to him.  Then he got crushed and added to the list of Buff concussions.  Wood was okay in his relief with the game out of hand again and threw the TD to Fernandez. John Shrock also got into the game on the last drive.
Why the f*&k was Eric Richter in the game at all?! He was responsible for the reaching grab holding call right in front of the ref that nullified (and might not have even been necessary) on what would have been a 76-yard screen pass score for Donta Abron. It appeared they were rotating Richter in for Nembot, and shifting Jack Harris between right guard and tackle.   That has got to be great for consistency and for developing Nembot?!  I almost want to get rid of Steve Marshall even more than Greg Brown (hard to believe Marshall was coach of incredible o-line of 2001 with Gurode and Rogers, which paved the way for 62-36).
I had been thinking that the high number of concussions (Kasa and Chidera also sustained them) was due to Embree and his staff's diligence in identifying and monitoring them, but I really think it is because they are just getting killed by everyone, literally, figuratively, physically, mentally, emotionally.

Arizona Wildcats Preview

The Arizona Wildcats are licking their wounds after being mauled by the Bruins of UCLA 66-10.  It was AU’s worst game of the season in all phases.  On top of that, their QB has had concussion two straight weeks and one of their best LBs left the game in an ambulance.

Does that mean that they are ripe for the picking?  Or that they are just plain pissed off and ready to deal out some punishment on their home turf?  

Although CU is 13-1 all-time vs. Arizona (7-0 in Tucson), they are 30 point underdogs to the Wildcats and we can really only pray for a miracle and the former. Last year, the Buffs broke a seven-game losing streak against the Wildcats, and can help spoil their chances for a bowl game this year.  Nobody knows which quarterback(s) will play on either side, only that one will be a healthy scratch for this one.  The forecast is for a dreary, overcast, cold day (50s anyway) with a 70% chance of rain.  I must say however, it is difficult to not just be resigned to the latter possibility and another road blowout.

§  Burn the Redshirt: The Buffs usually have at least four true frosh at any given time on the defense, with four DBs and at least three on the d-line who play regularly (if healthy), plus Powell, Thomas and Hobbs on offense.  At least seven of the thirteen have commented to Embree that the longer college season has started to take a toll on them.

The younger players should continue seeing more and more of the field, especially when they are well behind in the second half, when older players have been mostly sitting, except those who haven’t played much due to injury (Rippy) or lack of talent (Richter).

Supposedly T-Fr. DE De’Jon Wilson is tearing it up on the scout team, but they (hopefully) won’t waste his redshirt.

§  Injuries/Depth Chart moves: We are never really sure who will play on Saturday but as of now there are many question marks and “questionable”s but only one official “day-to-day” this week.

§  Coaches thought the o-line struggled without C Gus Handler, but I am not sure it makes a difference; Handler and Dannewitz (possibly done for year) are both out, which means Stephane Nembot gets the RT spot to himself.  I do not think there is a huge drop off from bad to a little worse so I don’t really care who lines up but would prefer to see more of the young guys like Nembot, Mustoe, Irwin.

§  The defensive line is in even worse shape with DTs Nate Bonsu and Josh Tupou on the sideline for Stanford and questionable again this week.  Then, Justin Solis had a scary neck injury and is doubtful this week, but should be back next week.  Walk-on John Tuso got some reps late in the game because there was no one else.  Chidera is still nursing an ankle that he keeps aggravating.  

§  LB Jon Major is also questionable after hyper-extending his elbow, but hasn’t really appeared 100% all season.  Kyle Washington has missed a few games with a concussion and is still day-to-day.

§  CB Kenneth Crawley was sick last week, and also had some “academic” issues to take care of, but is probable to return to help out this week.

§  S Parker Orms is actually listed as questionable, although there was talk that he might not play again this season. Nonetheless, he will likely enter spring drills with a “one more concussion and you are done playing” status from Embree. 

§  RB Josh Ford is out with a bad ankle sprain.

§  As for Arizona, they have eight players listed on theirs, including QB Matt Scott who is doubtful.

When the Wildcats have the ball:

§  The Wildcat offense had its worst week of the year last week and will be looking to get well as everyone else has against CU, no matter who their QB is.

§  It appears more and more likely that QB Matt Scott will not play (possible concussions two weeks in a row), and that his backup, BJ Denker will likely have his breakout game, even though they will rely heavily on RB Ka’Deem Carey, already there is talk of 30+ touches. When he does pass, Denker will throw the ball against our pathetic secondary and inconsistent, depleted pass rush. He has been working overtime studying film all week, expecting to get the call.  Denker did fumble his third snap, and then gave way late for WR Richard Morrison.

§  Scott has struggled when he has been under pressure, so the same should go for the less talented and less experienced Denker. Unfortunately, it looks like the Buffs will be missing up to three DTs on Saturday, which will make it much harder to get after anyone.  If they can’t hold their own with the Arizona offensive line, the Wildcats will be able to do whatever they want against us.

§  Brady Daigh will continue to play while Major is out.  He and Derrick Webb will make a solid core next year.  Paul Vigo is also continuing to play well on passing downs, making some plays on balls, as well as a lot of tackles.  This group will have to play well due to the lack of depth of front.

