The Buffs
got beaten in every phase of the game last week and need to quickly right the
ship against a lower division opponent. They cannot afford to let this one stay
close. Remember, Sacramento St. beat
Oregon St. last year. CU should have a huge talent edge, but
we’ve heard and read that statement somewhere before, haven’t we? Sacramento St. gets a lot of the California
talent that can’t quite make it, physically or academically at the highest
level and they are always up for an opponent from a “BCS” conference.
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However, Sacramento St. lost pretty badly 49-19 last
week to a fairly weak New Mexico St. team in Las Cruces. Although the Hornets threw for a bunch of
yards, it was all because they were behind early and had to try and throw all
game long; late the Aggies were likely in prevent and giving up short passes
uncontested. The Sac St. defense was
terrible and CU should be able to run
ram shod all over them and get some scrub work in (again should). The SSU-NMSU game was
on somewhere and I actually caught a few plays, but it was appeared to be
pretty boring with the Aggies winning easily, plus it wasn’t even in HD!?
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Sac St. actually pulled the game to 28-19 and
had the ball before fumbling the ball away, then giving up a tipped interception
on their next possession, with both leading to NMSU touchdowns.
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Sacramento St. is only picked ninth in the Big Sky conference. They are 2-10 all-time against FBS teams.
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Remember that the Buffs are only 1-1 against
lower division competition, having lost the unspeakable game to Montana St. and
then only beating Eastern Washington when Chapelle Brown picked off a pass over
the middle and took it to the house late in the game. Plus, this team beat a
Pac-12 team just last year. CU acted
like they just needed to show up in Denver to collect their Centennial Cup, and
they cannot afford to do the same at Folsom this weekend.
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This game should
have been more about execution and getting backups, especially the freshmen,
some playing time, but they have many things to work out before they start
thinking about backups.
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Way too many should
so far in this post.
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Embree is going game-to-game with captains and he sent out Srs. Ray Polk
and Wil Pericak with Jrs. Jordan Webb and David Bahktiari for the opener. Wednesday, he named C Gus Handler, DE Chidera
Uzo-Diribe and LBs Derrick Webb and Paul Vigo (both LBs contributed a lot on
special teams as well). I was surprised that Wil Pericak isn’t among
them again (was captain vs. CSU and had a solid game), same with Parker Orms
(who had a good game), and that Handler is
(he seemed to be out of place at times, missed some blocks, had at least one
penalty, and has to be blamed for some of the lines woes as its leader, but I
guess they needed someone from offense).
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Depth
Chart moves: Kirk Poston has officially moved up to starter at the left DE;
Nelson Spruce is still the starter at Z WR (they wanted to start with a certain
formation including Gerald Thomas to pen at CSU); T-Fr. TE Vincent Hobbs, who played a lot but
did not get a pass thrown toward him, has moved up to third, from fifth on the
chart; Orms is first strong safety without Polk, making Moseley his backup and
nickel back (likely starter actually) and Jered Bell is next free safety behind
Smith.
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Injuries:
S Ray Polk is out for Sac St. and probably longer with a high ankle sprain; CB
Greg Henderson’s may not be as serious, listed a “questionable” this week; Tony
Jones banged up a shoulder and QB Jordan Webb tweaked his back/hip, but nothing
much has been reported on them, and they are not listed on the injury report
(this could be because they are fine, or haven’t signed the waiver that allows
CU to report medical information).
When the Hornets have the ball:
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Hornet QB Garrett Safron threw for 308 yards and
2 TDs, with two of his receivers setting career highs. Their running game was limited with only 87
yards (more than the Buffs though). They
also have two decent RBs, one of whom can flank out as a receiver.
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They actually have some huge offensive lineman
that will create some challenges (one guard is 375!).
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There is a good chance the Buffs open
defensively with three true frosh in the secondary-Crawley, Wright (likely to
start for Henderson) and Moseley (who becomes starting nickel with Orms moving
to Polk’s safety spot). Safron will
undoubtedly take more deep shots than the Rams did. They also run a no-huddle and will look for
matchups they like, or a freshman that appears winded or out of sorts in any
way.
