Overall, it was
an unspectacular game in a mostly empty stadium. There were a ton of
three-and-outs from both sides-I believe there were more of those than longer
drives. It finally picked up a little in
the fourth quarter as the teams exchanged a couple of late scores. Although neither team was able to run the
ball much, they were both able to pass and each moved the ball a couple of
times for scores, as well as settling a few times for field goals. San Jose State won the game 29-20 and
finished the season with their best ever record of 11-2. I don’t know that I learned that much from
the game, but I do like the potential the offensive approach brings to Boulder.
SJSU especially couldn’t
run the ball very well against a stout Falcon defense, and actually ended up
losing yardage on the ground (and not because of the one sack). However, when they were able to give QB David
Fales (completed 72% of his passes during the season while Buff QBs averaged
less than 50%) some protection and time, he was usually able to find someone
open downfield (33-43, 395 yards, 2 TDs).
He was able to spread the ball around to many different receivers, utilizing
lots of groupings to keep everyone active and fresh, and putting constant
pressure on the defensive backs. Their
second drive they marched right down the field, finishing it with a wide open
touchdown pass.
The Spartan
offense certainly used a lot of shifts and motion pre-snap. On the first play they lined up in the Pistol
spread, but then shifted to a traditional two-back formation with the QB under
center (they actually did this more often than I expected), and hit a long
pass. They ran some nice plays where they confused the defense with their
pre-snap actions. They also ran a couple
of tricky reverses they ended up twice fumbling and losing big yards.
As advertised,
SJSU utilizes the wide receiver bubble screen quite a bit. (This was a play
that confounded last year’s Buffs, both trying to run it on offense, as well as
defend it.) The Spartans gained many first downs, scored a TD and were also
able to take advantage of the DBs by faking the bubble screen and instead
sending the receiver deep down the sideline.
The SJSU defense
did not look all that impressive against a mediocre Bowling Green offense. Although they were able to hold them to some
field goals, they did give up some yardage.
At times, they were able to get some good pressure on the QB with some
blitzes.
Their special
teams were just fair, not getting a lot of return yardage, giving up a little
more; they gave up a blocked punt, but later blocked one of their own for a
safety.
Not sure how I
feel about the new coach crying with his
wife as he watched his former team win its bowl game. Baer said he almost did after coaching the
team to the win, but he held it together.
Other program notes- here are a few other items of at least
moderate interest…
The program is
now in countdown mode until January 2, when MacIntyre is expected to announce
his entire staff (or at least most of it) right before the last recruiting
period starts.
The assumption is still
DC Kent Baer, OC Brian Lindgren and DL Jim Jeffcoat are all still expected to move
from San Jose to Boulder. After that no
one knows who MacIntyre will hire for the other six positions. No CU coaches have taken other jobs yet, but
the expectation is that none of them are coming back.
San Jose Mercury
News reports that WR coach/recruiting coordinator Terry Malley and RB Coach/special
teams coordinator Fred Guidici (no big loss here after watching the bowl game) will
be staying on with Ron Caragher (who watched the bowl game from a box and from
the sideline) at San Jose State.
Bobby Kennedy is
the most intriguing name from the previous staff as he fills a need since
MacIntyre is not bringing the WR coach from SJSU, he has great ties to Texas
for recruiting, and has ties to Boulder obviously, but not necessarily in the
same way to CU as the previous regime.
Once the
coaching staff is in place, recruiting will become clearer and we’ll know where
guys like WR prospects Bryce Bobo and Devin Ross stand.
Verbal commit DE
Jimmie Gilbert (TX) said he had been ready to de-commit after the initial
coaching change, but has backed off that and is staying committed, at least for
now, after speaking with MacIntyre.
QB verbal Sefo
Liufau confirmed his commitment to BuffStampede.com after also admitting
he was
taken for a loop at first from Embree’s firing.
I am surprised
we have heard nothing about any guys leaving the team for any reason, even
though the Bohnhead is not granting any transfer reque sts. I would still
expect to see some attrition between now and fall camp. At least a few guys will see the writing on
the wall during spring practices and will leave.
According to
Adam M. of Rivals/Yahoo, freshman DE Kimo Seau (American River C.C. in
Sacramento), nephew of the late, great Junior Seau, called CU his dream school.
There is still a
lot of speculation that the relationship between Bienemy and Embree was tenuous
at best, and was likely a root cause of the offensive failures and at least
some of the team chemistry issues. Although they were advertised as a “team”
when they came in together, Bienemy may never have gotten over being passed on
for the head job. Bienemy supposedly
ignored Embree’s requests at times and was stubborn as hell in his game-planning
and play-calling. He was way in over his
head, and those who think Bienemy should have been the head coach are just
plain crazy-it would have been total chaos with him in charge. I said from the beginning he was definitely NOT
head coach material and it would be interesting to see how he coordinated the
offense, which we now know he could not do very well.
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