It's Time to Remember Just How Young this Colorado Buffaloes Defense Really Is

It's two games into the 2014 CU Buff football season, and fans are starting to panic already. The feeling has even occurred to this writer. We have to remember to breathe.

It's only the 2nd season at the helm for Mike MacIntyre, and fans are already outraged that the team he inherited (the worst team in CU history) is not ready to go bowling. Is that really a surprise?

Buff fans need to remember that so much of the disappointment they feel is in their heads and their heart, and less so with the reality of the playing field. College football is a very interesting dynamic. It is the place where fans watch the growth of high school boys into college men, some of whom do well enough at their sport to move on the NFL.

With very few exceptions, young men fresh out of high school and even in their first few years of college are not ready to be dominant players at the collegiate level. We also have to remember that these young men are STUDENT athletes, who must attend to their scholastic responsibilities as well as their jobs as football players.

In most of the top tier football programs in the Power Five Conferences, a formula that has been in place for decades dictates the development of those high school boys into collegiate level football players. The best case scenario for those programs is as follows for the young men.

• Freshman Year -- Redshirt, grow their bodies, and acclimate to college life away from home.
• Redshirt Freshman Year -- Work with the scout team, grow their bodies, become better acquainted with "system" their coaches operate.
• Sophomore Year -- Grow their bodies and begin to learn from the upper classmen the nuances of collegiate football, and how to read opposing teams.
• Junior Year -- Learn, grow bodies and compete for playing time.
• Senior Year -- Be counted upon as a major contributor to the team on the field and in the locker room.

Of course, life does not unfold like that all the time. Sometimes an exceptional talent comes along and gets onto the field of play as a starter much sooner. Sometimes injuries force young men to miss time or force them into playing before they are ready when the guys on the depth chart in front of them go down. In some cases, attrition does the same thing.

In most cases, the key behind a championship caliber team is how they play on the defensive side of the ball. Teams can have all the offensive firepower in the conference or the country and still go down to defeat if their defense cannot keep the opposition out of the end zone.

College offenses are more complex and difficult to read by defensive players than ever before. It's one of the reasons why so many games have scores in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Many offenses these days are designed with the idea that they can score on ANY PLAY. The teams that are content on working the ball down the field are rarer every year.

That being the case, it is more important than ever to have the defense manned by young men who have been learning the collegiate game for at least three years before becoming starters. It's no longer enough to be big and fast. They also need to know how to read the opposing team. Having 4.4 speed doesn't help if you're running in the wrong direction.

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How young is the Colorado Defense compared to their Pac-12 peers? Very young indeed.

A quick look at the defensive depth charts across the Pac-12 shows how many lower classmen are listed as starters.

• Arizona (4)
• Arizona State (4)
• California (4)
• Colorado (6)
• Oregon (1)
• Oregon State (0)
• Stanford (0)
• UCLA (3)
• USC (2)
• Utah (5)
• Washington (3)
• Washington State (3)

Not only does Colorado have more lower classmen as starters on defense, their depth chart behind the starters is even more loaded with them. Of the nineteen young men listed behind the starters on defense, 14 of them are also underclassmen (that's 74%).

It's no wonder that the Buffs have a hard time, when a majority of their defensive players have never been given the opportunity to learn the collegiate game with sufficient time.

Think of it like law school. How would it be if a month into your first semester you were being counted on to pass the bar and lead a big case?

Most people would be forgiven if the quality of their case was not the same as someone who spent three years in law school and couple of years interning as law clerks.

The same mindset should be used when dealing with the young Buffs playing defense. It is a testament to the quality of young men that MacIntyre has brought in that they are able to play at the high level they already do.

Fans should remember that they are only going to get better. In fact, in two more years, when the depth chart is rightly dominated by juniors and seniors, the quality of play from Colorado defense will seem like a night and day difference.

It won't be because they are smarter or more dedicated or faster. It will be because their brains have been given the opportunity to learn the craft of playing major college football. And, on top of that, many of them will have lots of game experience to go on as well.

The biggest weakness of the Colorado Buffaloes defense is youth, inexperience, and immaturity. Opposing Pac-12 coaches will do their very best to exploit that weakness while they can, because the time is coming when Colorado will be on a level playing field when it comes to the age and experience of their starters.

That one step in the wrong direction this season that leads to a first down or touchdown for the opponent, will soon be a step toward a sack, an interception or a big tackle for no gain. Now is the time to watch them learn and get better as they go. If we want to watch professionals play, the Denver Broncos are just down the road.