§  I hope Chidera is feeling better, because he has not been very effective.  Poston continues to surprise, but is not the long-term answer (although he kinda is and will play a lot the next two years).  Juda Parker is finally getting on the field a little more, partially because Pericak has had to move inside with the injuries there.

§  Arizona has a solid bunch of receivers, led by Austin Hill and Dan Buckner, and they spread the ball around to a lot of guys, often playing four or five wideouts. 

§  Ray Polk should be a little healthier this week and that should make the secondary a little better, but we should see a lot of all four of the frosh out there, with Wright and Mosley probably starting, Crawley expected to return, possibly even starting in the nickel slot, and Jeff Hall is also likely to get some reps.  While S Terrel Smith has been playing, Jered Bell and any other corners besides the frosh and Henderson have hardly gotten on the field.

When the Buffs have the ball:

§  Who will be the QB, or who won’t get to play QB?  As of Friday AM we do not know.  Embree said they were going to look at it a little differently this week and on Tuesday he said the Webb (hallelujah!) will NOT be the starter against Arizona, having “lost his edge” according to QB coach Rip Scherer.  Instead, Webb “will sit back and watch”…I guess leaving open the possibility he could still play sometime this season.  I was worried they would say that Webb had “the better week of practice” and “earned” the start-he is a better practice QB for sure, making all the throws in drills and minimal pressure “live” situations, but then he doesn't do it on the field with full-time, full-speed Pac-12 players coming after him.  If Webb had played, he would have had a short leash; it would have shown with an early mistake and a yank.  I am also really glad that they won’t burn Dillon’s redshirt for three games (Embree is still a little bitter that he doesn't have Tyler Hansen this year because of the Hawkins QB fiasco that twice burned Tyler’s redshirt). 

§  So, the question becomes Hirschman or Wood?  Neither one has been consistent enough in practice to earn the job up to now, but one of them will get to Saturday after only a few days of competition, with the loser as the backup (although the door was not closed on Webb playing).  Hirschman has basically been ineffective except for handing the ball off to Christian Powell on the two drives vs. Oregon, while Wood has not been given much gameday opportunity, supposedly because of some mysterious practice deficiency that makes him a worse choice than the other two, even though my dogs can see Wood has by far the best arm of the three.  I wonder how short of a leash the “winner” will have and the likelihood we see both is very high.  If John Shrock was not recovering from mono, he would likely be in the mix also.  If only Gabe Leonard had a little eligibility left.

§  Whoever it is, they need to watch out for roving “Spur” safety Tra’mayne Bondurant who makes a lot of plays from everywhere on the field.  LBs Jake Fischer and Marquis Flowers control the middle of the field for the Wildcats.

§  I don’t care who is hurt or who is playing on the offensive line-they just need to perform and block!  Coaches had been saying that they were improving and had their best games to date against USC and then Oregon, before falling flat last week.  All the offensive woes begin right here and everyone else would perform a little better if this group could get it started in the trenches. This is Steve Marshall’s last plea to keep his job over these last few games by getting this unit ready for gameday. 

§  Tailbacks have actually brought themselves back to respectability (although Tony Jones’ 84-yarder at WSU definitely helps this stat) with a 4.55 rushing average, led by Christian Powell’s 109-488 yards, 4.48 per rush.

§  Who will catch the ball?  Someone needs to step it up here as well. Doesn’t matter if it’s an RB, WR or TE but the Buffs need someone to make a play on offense.  The shutout at home was just plain embarrassing!

§  Coaches continue to talk about getting speedy frosh Gerald Thomas the ball, but defenses keep preparing for him and have their eye on him when he is in the game.  Even if he is not totally caught up in the playbook, they need to have them out there as much as possible so defenses constantly have to be on their toes.

§  If CU can get a little push up front, some decent decision-making from the QB position, and a couple guys can step up and catch the ball, the Buffs have an excellent chance to move the ball and score some points.  The Wildcat defense actually has similar and sometimes even worse statistics than the Buffs, and they tend to win shootouts.

Special Teams:

§  The Buffs are solid at punter (Darragh O’Neill), long snapper (Ryan Iverson) and maybe placekicker, except that Wil Oliver is bound to get rusty at this rate.  However, they still need someone who can kickoff the ball into the endzone, a few speedy guys to cover kicks well (besides O’Neill and Iverson), although DB Josh Moten has been making a lot of plays lately.  They definitely still need some better blocking on return units to give a few little holes to the new frosh who will be returning kickoffs and punts next year.

§  Overall, the Buffs might have chance here, with the dreary weather, Arizona without its QB and a few others, to actually cover the 30.5.

§  If you really feel you need some more:

Stuart’s TIPS: http://www.cuatthegame.com/2012/coloradoarizona-preview/

Plati’s CU Game Notes: http://www.cubuffs.com/fls/600/gameday/ua12/cunotes.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=600

Arizona Game Notes: http://www.cubuffs.com/fls/600/gameday/ua12/uanotes.pdf?SPSID=3843&SPID=255&DB_OEM_ID=600