David's Quick Hits - Colorado Buffaloes vs. Colorado State Recap
by DavidAGerhardt on Sep 4, 2010 7:44 PM MDT
in Buffaloes Football Season
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I've got some quick reactions to this game. I predict success this season for the Buffs, so I'm holding them to a high standard. I'm very happy that we won. We started fast for the first time in a long time, which was very encouraging. But like the team will tell you, you can only enjoy each win for so long before you have to shift your concentration to your next opponent. And we were far from perfect today. Yes we did a great job against Colorado State, but we face teams that are significantly better than CSU this year.
See my Quick Hits after the jump:
-We only played three quarters. That's not a good thing. That was an incredibly lackluster 4th quarter performance. That NEEDS to never happen again. We can get away with it against CSU, but not against the rest of the teams we play this year. And what happens when we inevitably find ourselves behind in a game? If that happens again, we're done.
-Patterson looked great on Punt Returns, had the nice TD, but had two big drops. He's got to do a better job there.
-Ethan Adkins. Yikes. He's been my whipping boy all offseason, and he showed why today. He was the primary culprit on that big sack of Hansen. We'll have to see what comes of the rotation between the LG and C spots. I'll give my impressions after checking the tape.
-Orms. That's a damn shame. He had a chance to be a big-time contributor this year. We'll see what the MRI shows, but it didn't look too good for him out there. Fortunately, he should qualify for a medical-redshirt this year.
-Sandersfeld looked solid taking over for Orms (Of course, we have no idea how Orms would have played) so I give him a check-plus. I'll have to look at the tape for Jonathan Hawkins who played that position late in the game. The pick was good. Sandersfeld let a few guys get open across the middle though. He's clearly talented, so I'm not going to let him slide too much.
-For that matter, Brown and Smith both let guys get open. Solid in deep coverage, but the short-passing game for CSU was wide open.
-Part of that was an impressive performance by Pete Thomas. This kid is the real deal. He only forced a few throws, and our D made him pay, but he stayed strong in the pocket and didn't get rattled by our pressure (and we did keep some pressure coming) or when we knocked him down. He also escaped a couple of sacks. Good pocket awareness.
-The Buffs put a little effort into getting the ball into Clemons hands, but I think they can do a MUCH better job. Those quick WR screen-type passes were great and all, but I want to see them throw the ball to him downfield more.
-Except for the false-start, Bakhtiari seemed to do well. I'll have to go back and watch the tape to see. But he seemed to hold up to CSU's speed rushers well. Givens got playing time there late, but I think Bakhtiari's job is safe for now.
-How about that blocked kick?! That was Will Pericak doing his thing. I'll keep saying it, but he's one of my favorite players on the team.
-Grossnickle had some shaky punts, though he did have a 41.4 punt avg and a 35.1 net avg (already an improvement over last year). Not the best place to start, but it was his first game. I expect him to improve a ton.
-Jon Major. We've got three years of this guy. He was everywhere, and he's only going to get better.
-Short passing game was too effective against us. We need to work on that. The next four teams we play will make us pay if we can't get that under control.
-Both Major and Michael Sipili made some great plays in the hole stuffing the run. Their RBs had very little room through the first three quarters.
-Early on, Scooter Fernandez missed a block badly in the hole in a short-yardage situation that led to our FG attempt. I mean, he missed badly. They'll be on him about that again, and hopefully it won't happen again. But the 'heavy' package is still a work in progress.
-Penalties. WAY too many. Not sure we had one on defense, but we had far too many on special teams. Holy cow.
-Torres looked solid there at the end. I didn't realize he averaged 5 yards per carry. That's really promising. He looked calm, cool and collected, and did a good job of following his blocks (all very important to true freshmen)
-Lockridge looks good in space, but he still doesn't have the shiftiness that you want in a running back.
I'm pretty encouraged by this. I didn't expect us to keep them out of the endzone, which was a pleasant surprise. And that blocked kick was great! We looked better in just about every way over last year, but we can't be content with that. Hopefully they get right on some of these things because the team we face next week didn't look like they had anything to work on. CSU is a slightly higher quality opponent than UC-Davis, but Cal looked impressive.
But mostly. GO BUFFS! Undefeated for at least a week! It feels good.
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Great points, thanks
Here are a couple of mine:
1) the O-line did not impress me be it penalties, pressure on Hansen or run blocking. Maybe it was due to all of the hype in the off season but I expected better.
2) pressure on the QB needs to get much better. I didn’t see much until the 2nd half and still, against a freshman QB, it should have been more impressive
3) RBs. Speedy got better as the game went on but I’m really concerned about the depth
4) I agree w/ you that we need to go deep w/ Clemmons – the guy is a stud.
