I have tried to forget Friday night but
obviously I didn’t drink enough because it is all pretty vivid in my mind still. I can only hope the old adage is correct,
that “the good is never as good as it looks and the bad is never as bad as it
looks in the first game.” Or how about “teams
make the most improvement between weeks one and two.” Well, outside of the first quarter and one
short stretch at the beginning of the third, it was really bad, and there is a
lot of room for improvement. At least I
picked the actual score numbers correctly.
Positives: So, we will try to start with the
positives (and don’t worry, I won’t go over all the negatives because I don’t have
time). Nelson Spruce looked great with a
couple of touchdown catches and has almost reached last year’s punt return
marks already. His counterpart, true
frosh Shay Fields is indeed ready for primetime, starting over Bryce Bobo, and
grabbing 8 catches for 6 yards, mostly on bubble screens. Punter Darragh O’Neill was back to his old
self and better with a 45+ yard average, still downing 4 inside the 20, and two
of them inside the 10. SDerek McCartney's strip sack was highlight of game for defense. LB Addison Gillam was again a beast, chasing down 1o
tackles, however when your next two leading tacklers are defensive backs…oh
crap, that’s not a positive. TE Sean
Irwin caught a couple of balls. Sefo, overall, looked pretty good, but his offensive line was terrible in front of him...oops not a positive either. John
Walker started and played most of the game as the nickel back (Chido was free
safety) and didn’t appear to get torched. Okay, that;s a stretch so I guess that's it.
#Burn
That Redshirt: The Buffs
only played three true frosh, with DE Christian Shaver getting the start and S
Evan White getting some time, along with Fields. Me thinks that this list grows in the coming
weeks, especially on the defensive line.
Turning
Point: Most people have
written that one of the csu drives in the 3rd quarter was the
turning point, since CU held a 17-7 lead after Derek McCartney’s fumble and the
ensuing TD drive, but really, it was MacIntyre’s decision to kick a FG on 4th
and goal at the one at the beginning of the second quarter. Up to that point, the Buffs had really
dominated the rams for the first quarter and were on the verge of blowing open
the game 14-0. As if it wasn’t bad enough
that they called three straight obvious running plays up the gut from the 2,
MacIntyre opted for the field goal instead of going for the TD on 4th,
admitting at halftime he didn’t want to risk giving csu the momentum if they
made the stop. What message does this
give his team? >>>> “I don’t think you guys can score and I am
afraid that the defense will give up a 99-yard drive to tie the game.”
His team believed him and outside of the brief flash in the 3rd,
were manhandled the rest of the game, giving up long drives and unable to pick
up key yards when they needed them.
Some
of the many burning questions:
First of all, everyone said the game would be won in the trenches and it certainly
was, so what the *&%! is going to happen with the lines next week, and ULP,
when conference play arrives? I really
don’t know and I do not envy coaches Bernardi and Jeffcoat. Has Nembot actually gotten worse on pass
protection? He looked awful and I wouldn’t
be surprised to see some shake-up on the line soon, starting with him. Why was the play calling on both sides of the
ball so bland? After the 1st
quarter the ram defense had little trouble stopping the Buffs basic runs, slow
to develop plays and vanilla pass routes.
On defense they stayed in their base nickel the entire game, rarely
blitzing anyone in passing situations, and never mixing it up, even when the
rams were running right over them. Will this team ever turn it around on 3rd down and pick up a key one on offense or make a big stop on defense? Their numbers and performance on that key down Friday were the latest version of failure that we have been cringing at for years now. What
happened to the promised major rotation of DBs-I don’t think I ever saw anyone but the
base 5-and where were guys like Terrell Smith, Akhello Witherspoon, Marques
Mosley and Yuri Wright? Especially since
Kenneth Crawley was back to his old tricks, getting two key penalties to keep a
ram scoring drive alive, and getting really lucky not to give up a long TD when
the receiver let it go through his arms.
Could Brady Daigh have helped against that pounding rushing attack? Where were the other receivers like Bryce
Bobo? Why didn’t we see more of Phillip Lindsay, who had only one ill-fated run
up the middle in the goal line stand and a horribly executed reverse that the
entire stadium saw coming? What happened
to the disciplined team that limited penalties last season? Why can’t CU recruit a freaking kicker that
can kick the ball out of the end zone and through the uprights?!
Next
up: The Buffs opened as
a 17-point favorite over UMass, but it is a long road trip to the East time
zone, where the team has never fared well.
They should win, but that is all I can say.
Pacific
Takes fantasy league: My
new team sucks this year and I feel like every decision I made in the draft,
the guy I didn’t take had a monster first week.
Let’s hope the stupid adages work here too.
Yo David,
ReplyDeleteNice write-up. I share your depression over the lack of imagination and unwillingness of CU coaches to move non-performing Buffs out of the the game. Nembot in particular is an excellent example. His inability to pass block last year has now expanded to not being able to run block. As uncohesive as the entire O-line looked, the right tackle stood out as always looking out of position. Hell, on one play that I remember, he used a swim move (usually associated with defensive linemen) to get out of the way of somebody he should have been blocking. Granted, it was a screen pass, but those kind of plays usually call for a pop-and-go block (hit your guy quickly, then move out to block for the receiver). His jumping out of the way of the DE tipped off the play to the defense and led our receiver to being tackled behind the line. He also failed to make it to the outside and provide the block to free up the receiver making the catch.
As bad as the O-line was, the middle of the D-line was even worse. Our defensive tackles were supposed to be the anchors of the line, but Tupou and Parker combined for a grand total of ONE tackle in a game where the Rams ran it straight up the gut over and over again.
I'm very happy with how the DB's played. They held Grayson to less than half of his normal passing yardage, and most of the yards they gave up in the air came in the last 17 minutes of the game when the DB's started moving up to help the defensive front stop the run.
I have posted several articles on my blog about my reaction to the play of the Buffs and my thoughts about what must be done to turn things around. The last concerns the play calling of offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren and my belief that MacIntyre should take over the play calling.
Let me know what you think of them.
Mark
Boulderdevil