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The Buffs probably don’t lose much talent wise
without Polk, but they desperately miss his leadership and ability to get
everyone in the right position (he studied all positional assignments in the
offseason to be more prepared). Junior
safeties Parker Orms and Terrell Smith must assume that role now. The Hornets will likely test the Buffs with
more mid-long range passes than CSU did.
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In light of the ankle injuries to Polk and
Henderson, CB Jeffrey Hall is the most likely candidate to be the next and tenth
true freshmen to burn his redshirt, but any of the others who are expected to
play this year-DT Justin Solis, DE John Stuart, TE Austin Ray, RB Terrence
Crowder and maybe even OG Jeromy Irwin-could also make their debut.
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The defense actually played relatively well
versus CSU, giving up less than 300 yards, 22 points and no long plays,
although they did have a few breakdowns which led to the touchdowns. They should be able to keep the Hornets from
doing too much damage.
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Chidera Uzo-Diribe was a monster in the first
half against CSU, but slowed down quite a bit in the second. Sac St. will
likely account for him often with a TE or RB chipping in, which should open up
the other side. Kirk Poston was the
surprise starter over Juda Parker, and the position will continue to be
competitive throughout the week, but Embree was much more complementary of
Poston than the highly recruited Parker.
They need to be able to get some pressure from the outside and take some
off the secondary…
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With the big frosh DB trio of Kenneth Crawley
(blamed numerous times for the TD right before half, but he was up on his guy),
Marques Moseley and Yuri Wright all getting extensive playing time, (and Hall
the next CB on the depth chart) it makes you wonder if guys like Jered Bell and
Josh Moten are destined to reside at the bottom of depth charts and if they
will all stick around. They may have
some numbers, and won’t have to poach offensive players, but the true depth is
still not there. Luckily, R-Fr. Sherrard
Harrington still hasn’t been healthy yet this year and could add a boost down
the line. They also have at least two
(one grey shirt and one commit) and likely a couple more DBs coming in next
year.
When the Buffs have the ball:
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Sacramento St. gave up a lot of long passes and
468 total yards (367 in the air) against New Mexico St., so there is some space
to be had against that defense.
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In order for the offense to succeed, the line
has to do a better job, plain and simple. The running game starts there and
Jordan Webb needs some better protection (sacked five times, hit and/or knocked
down many more than that). After
reviewing film, all members of the line agree they need to communicate better,
with themselves and with backs and tight ends.
People from all over the team also have said that the line never
performed like that in any practice session. Everything will be easier if the
line can start to do its job. All his
previous coaches said if he is given some time, which he never was in Kansas, Webb
can pick apart a defense; he never was able to be set for any of the longer
downfield passes against CSU. Steve
Marshall took the blame and has got to get better production out of his group
who did not look like a veteran group against a very in experienced, smaller
defensive line.
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I expect Malcolm Creer to get some more carries
vs. Sacramento St. as he offers the size coaches want and looked good in his
limited action (this year and last), and was certainly no worse than Jones. He
tends to dance around less than Jones and hits the hole harder. I wasn’t much impressed with Goodson’s
stint. EB said that T-Fr. Donta Abron
would definitely get some reps in the next game, and maybe even Terrence
Crowder. A lot of people want to see
Josh Ford, but I just don’t think he can understand and pick up the blocks on
pass plays.
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The offensive play-calling must improve in
gerneal as well. Only really the drive
at the start of the second quarter did they look fluid and together. I was surprised EB didn’t use more swing passes
or RB screens-when Webb was able to dump the ball to Jones or even the FB
Powell, they were able to pick up yards most of the time (and remember that was
Speedy’s bread and butter last year).
Likewise, they need to keep using Gerald Thomas as they did early, then
once again very late (not in the middle though), but he makes things happen and
he never even broke one. Lastly, they
must get the TEs involved-whether it be Kasa, Slavin or Hobbs, someone needs to
test the middle of the defense. Embree
said they had to check out of a few long passes and specific targets, and that
Hobbs will definitely be more involved because his speed can create mismatches,
especially with the no-huddle. Of
course, Webb must keep the ball up a little more and lead his receivers,
especially Thomas, as well as get a little more in sync with them, especially
McCulloch, who pulled up a couple of times when Webb went deep.
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One criticism of the “no huddle” is that it can
put pressure on your defense if you score too quickly, or worse, just aren’t
successful and have a quick three-and-out.