Now, all of this comes from me watching the game at a bar w/ no sound – so I missed a lot of plays. Overall I was proud to call myself a Buff Alum today b/c the guys showed up to play. Fix a few things and let’s get after the Bears!
Can’t wait to be in Berkeley! Go Buffs!
by CleBUFFS on Sep 4, 2010 8:01 PM MDT via mobile reply actions
Question
For those of us who watched the game w/o sound: who played Center today? And if it wasn’t Stevens any reason why? I’ve heard different things. Thanks
Really bummed about Orms
by CleBUFFS on Sep 4, 2010 8:31 PM MDT via mobile reply actions
you're right, it was a sucky broadcast
but just to defend them (like I care) the sound worked fine for me the whole game, must of been your provider or something…
Stevens #56 started the game
But he and Shawn Daniels #68 switched every couple of drives. Also, Ethan Adkins #63 started at Left Guard, but rotated with Mike Iltis #64 every couple of drives as well. I think Iltis may get the job from Adkins this week (Adkins have a couple of big miscues), and we’ll just have to wait and see about the center spot. Denver Johnson said he wanted to do a little rotating along the line to see how guys fit in. Those two spots seem to be the most up in the air.
Right Tackle would be the other spot I imagine he’d want to rotate, but Bakhtiari looked good and played the first three quarters. Givens came in (he had been slowed by an ankle injury for two weeks) sometime in the 4th. I’m not sure it was to battle for the starting spot quite yet. They might just want to be working him in. Or they think he’s better as a run-blocker when they wanted to run down the clock. Not sure.
DAG
by DavidAGerhardt on Sep 4, 2010 8:43 PM MDT up reply actions
Comments on top of Davids
Most agree with David’s notes but a couple possible expalantions and differences:
1. Mailed in the 4th quarter? Yes, but the game was in hand and didn’t want to push it in our first game of the season. Would have like to continue drilling them, but maybe decided to not give CAL too much of a preview. I miss the chant we used to say when I was a student there, “Run it up Big Bill, run it up!!”
2. Love the wheels on Patterson, look out.
3. GET RID OF THAT STUPID RUGBY STLE PUNTING!!!
4. Penalties… Don’t know what to even say here…
5. We did seem to leave their receivers open more than I’d like. However, maybe our game plan to to make sure everything was kept in fromt of us?
6. Major gripe: for having a Freshman QB and an all new O-Line, where-or-where was our pass rush? We have GOT to get more pressure or other QB’s wll pick us apart. Blitzes seems to be coming from the wrong directions and easlity picked up by an inexperienced line.
7. Major gripe 2: What happened to the names on the jerseys??!!! Man I hate having to figure out who just made (or didn’t) make the last play by jersey number
8. Major gripe 3: The Mountain… weak.
9. Like I heard Patterson quoted: we were pretty basic offense today, but once we develop it more and open it up, its going to be amazing. Agree-looked a little vanilla but got the job done. Need to build a better offensive flow and continue spreading the field.
10. Man, CAL put the wood to CAl-Davis… This will be tough on the road.
Lastly- I really hope and pray Orms isn’t an ACL, that would really blow.
Yeah
They looked pretty vanilla out there. But they weren’t just less aggressive out there in the 4th. They got sloppy (until that last drive) and didn’t seem like they were playing that hard. Yes, it was really hot out there, and we probably won’t play another game in that kind of heat (possibly Hawaii) all season. But I still don’t think that’s a good excuse. Discipline is something that’s been missing here recently, and the sloppy play to end the game plus all the penalties make me wonder if it’s going to be a problem again this year. I sure as heck hope not!
The Rugby punt has it’s place. Riddle just hasn’t figure out what that is quite yet.
DAG
by DavidAGerhardt on Sep 4, 2010 8:46 PM MDT up reply actions
It was either Richardson or Jefferson
And yeah. The WR didn’t do anything wrong. It was just a really bad throw. I might even go as far as to say it was an ‘uncharacteristically’ bad throw. I’ll look at the tape more, but I feel like there was something else going on during that play.
DAG
by DavidAGerhardt on Sep 4, 2010 8:58 PM MDT up reply actions
It was P Rich
He had the defender beat by a bit, but the ball was thrown about 10 yards to the inside. My friend and I were sitting in the south stands, and on that play I jumped up as soon as the throw was in the air, because you could see the separation P Rich had gained, but I sat right down when I saw the pass was underthrown by a bit, leading to the interception.
by two days slow on Sep 4, 2010 10:52 PM MDT up reply actions
Good points David
About the 4th quarter, I agree, and if we we just took our foot off the gas because the game was in hand, why were we still playing the starters late in the 4th? Particularly, why did Hansen play that last series with 1:30 left? We probably won’t be blowing out many people the rest of the year, why wasn’t Cody in? Is Hawk trying to get Hansen injured?? I’ll take off my tinfoil hat now, but seriously, that was dumb, who knows what could of happened.
