I am willing to take some of the blame. After all, I did offer good advice that was not specific enough. Since UA All-American Ka'Deem Carey had rushed for an ungodly 366 yards against CU last year, I had recommended that a key to the game was that the Buffs take Carey out of the game and limit him to 150 or less yards rushing. The Buffs did just that, and only allowed Carey 119 yards.
The problem with the recommendation was that it was too specific to Carey. I should have advised that the Buffs dedicate themselves to shutting down the Wildcat running game, and force them to beat the Buffs with the pasHes. But I didn't, and the Buffs didn't. Arizona put up 405 yards rushing, with 286 coming from folks other than Carey. The biggest hit on the ground came from quarterback B.J. Denker, who averaged almost 13 yards per carry on his way to 192 yards rushing.
On top of the rushing, Denker added 265 yards of passing to earn Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors. UCLA QB Brett Hundley must be licking his chops this week, since the Pac-12 OPW generally goes to the QB facing Colorado during conference play.
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Colorado special teams continued their upward spiral this past week. That does not include the idiotic decision to run a fake punt from their own red zone. Coach MacIntyre gets the blame for that. Kickoff returner Ryan Severson continues to edge ever closer to going the distance. On his two returns Saturday, he averaged 39.5 yards. Punter Darragh O'Neill had three punts downed inside the 20 with no touchbacks, and had none returned. Kicker Will Oliver had only 1 return of his kickoffs.
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True freshman quarterback Sefo Liufau continued to show positive signs while also showing the growing pains of a young quarterback. His completion percentage against the Wildcats was only 53% (17 of 32, 1 interception), compared to the near 70% he showed against ASU and Charleston Southern). On the positive side, Liufau was not sacked. It was the first time a Buff QB has not been sacked since the Arizona game last year.
Liufau also showed his youth and inexperience by throwing the ball out of the endzone on 4th and goal. As the TV announcer pointed out, you gotta give your own guy a chance to catch the ball since the other team is gonna get the ball anyway on 4th down.
WR Paul Richardson again demonstrated himself as one of the best in the Pac-12 and the country. Unfortunately, he sprained an ankle late in the game and is now listed as day to day. He is hoping to be able to play Saturday against UCLA at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
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The Buff passing game under offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren continues to be predictable, as can be seen by the chart below:
- Black Circle with R inside = completed pass
- Large R = touchdown reception
- Red null symbol (circle with a slash) = incomplete pass
- Blue null symbol = incomplete pass in the endzone
- Yellow lightning bolt = interception
- 30 yard line as line of scrimmage is used only as a reference
- Click on the graphic to see an enlarged version
Like the game against Charleston Southern, the Buffs had only THREE passes between the hashmarks (and two ON the left hashmarks). 85% of the passes thrown by the Buffs went to the outside 50% of the field, leaving only 15% to the inner half of the field. Note -- the field is 160 feet wide, which means only 5 of 32 passes were thrown within 40 feet of the center of the field.
Considering that the Wildcats had both starting safeties out with injury, one might think that the Buffs would have been better served by attacking the middle.
Another thing to note is that the Buffs were damn lucky that at least one of their passes to the flat was not only almost intercepted but would have been taken to the house for a pic-six. It seems that Pac-12 defensive coordinators are noting (like myself) that the Buffs are very predictable in where they throw the ball. 24 of their 33 passes were thrown within 12 yards of the line of scrimmage, and mostly to the outside part of the field. That's much easier to defend than spreading it across the entire field of play. It also means the ball is spending a lot of time in the air going sideways instead of up the field.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
MacIntyre and the team thought that Arizona was a beatable foe. That may be true, but the same can and is said about Colorado. And right now, CU is more beatable. They have a great deal of young players in starting positions, and that inexperience is being taken advantage of.
The CU offensive and defensive lines are currently losing the battles in the trenches in conference play. That may take a couple years of development to change.
The CU passing game is the most predictable and easiest to defend in the conference. Only the presence of Paul Richardson keeps opposing defenses honest. The Buffs should also do whatever they can to get the ball into the hands of D.D. Goodson -- he is better built for the pounding of reverses and over the middle catches than Richardson.
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