Recapping Colorado Buffaloes, Pac-12 and College Football News, Links, and Stories
Brooks: Better View For 'EB' Aids OC's Effectiveness - CUBuffs.com
Bieniemy began his first season as an offensive coordinator by attempting to call plays and direct CU's offense from the sidelines in the opener at Hawaii. It kept the energetic Bieniemy in touch with his players, but it didn't give him the big-picture view he needed.
A week later, he moved to the coaches' box and has stayed there. "I think once he decided that that would be the best thing to do . . . he has never looked back," Embree said. "He has never said, 'Hey, I'm going to come down this week or maybe switch.' He has never blinked and I think he enjoys it up there."
Bieniemy concurs: "The beauty of it is that you can see everything from up top. As much as I hate not being on the field, it's a lot better for me - a calming atmosphere. You can see things and get a better feel for what's going on defensively and schematically and how they're trying to attack."
Embree was complimentary of Bieniemy's play-calling in last weekend's 48-29 rout of Arizona - the Buffs' first Pac-12 Conference win. CU rolled up 500 yards in total offense (second only to the 582 against Cal in Week 2) and registered season highs in points, rushing yards (273) and first downs (27).
The Buffs are 11th in the league in scoring offense (21.3 points a game) and total offense (354.5 yards). Embree says Bieniemy jokingly calls him "Al Davis" because Embree favors taking shots downfield. On the series against Arizona that culminated with Stewart catching a lateral then throwing a 14-yard touchdown pass to quarterback Tyler Hansen, Embree said his offensive coordinator "overruled" him in calling for the trick play.
Three days later, Embree explained that wasn't exactly what transpired...
T.I.P.S. – UCLA " CU At the Game - A CU Football blog by Stuart Whitehair
T – Talent The past month or so, Colorado has gotten used to game planning for quarterbacks who are Heisman trophy candidates and future NFL draft picks. That’s not the issue this week. The question for the Colorado coaching staff is not so much the talent of the quarterback they will be facing, but which quarterback will break the first huddle...
I – Intangibles Colorado head coach Jon Embree has been the head coach at Colorado for 11 months, or about 330 days. Which means that he has been asked about coaching against his son about 330 times … and has been game planning for UCLA since the schedule was announced. It is certainly true that, once the game starts, the focus of the players and coaches will be on the next play, the next series, the next opportunity. But in terms of game planning, Jon Embree would be forgiven if he admitted that he spent a little extra time this summer reviewing UCLA game film. This time, it’s personal...
P – Preparation / Schedule The schedule makers did not do Colorado any favors this season. Saddled with seven road games, the Buffs are on the road for the final two games of the regular season for the first time since 1989, and only the second time in the last 38 seasons. Did the Buffs get themselves up for Senior Day against Arizona? The statistics seem to show that they did. Well, welcome to the first of two road Senior Days. UCLA will parade 18 seniors out before the home crowd, including, of course, wide receiver Taylor Embree...
S - Statistics Colorado, as everyone knows, has not won on the road since 2007. This stat will hang over the team until it no longer applies; UCLA, unfortunately for the Buff Nation, is a much better home team than road team. Colorado is 50-10 against unranked opponents in November games, dating back to 1985; UCLA leads the series, 4-2, but Colorado has won the last two games, including the only game in the series played in the Rose Bowl (a 31-17 win in 2002) and the last game played in Boulder (a 16-14 win in 2003)..
Taylor Embree wants bragging rights - Los Angeles Ucla Blog - ESPN Los Angeles
Taylor Embree hadn't yet mastered the Pledge of Allegiance when his second-grade teacher asked him to recite it in front of the entire class. All eyes and ears were on Embree but he escaped the jam by improvising with something he knew well.
"I told her I didn't know the Pledge of Allegiance," Embree said, "but I could sing the CU fight song."
Taylor, who ranks fourth on the team with 13 catches for 152 yards, said he stayed up Monday night thinking about how cool it would be to add a football game to the list of things he's beaten his dad at.
As of Tuesday night, Taylor did not know whether his father, Colorado first-year head coach Jon Embree, planned on accompanying him for senior day festivities during pregame.
"We'll find out, but I know my mom is going to be nagging him to walk me out," Taylor said. "I told him I don't want him to use that as an excuse in the game. ... If he feels like he needs to get his team ready, that's fine. I'm just excited that he's even going to be on the field when I'm playing."
The BCS has been throwing something at the wall lately, hoping it will stick. Want to know what it is? Jump!
Lack of rebounds bites Buffaloes - Buffzone
Andre Roberson has 25 rebound in two games this season. Colorado's dynamic 6-foot-7 forward has obviously picked up where he left off as a freshman when he led the team on the boards.