KU lost to North Dakota (womens) State
ha ha….
by BuffnBigD on Sep 4, 2010 9:16 PM MDT reply actions 1 recs
don't laugh too much!
remember what happened last time we played our first game under a new coach against a FCS team!
I would like to change my pick for the @KU game in the prediction thread to a win though ;-)
by nebraskasux on Sep 4, 2010 9:20 PM MDT up reply actions 1 recs
great post David...I am mostly just happy to have a win
Last year was horrible, today we all could take a depth breath and enjoy
The Ralphie Report - Covering the Colorado Buffaloes on SBNation - http://www.ralphiereport.com/
Damn straight!
It felt so good to start off with a win! It was a relief. A HUGE relief.
DAG
by DavidAGerhardt on Sep 4, 2010 9:23 PM MDT up reply actions
Our new Conference
The PAC Ten had a so-so day with big wins by Cal (trouble) and Oregon, but losses by UCLA, OR State and Washington. Plus, I wasn’t all that impressed by USC’s win over Hawaii though it did make me a little concerned for our matchup with them…
At this point who knows, really surprised by the Kansas loss though
by CleBUFFS on Sep 4, 2010 10:12 PM MDT via mobile reply actions
re: Adkins
“He was the primary culprit on that big sack of Hansen.”
You’re very very wrong. Hansen was only sacked twice. The first one, Lockridge whiffed on a blitz pickup. Orakpo ran right through him and took down Hansen. The second one was all Hansen. He had time to make a play, but he ran himself into a sack. It actually didn’t bother me too much, because he’s been too quick to run in the past. Today he actually tried to find a receiver, a couple of times to his detriment.
Iltis definitely looked better. He was great at getting to the second level. Stevens was the real weak link on the OL. several bad shotgun snaps (and once muffed a snap under center that Hansen was forced to fall on), a big tripping penalty, and several missed assignments.
"No I will not grill you a cheese!" ~Malory Archer
Thanks for Beating up on Steve Fairchild..............
appreciate it……….hate that guy.
"I understand that's the way it is, You're just going to have to take that with a grain of salt and realize there's going to be people out there that aren't going to like the way you play and where you're from." - Trent Edwards
by norcaliangelsfan on Sep 5, 2010 12:25 AM MDT reply actions
The Mtn
sucked ass. For those of you that had sound during the first quarter, that’s because you weren’t watching the game in HD. The HD channel had only sound effects for the first quarter. It’s obvious some CSU grad was in charge of the sound. I felt the very fact that a CU game was broadcast on the Mtn was a direct insult to our program, and the obviously pro-CSU announcers were disgusting. Fellas, we gotta get back to respectability because I can’t tolerate another Mtn broadcast.
For those of you that were complaining about the pass rush, I have to wonder a bit. From what I saw, we mostly rushed only 3 guys. On 3rd down we threw Beatty in there and rushed 4. Beatty had a sack. I know Thomas threw up some artificially respectable numbers, but the bottom line is we allowed only three points and I’m not sure if we blitzed even a single time. I seriously don’t remember even one blitz. CSU seemed totally unprepared for the stunts and I recall multiple times seeing a guy in the backfield in position for the sack with only a 3 man rush, but the guys just weren’t in good tackling position, they were lunging and Thomas eluded them. That will be fixed. On top of that, they flat had no chance of running the ball. Every time they handed it off I just laughed.
The secondary played great. Sandersfield stepped it up. Perkins was freaking awesome, he was laying the wood plus the interception. Jalil was shut down, he will be shut down all year. Whoever posted that thought they saw Jalil get beat, I must have missed that play, because from what I’ve seen the last couple years, nobody beats Jalil. Jimmy Smith was absent minded again and probably should just go sign a CFL contract right now. That personal foul on the punt return was ridiculous. He also was sub-par in coverage. Come on, he’s a senior!
Sipili is a monster and I don’t know why it took him until this year to break out, but he is doing it in a big way. He is the main reason that CSU couldn’t run the ball at all, but Cunningham deserves some credit too. Great game for Sipili.
Kiesau looked bush league in the 3rd quarter. I was pretty disappointed in the way he called the second half. I know the little bubble screens seem safe and like an extension of a running game, but real men run the ball. When you’re up 24-0 you run the ball. We were weak in short yardage.
