I didn't get to see much of this game, but I didn't have to. It was the same old stuff we've seen over and over again from our teams on the road under Hawkins. We just can't get it done on the road. It's unacceptable how we lost this game. I called a few things right, which I'm not happy about. I said that if we won, it would have to be in spite of our Special Teams. Kent Riddle, what the heck was that? I talked about how long the snaps were taking to get to Zach Grossnickle before the season started and how that was a concern of mine. Did you see how friggin' long that snap took to get there? You can't have both a slow snap and mediocre blocking. You put those two things together and you get a blocked punt, like you saw against Missouri.
See more 'analysis' after the jump
Now I'm no math major, but here is an 'equation' I've worked out over the last two years. On offense, we have had trouble with the playcalling and with the execution. About 1/3 of the time, we've had bad execution of well called plays. Another 1/3 we've had solid execution of bad plays. 1/6 of the time we've had bad execution of poorly called plays, and 1/6 of the time we have executed well on plays that were called well.
I think the wrong Coordinator got the long-term contract.
Speaking of Coordinators, how about Ron Collins? His Defense has played well and played tough under the worst of circumstances. Bad sacks? check. Turnovers? check. Special Teams gaffs? check, check and check!
Whether or not Dan Hawkins is around after this year, Ron Collins won't be. Someone will hire him away from us as soon as our season is over.
Speaking of Defense, they weren't perfect. Our Safety play has been iffy the last couple of games. Ray Polk is definitely still learning the position. On the TD pass to Michael Egnew on the left side, he and Jimmy Smith (who I'm giving the benefit of the doubt, because he's been our best Defender this year) bother covered the short man, when it looked like Polk was responsible for Egnew. Smith tried to recover, and very nearly got there.
Now I only watched a little bit of the game, but here's something I noticed: When we allowed our Wide Receivers (namely Toney Clemons and Travon Patterson) to attack the Defense, they got open. Patterson had another slight case of the dropsies, but he had no troubles getting separation from Defenders in the section of the game I saw. Same with Clemons. He got separation, but they just didn't let them go for it very much.
All in all, I am getting sick of how little improvement we see from game to game and season to season. Frankly, I don't care how we do at home the rest of the season. It doesn't matter. We could win out at home, but clearly we aren't going to win games on the road. First of all, I no longer think we stay undefeated at home this year. And if we keep showing up like that on the road, who here still thinks we can beat Kansas?
Sure, there's still the possibility that we win 6 or 7 games this season. But if we keep getting such different performances out of our team, then there's no way we can keep this coaching staff intact.
And multiple delay of game calls? Really? Are you kidding me?
It's starting to piss me off. And remember, I'm the optimist here.I just can't believe how differently our Buffs play depending on the location. It's ridiculous and totally unacceptable. Accountability anyone? We supposedly have 'leaders' on this team, so why haven't they called a players only meeting? Clearly the Coaching staff isn't able to get them to play better.
Feh. This game (and only saw just over a quarter) left an incredibly nasty taste in my mouth.
And speaking of frightening things to behold, the Ralphie Report discount at the Glenwood Manor Haunted House will only exist through Sunday (tomorrow). Take advantage of it while you can!