But during Thursday night's 67-58 loss to Wichita State in the Puerto Rico Tip-off, the old problem that haunted Jeff Bzdelik's Buffs before Tad Boyle and Roberson arrived on campus cropped up again. CU was out-rebounded 38-24 by the Shockers and outscored 13-2 in second-chance points.
"We had some breakdowns in boxing out," Boyle noted. "Sometimes (Wichita State's) best offense is offensive rebounds. So we knew boxing out and help-defense were going to key and we broke down a few times help-side."
Pac-12 All-Academic Football Team > Pac12 > News
First Team:
DL Will Pericak, Colorado Jr. 3.43 Business-Finance
DB Travis Sandersfeld, Colorado RS Sr. 3.38 Business-Finance
Second Team:
DL Nate Bonsu, Colorado So. 3.47 Business-International Affairs
DL Anthony Poremba, Colorado RS Sr. 3.34 Economics
DB Justin Gorman, Colorado RS Fr. 3.70 Business-Finance
BCS proposes only handling national championship game, sources say - ESPN
Among a handful of suggested format changes being considered by Bowl Championship Series members is an informal proposal that would radically change the structure of the BCS and significantly alter the major bowl selection process.
According to sources with direct knowledge of meetings held in San Francisco earlier this week, the suggested change calls for the BCS to sever its direct ties with the so-called BCS bowls -- the Allstate Sugar Bowl, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Discover Orange Bowl and Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio -- and concentrate solely on arranging a No. 1 vs. No. 2 national championship matchup.
In addition, the BCS title game could potentially be bidded out to nontraditional sites, such as Jerry Jones' Cowboys Stadium. The proposal also would eliminate automatic BCS bowl qualifying status currently given to the six major conferences. All conferences would be free to make their own deals with the 34 other existing bowls.
The reconfigured BCS would undergo significant change relative to its present revenue sharing system, too. "There's a lot of stuff being thrown at the wall," said one official who attended the meetings.
Pac-12 Debuts Football Championship Trophy > Pac12 > News
The Pac-12 turned to one of its own, sculptor Archie Held, an innovative and renowned West Coast artist who graduated from UCLA, to design and create the Pac-12 Football Championship Trophy.
How bad is Mizzou? Gary Pinkel is using our method to cope: Gary Pinkel Arrested, Won't Coach Missouri Vs. Texas Tech, According To Report - SBNation.com
The Missouri Tigers haven't yet announced the fate of football coach Gary Pinkel, who was arrested Wednesday night in Columbia for driving while intoxicated and bonded out for $500. But Dave Matter of the Columbia Tribune reports Pinkel won't coach Mizzou against the Texas Tech Red Raiders this Saturday.
Bruins-Buffs is a bad, interesting matchup - Pac-12 Blog - ESPN
Colorado's visit to UCLA is one of the more interesting games you'll see between teams that are 2-9 and 5-5, respectively. First off, Buffaloes coach Jon Embree is UCLA receiver Taylor Embree's father. As the elder Embree told the L.A. Times, "This will be bragging rights for eternity."
Then there's this: Embree and UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel have known each other for a long time. "I stayed with the Embrees when I first moved to Colorado," Neuheisel said of his time as a Buffaloes assistant coach in 1994. Colorado is riding a 22-game road losing skid, but Embree and his quarterback, Tyler Hansen, came very close to guaranteeing victory after the Buffs picked up their first Pac-12 win last weekend against Arizona.
If they are right, that won't be good for Neuheisel. It could get him fired. As you might have heard, he's on a very hot seat.
CU Buffs taking on Jon Embree's attitude - Buffzone
The coach first caught players off guard back the spring when he would occasionally tell the defense what play was coming before the snap, challenging them to stop it and the offense to execute perfectly so it couldn't be stopped. Players have gradually become accustomed to those moments as the year as gone on.
"For them to come and say that to me and some of the things like that, that was how I was like as a player and as a person," Embree said. "I'm out there and I want to let you know what we are going to do and then I want to do it. That is just how I am. I believe in reaching success and obtaining things, you have to say it. If you want to win a championship, then you have to say, 'I expect us to win a championship,' and then you have to go and do it.
"I think every team that has done it and has had that success, that is what they have done. You don't just sit there and sneak up and get in after the fact. If you believe in something so strongly that you say it, then all of your actions that you do from that point forward have to be to get success in those goals."
The Buffs have two games remaining in Embree's first season and he said his top priority aside from winning both games is making sure that they continue to build on the confidence it took them so long to find.
"I want to see them continue to play with the passion and energy and enthusiasm as they have played with the last couple of weeks," he said. "The USC game, we just couldn't consistently sustain it. I want to see them continue to play that way because that is how we have to be every game next year. I want to see them do that. I want to see those kids continue to have success and have fun."
Winning is way more fun! Go Buffs!