Stevens and Bakhtiari were terrible. I remember one time Stevens got blown so far into the backfield he almost knocked Stewart off his feet right as he took the handoff. That should never happen to a center. Bakhtiari was routinely beaten on pass plays. Lockridge looked pathetic against Orakpo, that kind of protection is unacceptable from a senior. The offense in general has a lot of work to do. Hansen played an A game mentally in my opinion. He made great decisions, but his accuracy was far from what we need. Even some of his completions could have netted significantly more yardage had he made good throws. It seemed that he was behind a lot of receivers, which gives me some hope that he can correct it. He wasn’t really erratic, just consistently behind everyone. Stewart ran well but where were the highly touted freshmen short yardage backs? I know we didn’t need them much today but I am not at all confident in Stewart’s short yardage ability. I’ll be insulted if I hear another Bieniemy comparison.
Special Teams played a D game today. Punting was piss poor. Kickoffs were awful. Returns were mediocre but I do like Patterson returning punts. The FG block saved it from being an F game for special teams. I’m glad Goodman made the gimme but I still don’t have any confidence in him until he shows some consistency.
Hansen’s int was indeed his fault, that was the one call I liked by Kiesau. Everyone in Colorado probably knew we were going deep on that play but that ball needs to be thrown so that if it is incomplete it lands out of bounds, and only Jefferson (or was it Richardson) can catch it. Instead the ball was thrown to centerfield and CSU made the play. Minor mistake that Hansen can correct hopefully. Not sure if Hawkins can even throw that far.
Glad we were able to beat a bad team by 3 TDs and I love our defense, but we got some tough sledding ahead. A lot of improvement to be made!
Kickoffs were awful?
Goodman was kicking the shit out of the ball. Did you only see the first one? Because after that, he was out of the end zone on every kick. I agree with a lot of your other points, though. Although some not nearly so caustically.
"No I will not grill you a cheese!" ~Malory Archer
Yeah Goodman actually did kick the ball pretty well. I’ve celebrated a bit too much this evening and tended to exaggerate and I renege on the ST. That first kickoff it almost seemed like they told Goodman to do a directional kick, so that could be a coaching issue.
I LOVE IT
celebrate away!
I feel like Riddle is over coaching to prove he still deserves a job. th rugby punt must die.
"No I will not grill you a cheese!" ~Malory Archer
and actually, I'm just now watching the game again
Goodman kicked it to the 18, but it was only returned to the 22. That’s it. Goodman balled out today
"No I will not grill you a cheese!" ~Malory Archer
I hate you so hard, the mtn.
I’m 100% positive that Beau Morgan has never seen one second of Hawkins era game footage, because everything he says regarding our offense is exactly the opposite of the truth. I have never seen anyone more uninformed, and I’ve watched a LOT of Lou Holtz.
"No I will not grill you a cheese!" ~Malory Archer
I just assumed those commentators represented CSU. Didn’t they? Serious question.
Those were CSU commentators right?
Denver: 32-32 until we're not.
Yes- The Mountain is a MWC station, so one would assume they were pro- CSU
As much as I dog thier coverage, at least it was coverage and I got to see it.
Love Phil’s dig on Lou Holtz. That guy has pissed me off for 20 years.
correct, but you still have to prepare for the game
Morgan cited stats and then decided what kind of offense we run based on the stats. It was completely wrong. We have never run a deep passing, pound the rock offense. We run tons of underneath routes and WR screens. We just ran our offense poorly in the past. Anyone could watch one half of CU football and know Morgan was full of crap. He also has tiny little squinty eyes, and I hate him.
"No I will not grill you a cheese!" ~Malory Archer
Shovel pass
I also loved the shovel pass. Kiesau called a bad ass first half.
by CUBuff4life on Sep 5, 2010 1:55 AM MDT reply actions 1 recs
The D was great (nice picks) and so was the score. It’s a good win with a lot of positives for the D and kicking game.
But I thought Hansen played poorly, not terrible, but he made several bad throws and took some stupid sacks. I cringe at the thought of Cody Hawkins under center, but Hansen didn’t leave me feeling warm and fuzzy.
When will the Lockridge era end? Its as bad as the Sumler era. This guy can’t play! He’s never been good so I’m vexed as to why he’s still out there.
Three illegal procedure penalties is just another example of the offensive staff’s ineptitude when it comes to preparation. The penalties were just absurd, but that ref missed a flagrant tripping on a McKnight catch in the 1st quarter. That play would have gone for 40+ yards.
Denver: 32-32 until we're not.
Hansen's problems are all footwork.
His footwork is god awful. Look at every bad pass (I’m looking at you, pass to Luke Walters in the end zone), and he’s always throwing flat footed or going backwards. And you can see it in all the practice clips from fall camp. He’s like Jake Plummer that way- if you move the pocket and get him rolling out, he’s fine. If you expect him to sit in the pocket and scan the field, he’s not so fine.
"No I will not grill you a cheese!" ~Malory Archer
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