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Recapping Colorado Buffaloes Football, CU Athletics, and College Football with news, links, and stories.
Football: CU Buffs' offensive line vows better performance - Buffzone
After meeting with the big boys up front on Monday, CU's head coach believes a more agreeable performance is in store when the Buffs return to action on Saturday against Sacramento State. "They were hurt," Embree said. "I expect them to bounce back and rebound and play like they're capable of playing."
"We've just got to take it upon ourselves to be more physical and more assignments correct," CU center Gus Handler said. "A lot of it is attitude. I know I have to get better at my assignments and identifying the right guy and getting the backs in order and the quarterback in order as well."
CU defensive end Chidera Uzo-Diribe, who had three sacks against CSU, said the offensive line he went against in fall camp was not the one exposed by the Rams. "I see those guys work every day and I know that's something that's not going to last all season long," Uzo-Diribe said.
"Those guys are the strength of our offense, and I know come Sacramento State those guys are going to be right."
"He was everywhere, all over the field," Cabral said. "He played the way you want everyone to play every play. And he's a full-time special teams player. He had a great camp; (the opener) was on par with what he was doing in camp."
Major, said Cabral, "played hard and made some plays. But he wasn't himself in terms of seeing everything . . . CSU gave us a lot to think about (defensively). We played hard but not always smart."
Cabral simply was happy to see Rippy playing again..."We're still bringing him along (slowly)," Cabral said. "It was just good to see him out there; I think every week we'll see more of him."
Rippy was devastated by the CSU loss. He told reporters afterward that he botched his coverage responsibility on a CSU's last touchdown - a 32-yard screen pass that pushed the Rams back into the lead (16-14) in the third quarter.
Said Cabral: "He cares; it matters how our team does and he doesn't want to let anybody down."
...Webb said the Buffs were "very humbled" by their five-point loss to CSU. "We expected to win that game. The whole experience was very humbling; it lets you know you have work to do still. "But it's not an end-of-the-world type deal. Nobody can think because we lost a first game against CSU that we're not going to be any good. We've got to get better; we've still got 11 games on the calendar."
Football: CU Buffs to unveil new video boards - Buffzone
Colorado fans will experience the new $7 million High Definition video boards in Folsom Field on Saturday for the first time when the Buffs play host to Sacramento State in the home opener.
But fans won't see more than a dozen workers a quarter-mile away at the Coors Events Center who will be operating the boards in a new state of the art 3,000 square-foot studio and video production facility that will be where most of the CU-related programming for the Pac-12 Network originates.
The events center control room alone has more than 3,000 new cables and 26 miles of new cabling helping to feed dozens of servers and fill 64 terabytes of storage space. The facility is tucked away in the bowels of the events center about 25 feet from the north end of the basketball court. BuffVision increased its use of student workers from two in most seasons in the past to five this year because the Pac-12 Network is televising so many more CU events and it is also generating original content.
CU already is well ahead of most of the other schools in the conference in installing the infrastructure to be able to work seamlessly with the network. "It's probably the difference between having like a corvette and maybe like a wheelbarrow," BuffVision director Deric Swanson said comparing the equipment at his disposal now versus a year ago.
"We've really caught up to where the industry is. We have probably the most state of the art facility in the Pac-12 right now...
The only non-CU article today is about a power running back at UCLA who wants to transfer out of that Bruin uniform...
NCF - UCLA running back Malcolm Jones requests release, intends to transfer - ESPN Los Angeles
Jones, a 6-foot, 220-pound junior, played sporadically during his first two seasons and played only on the final drive of UCLA's season-opening 49-24 victory at Rice. Because he played in that game, he will have to petition the NCAA to preserve this year of eligibility. In all likelihood, that would be granted because he played so little (with only three carries for 10 yards) and because he has not yet used a redshirt season.
Jones does not have a destination school in mind, one source said, but is unhappy because he has been relegated to No. 4 on UCLA's running back depth chart this season behind Johnathan Franklin, Jordon James and Damien Thigpen. Those players are all quick, shifty backs who fit better in UCLA's new spread offense.
