Poor Second Half Execution/Adjustments Have Plagued the Colorado Buffaloes

One of our readers brought up a great point about the lack of second half adjustments that the coaching staff seems to make compared to the other team, especially recently on the offensive side of the ball. I thought it was an excellent point so I decided to do a little research and yes, the numbers are ugly. Above is a look at the Buffs last three games against Big 12 teams (Texas, Kansas and Kansas State). Last week's game against the Wildcats was the second game in the last three that the Colorado Buffaloes failed to score a point in the second half of play. Against Kansas, the Buffs only scored 10 points after scoring 24 in the first half.

Looking above, the Buffs have scored only one touchdown in the second half compared to six in the first half which was two more than their opponents have scored in half number one. But the second half is a different story. Colorado has only managed to get in the end zone one time compared to six for the opposition in the final 30 minutes of play, a huge five touchdown difference. That is a recipe for disaster, regardless of the opponent. You shouldn't get too mad at the defense for giving up six touchdowns as the special teams and offensive turnovers have accounted for three of those six. Plus, based on the poor play of the offense, the defense has had to deal with an increased number of possessions and bad field position situations.

Speaking of turnovers, the Buffs have turned the ball over five times in the second half, three more than their opponents and two more times than they had in the first half of the last three games. The Buffs have also been outgained by their opponents by 142 yards in the second half, almost 50 yards per game and have punted five more times than their opponents in the second half.

One of the biggest complaints this year has been the preparation of the team going into the game but another complaint should be the lack of half time adjustments being made by the coaching staff. The Buffs almost lost the Kansas game after leading by 21 points in the first half and if it wasn't for some exceptional play by Tyler Hansen converting third downs in that fourth quarter drive to beat the Jayhawks, Colorado would have lost that game.

Scoring an average of 3.3 points in the second half will not beat anyone. Bottom line, teams are consistently better than the Buffs after halftime, while the Buffs have shown in the first half that their defense has been solid enough to win games if they could get help from the special teams and offense.