It always feels good to beat up on a CSU

It’s CSU 2 Electric Boogaloo as the mighty undefeated Buccaneers of Charleston Southern University invade Boulder and Folsom Field.  CSU is undefeated at 7-0, ranked #20 in the FCS poll, and coming off a Southern Conference win over VMI.  MacIntyre says they are better than Central Arkansas, but that might be pushing it a little-the combined record of their seven FCS opponents is 11-32.  The Buffs can’t take anyone lightly, but it sure would be nice to see them dominate a lesser team.

§  Line: The line started at 31.5, which seems a little high for Colorado against any team, but has steadily dropped to 19.5 (or possibly lower).

§  CU-CSU connections: CSU DB coach Marcus Woodson was a teammate of CU safety coach Charles Clark when they played under MacIntyre at Ole Miss.

§  Depth Chart moves/Burn the Redshirt: Nothing of consequence happened in this realm last week, except the fact that the coaching staff finally decided to rip of Sefo Liufau’s redshirt and torch it in the Arizona desert.  MacIntyre said after the game he intends to keep playing the true frosh and QB of the future, as long as he “plays good”-we hope coach speak good more too.

§  MacIntyre said they didn’t anticipate any lineup changes.

§  However, WR Jeff Thomas, who has had some off field problems and was supposedly slated to redshirt, tweeted that we might see him out on the field this week.

§  Injuries: WR Nelson Spruce sprained his knee and is questionable and there was no word yet Saturday morning, kick returner Ryan Severson (hamstring) will also be a game time decision and FB/TE Alex Wood has not been cleared yet from his concussion; DT Josh Tupou, who had been questionable last week with a sprained ankle, started in Tempe.

When the Buffs have the ball:

§  All eyes on the Sefo era as the true frosh will make his first start. I am  most curious to see what tricks Brian Lindgren has up his sleeve, or if he will just play it real conservative with his new toy. Sefo was most comfortable looking for Nelson Spruce, who has become a really solid possession receiver, but “Double Deuce” may be out this week. Who else will the freshman look to then? 

§  First and foremost, P-Rich needs to get the ball in his hands; Lindgren needs to put him in position and Richardson himself has got to get more physical or DBs (even these guys) will push him around and neutralize him.  Sefo has a strong, accurate arm, especially in the medium range, so I would expect to see him target P-Rich more, even if he is covered. Overall, there will be a few less deep balls from Liufau than Wood though. 

§  If they are going to employ the decoy strategy with Richardson, then they need to dink and dunk more like Sefo did mostly with Spruce in the 2^nd half last week.  He is so much more accurate in the short to medium game than Connor. They will need to take what the defense gives them, but they need to get others besides Spruce involved (especially if he is out), so the safeties will have to lay off P-Rich some and then he will open up; once he makes a few plays, it will open up for everyone else.

§  I’d like to see them get Devin Ross more involved.  As much as we like DD Goodson and his story, he is limited in what he can do, while Ross offers a lot more out of that slot position.  Jeff Thomas has hinted he might make it on the field as well, which would provide another familiar target for Sefo.

§  They finally got the TEs involved a little and I think Liufau will do more of that as he rolls out of the pocket.  Kyle Slavin is poised for a mini-breakout, but this is by far the thinnest position on the roster and that is saying a lot.

§  One big question is how much of the zone-read-option thing will they run with a more mobile, but inexperienced QB? Overall, I think we will see more designed running plays called as Sefo is more athletic, and since he also appears to see the field well, a little more of Sefo taking off when the situation warrants (rather than hanging on the ball and standing back there forever).

§  Christian Powell and Michael Adkins have become a nice one-two combo, although Lindgren does not always put them in the best positions for their strengths.  Both should be able to put up big numbers here.  Tony Jones will still get a few third down chances, and could also have a good game.  Ideally, the Buffs would get up big and give Donta Abron some more touches and even get Malcolm Creer some playing experience.

§  CSU has given up quite a bit of yards, but have held many drives to field goals.  Sefo’s short accuracy and running ability will also aid them in their redzone offense, making it more dangerous and hopefully effective.

§  They have also got be better on third down (only 28% with most of the conversions against backups and soft defenses in blowouts), and his accuracy should help them there; led by Wood the offense was on a 3-33 conversion streak before Sefo went 7-11, (albeit against a soft backup defense). 

§  Liufau should be a little better this week at taking care of the ball and limiting turnovers (2 INTs, fumble, safety in endzone).  They definitely need to win the turnover battle-that was what ended up deciding the UCA game, but it would be better to not have to rely on a late defensive TD to spark a win.

§  Safety Demaris Freeman leads the Buc defense and had 10 tackles against VMI and Eli Lee is their top corner who will likely draw P-Rich often.  LB  Calvin Bryant is in the middle and has 47 tackles and 2.5 sacks to date.  They also have two fast defensive ends who might give Nembot some trouble-although the best one, Will Hunt, will not play, which would certainly help the Buffs as he might be their best player and was getting some NFL looks.

