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