Welcome!

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

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Game Day Audibles- csu lambs


Game Day is finally freakin’ here!  There is a lot of excitement for this game across the state, some of it is even in favor of the northern little brother lambies.  Both programs believe they can get the requisite six wins to earn bowl game eligibility (although there is no guarantee a 6-6 mwc team automatically gets an invite), even though most of the rest of the country does not.  The winner will be on the right track and the loser will have to find another week to squeeze out another possible win.  The Buffs remain a 6+ point favorite which I still find a little low-bet it baby!
 Here are a few more tidbits for to keep you going until kickoff (I am off to Denver for the game!):
§  CU will suit up 77 players for this game, 26 of them freshmen (16 true, 10 redshirt) in addition to the 24 sophomores that litter much of the roster (that is 65 % underclassmen!), plus 19 juniors and only eight seniors.  It is a little scary but it should pay off late in the season and especially next year. 
§  This game is the first step toward the team goal of a bowl game, which comes with the often overlooked but most important aspect of a bowl game: the fifteen extra practices the team and the young players get.  The playing of the actual game and the general experience (not to mention the accompanying goody bag) are a great reward and incentive for the players, but the practices are the most valuable reward.
§  There are a lot of new player numbers and I don’t even know them since no one could observe practices.  (i.e. S Ray Polk is 7, his backup T-Fr. Marques Moseley wears 17- that’s my favorite jersey I will be wearing today!)
I asked SID Dave Plati if there was a way to get a roster on my iphone so he emailed a PDF I could open.  Sweet!  Plati is awesome if you ever have a question about CU, 80’s music, Seinfeld or obscure sports trivia.
§  The pressure is on CU to win, not just for the rivalry, the first game, the bowl game aspirations, but because USA Today published the Worst 25 NCAA football teams, according to Jeff Sagarin’s computer rankings, and it included the lowly lambs at number 18 (that’s 18th worst team in the country!).  So, the Buffs had better represent!
§  The more I look at the matchup between the CU offensive line and the csu defensive line (only one guy over 265), I have trouble envisioning Tony Jones(26) not getting 100 yards and a couple of touchdowns.  DD Goodson(21) is the listed #2 but I am sure we will see at least one more of Malcolm Creer(10), Josh Ford(42) and T-Fr Donta Abron(18) or Terrence Crowder(34-still wondering if he might actually end up redshirting as it appears they have some depth here).
§  I would really like to see them run some “no-huddle” type of approach similar to Oregon.  Maybe the closed practice time has allowed them to develop this to roll out Saturday.  If not that, what other tricks will EB have up his sleeve, and will he even pull them out (he rarely did much trickery last year).
§  There has been a lot of web talk, maybe just wild speculation, that they will employ true frosh FB Christian Powell(46) in some one-back formations.  Rumblin’ Buff (see below) went off in an earlier blogpost about the comparison of Powell to Buff great Lawrence Vickers (another classic 17), but the freshmen has the size and supposed temperament to be a punishing FB who can carry the ball as well.
§  The TE position should be a more integral part of the offense this year.  I am curious to see if Sr. Nick Kasa(44) is really ready to do something, if Kyle Slavin(88) can live up to his physical potential, and most of all, if T-Fr.Vincent Hobbs(15), who is way down on the depth chart, but raved about by everyone for his speed in summer workouts, can get on the field.  The combination of Hobbs and fellow true frosh WR Gerald Thomas(25) is exciting for the future, but I am ready for that to be now!