This may have been the case somewhat against CSU as the Colorado offense
was not good at holding the ball and the defense was definitely tired at the
end of the game, especially on the defensive line, where Wil Pericak and Nate
Bonsu were winded and on the sidelines for much of the last Ram FG drive. CSU was the obviously better conditioned team
and were never going to be affected by the altitude, nor were they fazed by the
“secret” no huddle (to which they must have been tipped).
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While CU could eventually benefit greatly from
this approach, they need to utilize the no huddle to keep defensive players
from being able to substitute, but they need to make sure they use the clock to
get the play straight with their own players and also to save their defense a
little. Also, Embree admitted that the no huddle is nothing without a run game,
so once again we return to that pathetic offensive line to wake up and play! If they can’t handle the no huddle against
Sac St. then they need to scrap it, and they can still have the younger kids
work on it on the scout team a little extra in prep for Oregon and others in
the Pac-12, as well as for the future of the offense.
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Bienemy said in hindsight he should have run the
ball on 4th and 2 feet to goal.
He “blamed” most of the offensive problems on effort and execution. I think he can still put his guys in better
positions as well.
At
Buffalo Belles Thursday (according to my sources in attendance) he took all the
blame for the offensive woes.
Special Teams:
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Almost as important as the o-line, special teams
was better than most of last year, but all units must do a better job and not
make huge blunders that put the whole team in bad situations. JD Brookhart has got to fix all these
problems-punting, coverage, catching the ball, blocking. Darragh O’Neill had some decent distance (helped
by some good bounces) averaging 47+ yards; however, he never really had a great
punt with the hang time they were supposedly working on all camp. Grossnickle
must also be a little inconsistent, and doesn’t have as big of a leg. Justin Castor was good on all but one
kickoff, placing the ball deep near the goal line-but the one he was off was
the one the Rams returned to around the 40.
Wil Oliver was fine, but Embree chose not to use him and went for it on
fourth a couple of times in FG range-I think this is more his overall strategy
than a commentary on his confidence in Oliver.
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If those two areas, offensive line and special
teams play, don’t drastically improve, then the rest of the team doesn’t really
matter. If they shore things up in both
these areas, everyone else can relax and do their jobs better.
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Massive R-Fr. OT Stephane Nembot made his debut
against CSU-it must have been on a special teams line.
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Two other redshirt frosh got their first action
on special teams: DB Isaac Archuleta and LB Clay Jones. However, they are both walk-ons am I am
disappointed to know that randoms are still beating out scholarship players-this
is how we increase team speed for special teams? I know this happens everywhere, but many
walk-ons at Texas, USC, Alabama, could play at other D-1 schools but choose to go to their favorite
powerhouse on their own dime. That is
rarely the case here.
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Overall, the Buffs again have the edge in almost every category
and should, (there’s that word again)
easily win, on paper. However, we have to get up to Folsom for a
beautiful (almost) Autumn afternoon and cheer on the Buffs to victory!
§
Stuart’s TIPS: http://www.cuatthegame.com/2012/t-i-p-s-for-sacramento-state/
§
Plati’s CU Game Notes: http://www.cubuffs.com/fls/600/gameday/sac12/cunotes.pdf?SPSID=3843&SPID=255&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=600
§
Sacramento St. Game Notes: http://www.cubuffs.com/fls/600/gameday/sac12/sacnotes.pdf?SPSID=3843&SPID=255&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=600
Note
on the Rocky Mountain Showdown: There were scouts from at least four NFL teams (NE,
Baltimore, Denver, SF) present at the game.
Not sure who they were there to watch (Polk, Rippy, Major, Pericak? Surely
not any Rams), but Jr. Parker Orms got to show them his hitting prowess; even
if he got penalized, it was a fantastic hit, leading with the shoulder, only
drawing the flag when he hit the receiver so hard his head popped down and made
contact with Orms’ helmet. They probably
liked what they saw from Jr. Chidera Uzo-Diribe in the first half, but when CSU
accounted for him with some help in the second, he was slowed down quite a bit
(he’ll need to fight through more of these to get to the next level) and no one
else on the team could make up the slack. Scouts from Arizona and Dallas also attended
practice Wednesday.
Go
Buffs!
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