Recapping Colorado Buffaloes and college football news from around the web.
Brooks: Buffs Need A Post-Scrimmage Identity Check - CUBuffs.com
First-year Coach Jon Embree's opening summation of the 105-play scrimmage was succinct: "The defense played well, the offense was not good enough. Later, he added, "I was not pleased with the overall intensity on offense."
One mediocre scrimmage doesn't bring about a full-blown identity crisis, but the Colorado football team could easily have been misidentified Friday. That well-defined, widely publicized plan to stamp the Buffaloes as a crisp and physical running team unraveled.
That was the bad news. The good news: The Buffs have two weeks to reenergize themselves, restore their overall offensive confidence and reestablish their identity.
CU opens at Hawaii on Sept. 3, and on Monday Embree will release a post-camp depth chart that will be instrumental in establishing who gets the most "reps" in the run-up to the opener and setting the travel squad.
It will be the first depth chart since camp opened on Aug. 4, and at some positions - he didn't specify first or second units - Embree promised a shake-up.
"We're going to have changes on the depth chart," he said. "It's the same three or four guys - and that's the thing on offense, all it takes is one guy (misfiring). It's the same three or four guys consistently making mistakes at the critical times.
CU Buffs set rotation for QBs - Buffzone - Even if we don't have the entire depth chart in easy-to-dissect form, we have part of it. Incidentally it's the part we haven't had for the last three years; the Quarterback depth chart.
Innocent bystander. That's what Nick Hirschman was relegated to for most of Colorado's fall camp after suffering a foot injury. Meanwhile, starter Tyler Hansen practiced like a senior captain should, and freshman walk-on John Schrock made the most of his opportunity. However, Hirschman was impressive enough during spring drills and through the first six practices of camp to earn the No. 2 spot. Starting with Monday's practice, the backup plans to be back on the CU practice fields.
Brooks: Receivers Need To Latch On To Consistency - CUBuffs.com
[Paul] Richardson answered, "Very close . . . when we get into school week (classes begin Monday) and begin game-planning for Hawaii, the playbook will be chopped down. There's not going to be 100,000 plays, but plays for a specific team. That's going to help everybody."
Kennedy: "Right now, we're not very consistent, but I see good things every day in terms of effort and guys trying to do it right," he said. "We're not a finished product; we've got a lot of work to do but the effort's there."
Richardson entered camp "really wanting to get better on my route running, so I just wouldn't be looked at as 'speed' guy but a really good route runner, too. I think I've definitely done that," he said.
With Kennedy's help, he believes he's learning to "finish my routes, staying in my break . . . so that I don't give the defender any declaration that I'm going to be stopping."
He's been used primarily as a slot receiver, but Embree also likes Gray's versatility because of his experience at quarterback as well as on special teams. Gray (6-2, 190) called the Buffs' and Bulldogs' offenses "similar . . . everyone has their own concepts and terminology, that's the biggest thing to learn. But a lot of the actual schemes and plays are the same - just different ways to get into it."
Embree has said the rangy (6-5, 205) McCulloch reminds him of Ed McCaffery - so much so that McCulloch wears the former Broncos receiver's number (87). That's high praise for a freshman, but McCulloch is looking (and practicing) the part.
Chris Dufresne: Pacific 12 Conference's newest members are worlds apart - Los Angeles Times
The Pacific 10 (now 12) Conference is proud to welcome two new lodge members.
One program is disheveled, walks with a limp and wears its shirt tail out — the other is Utah. One is a model of efficiency, efficacy and proficiency — and the other is Colorado.
See where this is going? Probably not, because here's the bait-and-switch:
Colorado, not Utah, has more long-term upside. It has rich history, is a better academic fit, and has been galvanized by playing Texas, Nebraska and Oklahoma in the Big 12.
Buffs Go Undefeated On Weekend, Win Colorado Cup - CUBuffs.com - Women's Soccer has...(don't say 'kicked off,' don't say 'kicked off')...begun, and they started off by winning Colorado... all of it.
Colorado defeated Northern Colorado 3-0 in its first home game of the season. The victory gave the Buffs a 2-0 start to the 2011 campaign, and earned them the Colorado Cup trophy.
Go Buffs!