Young Buffs finally catch a breather - Pac-12 Blog - ESPN

There aren't many firsts left for Jon Embree at Colorado. When you are 18 games into your coaching career, most of the firsts have come and gone. But playing after a bye week? That's a first. After 13 straight weeks in 2011 and five so far this year, the Buffs are finally getting a breather.

And it comes at a pretty good time. And that's key.

Colorado (1-4, 1-1) has played 21 freshmen in the first five games -- including 13 true freshmen. On defense, true freshmen have accounted for 1,031 snaps -- slightly more than 25 percent of all plays on defense. By contrast, seniors have accounted for 602 snaps -- or 14.8 percent of the defensive plays. And as you'd expect with so many young starters, getting back to some defensive basics will be a priority in the bye week.

"We need better tackling," Embree said. "That led to a few big plays [against UCLA] and then turnovers, protecting the football. Those are the things we need to address more with us being in the bye week. As coaches, we talked about some things that I want us to continue to do better and help our players continue to be in positions where they can compete and win."

Oh... and Go Buffs!