Jones is more of a power runner, but he said the week before the season started that he still had hopes of playing more than he had his first two seasons, when he had a combined 80 carries for 303 yards. "I'm hoping to get a lot more opportunities to play in a game this year,"
Football: CU Buffs turn to freshmen at corner - Buffzone
Brown is faced with the reality that he will likely have three true freshmen on the field at the same time in his secondary on Saturday when the Buffs play host to Sacramento State at Folsom Field in the home opener. With senior safety Ray Polk and sophomore cornerback Greg Henderson mending ankle injuries suffered in a loss to Colorado State last week, Brown will turn to freshmen Yuri Wright and Margues Mosley against the Hornets.
They will join fellow freshmen Kenneth Crawley, who earned a starting job at cornerback in training camp. If Wright starts at the other cornerback position opposite Crawley, it will be the first time in Colorado history the program has started two true freshman cornerbacks in the same game. Mosley will play nickle back when he is the field defensively. He also returns kickoffs.
"All three guys have ability," Brown said. "It's time to line them up and see where they go and where they're at."
"Just do my assignment and everything else will fall into place," Mosley said when asked what he learned from the first game. "I have to trust everyone else to do their job. "I did what I could. Too bad we didn't get the win, but I think as a defense we did pretty good as a whole."
He played in two games (at Stanford, at Arizona State) last season and believed he might have played more - thus, the sense of urgency when the season ended. "I knew I had to do something," he said. "I worked hard in the weight room and just felt it was my time."
..."vastly improved," noted McGhee. "He showed some good things and toward the end of camp we made the decision, 'Well, here's your shot to come in and do what needs to be done. "He's been here three years. It's one of those things of, 'Yeah, you're young, but you've been around here a minute. And although you're young, the leadership needs to come, too.
"I don't really have a specific number of questions I've gotten, but I'm getting asked (by students) on campus and even by my professors . . . everybody is talking about how we're going to establish a run game," Alex Lewis said. Averaging 2.0 yards per carry, the Buffs, said Lewis, didn't come halfway close to their stated pre-season goal of 4.5 yards a carry.
Lewis, a sophomore who last season played tackle and some tight end for blocking purposes, agreed that he and his O-line buds came away from the opener humbled, disappointed and embarrassed: "All of the above . . . that sums it up perfectly. We went in ready to fight, but in the second half we came out and they got the best of us. That was embarrassing after being up 14-3. We should have scored on the goal line; that's the biggest embarrassment an offensive line can have - being stopped on the goal line. We need to fix that. We only rushed for an average of two yards - and that was pathetic."
CU coach Jon Embree also came away disappointed, "But not as much as (the O-linemen) were. I met with a few guys early Monday, and they were hurt; it bothered them because as they said, they didn't have a practice as poor as what they did on Saturday. So I expect them to bounce back and rebound and play like they are capable of playing."
O-line work isn't simply getting in somebody's way, which at 6-6, 290 pounds Lewis can do naturally. It's more about identifying who to block and adjusting if necessary, and that falls on the quarterback and running backs as well as the linemen. "We just didn't execute," said center Gus Handler, who has the chief responsibility of making the up-front blocking calls. "You go back and look at the film, and I think as an offensive line we've got to do a better job of communicating among us - but more importantly with the backs and the quarterback. "It all starts with us. I know it got loud at times, but we've just got to do a better job through hand signals, pointing, whatever; we've got to get everybody on the same page."
Trippin': Tad Boyle excited about young frosh - CBSSports.com
In our Trippin' series, we're talking to teams as they return from preseason trips to foreign locales. Check here for all Trippin'-related stories. Tad Boyle and Colorado won 24 games and earned a surprising trip to the NCAA tournament last season. No one thought the Buffs would be dancing, not after losing Alec Burks and Cory Higgins.
The Buffs lost three starters off last year's group, but Boyle is upbeat and optimistic about his highly touted freshmen class -- which includes six new faces -- especially after the recent overseas trip to Paris, Belgium and Holland. "We're deep and talented," Boyle said. "I'm really, really excited about the future of our program." Ditto for Colorado basketball fans.
What Boyle learned: "The reason we went on the trip is because of our big freshman class. We've got a lot of talent, but we don't have consistency. That's not an earth-shattering revelation. Everyone showed why we recruited them, but they also showed that they still have major room for improvement."
Who stood out: "Josh Scott. He led us in scoring on the trip and also averaged seven rebounds a game in the five games. He runs the floor well, can score in the paint and is everything we thought he'd be -- and probably a little more."
Go Buffs!