Two-game Pac-12 conference road winning streak!

It feels so good to be wrong!  The Buffs are now undefeated in conference play, tied with Arizona St. atop the South division, a half game ahead of USC, riding a two-game conference road winning streak!  I don’t want to get away from myself but that was a very inspiring performance in the wake of the previous three games.  Players finally stepped up and made plays, without giving up nearly as many of the big ones the other way.  They showed heart, grit, resiliency and perseverance and when push came to shove, the defense made some stops and the offense scored three late touchdowns to return the heartbreak to the Wazzu faithful, who had looked upon this game as getting them halfway to a bowl.

§  There was not a ton of change in the lineup and no new players got on the field.  Jered Bell did get the start at safety with Parker Orms at the nickel. Jordan Webb played all but one snap at QB, Munyer moved to center with Harris at RG and Stephane Nembot (got the start!) and Ryan Dannewitz rotating at RT (sometimes every couple of plays), RB Tony Jones was back and made a splash, Kyle Washington was one of the starting LBs; TE Vincent Hobbs did not make the trip (not sure of reason).

§  Embree met individually with every player on the team this week and that might have been part of the difference as they played soooo much better and more focused, with so many fewer mistakes.

§  The staff made a video late last week compiled of former players talking about what it means to be a Buffalo, wear that uniform and sing the fight song.  The 15 minute clip was supposedly very inspiring to the team and will be released to the world at the big Parade of Buffs celebration next Thursday at the Broomfield 1^st Bank Center.

§  Eric Bienemy being on the field seemed to make a difference in that everyone, especially the offense, was more energized and players credited EB with much of that.  I also think the play-calling benefited as more of the calls were probably Scherer’s, since EB was not seeing everything from up above.  [The pleas for him to be the head coach are still very misguided.]

§  Injuries: LB Paul Vigo and DT Josh Topou both sustained concussions and will be evaluated during the week.

§  Jordan Webb solidified himself as the man in Boulder, with more gritty play, but generally better decision-making and some of the calm accuracy we were teased with but had yet to actually see (29-42, 345, 2 TDs, 2 int, 2 rushing TDs).  He was as efficient as possible on the Buffs’ opening, game-tying drive.  Outside of the terrible deep ball and holding the ball loosely in traffic, Webb played a fabulous game and made a great call on the game winner.

§  When Webb got banged up, Nick Hirschman (not Connor Wood) came in and handed the ball off to Tony Jones who took it 84 yards to the house and put the Buffs right back in the game.  EB should plan to get the backup QB in for one play a game.

§  The offense overall piled up 531 total yards!

§  WR “Double Deuce” Nelson Spruce was excellent, catching balls everywhere, including a TD.  The rest of the corps was okay, with McCulloch and Gerald Thomas each catching a few, but Thomas especially needs to touch the ball more.  They could really have used one of the other freshmen speedsters this year.

§  However, even without Hobbs, the TEs were spectacular, especially in the second half on Saturday.  There were numerous DaVaughn Thorton sightings as he made some great seam grabs down the middle.  Kyle Slavin was also active and Nick Kasa had the huge 70-yard TD (although a couple of bad drops as well).

§  The running game never took control of the game like we hope it will be able to eventually do, but it was effective with 186 total yards.   Christian Powell had some nice runs and 66 yards,  Jones had the big run and over 100, but Josh Ford only got a little action.  There were times I felt the offense was still passing when it could have been rushing a little more.

§  The offensive line had its best game so far, although they still gave up 6 sacks and a lot of pressure on Webb.  They opened some holes for the RBs, but also allowed them to be hit in the backfield often. Stephane Nembot rotated with Dannewitz and looked pretty good.  Munyer played well at center (only one bad snap) and the middle of the line got some great push on the one yard TD and another 3^rd-and-1 Webb sneak.

§  The Cougars did indeed throw all over the place against the young Buffs secondary, racking up over 400 yards with Connor Holliday at the helm.  Marques Wilson had a huge day.  However, down the stretch, the secondary made some plays and ultimately held them in check with a FG on their last drive. They spread out with five wideouts, hit long and short balls, looking unstoppable early, but could not do much in the second half.

§  As expected, they went after Crawley early and often, especially on third down and he gave up a lot of plays, but came up big with a batted pass in the endzone.  Greg Henderson and Yuri Wright both played at CB with Jered Bell (1^st interception) coming in at safety with Parker Orms moving to nickel; Marques Mosley came in as the dime back. 

§  The Buffs and Greg Brown went with their age-old anti-Leach strategy of only rushing three (sometimes four) and dropping everyone else into coverage.  They also have been giving huge cushions to the receivers, even on third and short.  WSU got a lot of yardage early, but this worked better as the game went on and they pressed a little more at the line.  On the last couple of drives the Buffs sometimes only rushed two, with surprising success, with the NT remaining standing just across the line of scrimmage blocking any crossing routes.

§  DEs Sr. Wil Pericak (1^st sack) and Jr. Chidera Uzo-Diribe both had solid games, putting a lot of pressure on the QB, even though both were double-teamed for much of the afternoon.

§  LB Paul Vigo had by far the best game of his career, flying around making tackles and using his safety experience to cover TEs and even WRs.  He had some really big hits and plays.

§  They continued rotating the LBs a lot.  I saw a little less of Brady Daigh and Derrick Webb today, as Washington and Vigo, both former safeties, are getting a lot of time in the nickel and dime packages. Jon Major still plays the most overall and had some big tackles and an INT. It will be interesting to see how Doug Rippy fits in the rotation when he comes back next week.

§  Special Teams were mediocre at best, probably their worst performance of the season.  Darragh O’Neill shanked a punt late. Wil Oliver missed an easy FG.  They gave up a huge kickoff return late that put WSU in great position, and return units were average.  I don’t understand why we are taking kickoff 3-4 yards deep and running them out, rarely getting to even the 15, instead of taking the ball at the 25 yard line?!

§  Overall, the offense played its best game of the year, and the best across the board, showing progress in most areas for the first time this year.  Remember though, this was only one game, was still far from perfect and against another not very good team.  However, it is definitely something to build upon with UCLA, fresh from being beaten by Oregon St., coming to Boulder next Saturday.