§  There are four other wide receivers who will play and Webb will likely spread the ball around to starters Nelson Spruce(22) and Tyler McCulloch(87), but also Keenan Canty(12), Sr. possession guy Dustin Ebner(83) and the speedster Thomas (look for a deep shot to him early).  Do everything athlete (PAT/FG holder, special teams coverage player, and former QB/RB/DB) Justin Gorman(14) has moved to wide receiver to provide depth as the 6th wideout since Jeffrey Thomas is greyshirting, but I am not sure how much he will actually play on offense.
§  I am really looking forward to watching the frosh on D, specifically massive DT Josh Topou(57) who will be rotating with veterans Wil Pericak(83) and Nate Bonsu(99). I am not sure how much we will see of the other frosh DTs, Tyler Henington(94) and Justin Solis(57).
§  Likewise I am really keen to see how stud corner Kenneth Crawley(2) reacts on the field.  He will also return punts -when was the last time a freshmen anywhere won a starting position job and return slot from the get go?.  I also expect to see Yuri Wright(5) get his first action fairly quickly as well.   Not sure CB Jeff Hall(16) yet, but he is probably active on special teams.  I do expect to see Moseley who is also listed as the second nickel back (which is probably also the “dime”, sixth DB who comes in on longer passing situations).
§  DEs Chidera Uzo-Diribe (96-3rd # in 3 years) and Juda Parker(56) should wreak some havoc from the outside, but will have to spelled by someone and the first two up are T-Fr. John Stuart(82) and So. Kirk Poston(91), who held on to some of his spring foothold on the depth chart.  I don’t know if we will see Samson Kafovalu(93) play yet without a blowout.
§  I count six true frosh that will definitely play today: Powell, Thomas, Topou, Crawley, Moseley, Wright.  A couple of more will play just special teams, even if they don’t get into the game at their position, possibly including FB Clay Norgard, CB Hall, and maybe one of the TEs, Hobbs or maybe Austin Ray.
§  Cabral has made it clear that he will play his backup LBs-Brady Daigh(43), Woodson Greer III(37) and Kyle Washington(4)-to spell his starters and because they are so good.  Coaches have also talked highly of Paul Vigo(32) since his switch from the secondary. This position group is solid!
§  csu TE Crockett Gillmore (that name cracks me up, especially when paired with Garret Grayson-it’s so hillbilly!) is their biggest receiving threat and I am curious as to who will draw that assignment-either safety Polk or Terrell Smith(41), nickel Parker Orms(13), or the outside backers, Jon Major(31) or Derrick Webb(1).  Of course, these same guys must be able to help support the run defense. If the Buffs can slow down RB Chris Nwoke (I think the other LB Doug Rippy(3) will key on him a lot in the middle) and neutralize the TE, I believe Greg Henderson(20) and Crawley can hold their own against this fairly weak group of wideouts.
§  The lambs appear quite confident, downplaying Jordan Webb(4) as “just another quarterback”, and are acting as if they were the favorite, with higher-rated, bigger and faster players.  I guess I am not surprised.  Many fans also seemed quite upset at the “It’s their Super Bowl” comments from many in the CU camp including some players, but if it wasn’t true, they wouldn’t get so riled up.
§  Bulletin Board?  The Denver Post’s chris dempsey rated both csu’s offensive line and linebackers as having the edge over Colorado’s units.  While I understand that those groups are the lambs’ strength, they are also the Buffs’ strongest positions, with LT David Bahktiari (59) and C Gus Handler(55) on watch lists for national awards (no lambs listed anywhere), the entire line and primary utility backup Ryan Dannewitz(53) have starting experience in real conferences (Big 12 and Pac 12), and all were more highly recruited.  Hmmmm.  I also get that LBs Barrett and Skelton racked up a ton of tackles after their porous defensive line let the opposing offensive players through, but that was almost exclusively against lesser teams and talent.  Rippy, Major and Webb have the obvious, distinct advantage here as well (in fact, I would probably take the three backups over anyone csu can field).
§  Here is another blog that could be labeled “uncensored”, Rumblin’ Buff’s preview (check out the video clip at the bottom of the page!) : http://rumblinbuff.blogspot.com/2012/08/2012-rocky-mountain-showdown-preview.html#more

Go Buffs!  Beat dem lambies!

No comments:

Post a Comment