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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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RB Josh Ford is out with a bad ankle sprain.
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As for Arizona, they have eight players listed
on theirs, including QB Matt Scott who is doubtful.
When the Wildcats have the ball:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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:
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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:
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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.
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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.
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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
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