When the Buccaneers have the ball:

§  Freshman QB Danny Croghan (starter tore up knee) leads “an option offense out of the gun.  Kind of like a pistol option offense, more veer related and speed-option oriented,” according to MacIntyre, who also called it a Nevada-Navy hybrid.  So, they will run it a lot and test our defense’s speed on the edge.

§  The offensive line is neither deep nor experienced, but the group has clicked well together and is considered a strength of the team.  However, they are on the smaller side and the Buff defensive line should have its best game, although they still have to worry about containing Croghan. Chidera was very quiet last week, so I would expect a big game from him here.

§  JC transfer RB Christian Reyes is about to surpass the team season record for rushing yards (needs 46 for 768) and the Bucs will want to try and run the ball, eat some clock and rest their defense at the altitude.

§  However, they can also throw the ball, maybe better now with Croghan, who has completed 62% of his passes without and interception.  His favorite receivers are Larry Jones, who caught five passes for 103 yards and TD last week, and Kevin Gears, who has 20 catches for 303 yards and 5 TDs.

§  LB Addison Gillam continues to get a ton of attention and hype even nationally, and he continues to make plays.  He is still averaging over 10 tackles per game (he went down a little as he hardly played in the second half at ASU) and he should easily get double digits again here.  Derrick Webb is solid and teams are definitely aware of him.  Woodson Greer has also played some solid ball as well and has held off Sr. and captain Paul Vigo when they do use a third LB.

§  Even this team will know they can pick on Crawley, and that they should stay away from Greg Henderson. So, this should be a good week to test out the younger guys some more so expect to see lots of John Walker (got the start at nickel last week) and Chidobe Awuzie at corner and nickel and hopefully less of friggin’ Crawley moving forward.  I am not sure why Walker was promoted as I have not been as impressed with him as Chido.  I wonder if Parker retains his starting spot or if Tedric Thompson stays there for his speed, now that he has a little experience under his belt.

Special Teams:

§  We always have Darragh O’Neill. Maybe we’ll go for two again with him, because that worked well. I can’t believe that MacIntyre and Neinas have wasted time practicing Oregon’s (other teams like ASU do it as well but they have popularized it) spread out PAT formation to go for two if the defense shows what they want, or re-aligning to kick the point.  They have enough trouble with the basics, I see no reason to get tricky, and it looked really stupid when they tried it down 25-6 (although maybe that was the time to test it out and now they hopefully have scrapped it).  If they are going to fake with Darragh, let the former multi-sport star run it.  In his press conference, MacIntyre did say that they have to practice it some at least for the defense that will face this type of play, so they can work on implementing it as well; he also pointed out that the CU player was more open than the ASU player, but that the Sun Devils just made the play.

§  Wil Oliver has been very good, hitting all but one of his kicks, already surpassing last year’s FG total, and has gotten better each week with his deep kickoffs.  Hopefully, he will get a lot of practice Saturday and we can see how his leg holds up.  He should never allow a return at home with the altitude.

§  Devin Ross did most of the kickoff returns as Severson sat out with a hamstring, and although he momentarily fumbled one, he looked pretty good out there.  Although Ryan Severson has shown good vision, he just doesn’t have that explosive burst you need as a returner, and Ross definitely gives them that. MacIntyre said Severson will be back this week and both will get their chances.  They also tried Jeff Hall once, but he fumbled and almost lost it.

§  LB Brady Daigh, who most expected to grab the starting slot alongside Derrick Webb entering spring ball, has had to find other ways to contribute since losing his spot to talented freshman Addison Gillam.  Playing on all special teams units, Daigh is leading the team in ST points.  (He did get to play most of the second half on defense last week and ended up leading the team in tackles with ten.)

§  Keys to the game: Here are BoulderDevil’s five keys to winning this game and getting on track for the rest of the conference schedule:

-- Convert 3rd downs at a high level.
-- Win the turnover battle.
-- Cut out the mental mistakes that lead to dumb penalties.
-- Play solid special teams.
-- Limit the home runs on defense.

§  Overall, this game could be, should be, needs to be a blowout, or at least a healthy, double-digit Buff win evening their record at 3-3 (albeit an old school Bill Snyder mid-90’s K-State 3-3).

Buffs 41-CSU 27.

§  If  you need some more:

Stuart’s TIPS: http://www.cuatthegame.com/2013/charleston-southern-preview/

Rumblin’ Buff Preview: http://rumblinbuff.blogspot.com/2013/10/2013-charleston-southern-football.html

Plati’s CU Game Notes: http://www.cubuffs.com/fls/600/gameday/chso13/cunotes.pdf

CSU Bucs Game Notes: http://www.cubuffs.com/fls/600/gameday/chso13/csunotes.pdf