Colorado Football: The Real Story Behind Play-Calling Criticism of Brian Lindgren

Through five games this season, much has been written and talked about regarding play-calling for the University of Colorado Buffaloes. Many fans have taken to criticizing starting QB Sefo Liufau, but that criticism is misplaced. Liufau does not call the plays. Offensive Coordinator Brian Lindgren does.

Sefo is a college student who spends many hours on football in addition to his duties as  a student. OC Lindgren is paid very handsomely to do his job full time. If there is any criticism about play-calling, it needs to start with Lindgren and the buck ultimately stops with the head coach, Mike MacIntyre.

It is easy to be deceived by typical game and season statistics. They do not tell the whole story.

If you look at the official statistics for the Colorado-Oregon game, they read as follows for the Buffs:

• 36 Rushing attempts for 77 yards, which is 2.1 yards per rush.
• 42 passes, 25 completions for 231 yards, which is 5.5 yards per attempt and 9.2 yards per completion.

MacIntyre, who claims that he has no problem with the play calling of Lindgren and might even point out that rushing attempts were more than 46% of the offensive calls. Unfortunately, that is a gross distortion of the truth in that sacks and quarterback scrambles for positive yardage are listed as rushing plays.

Sefo Liufau was sacked five times by Oregon for losses of 38 yards, an average greater than 7 1/2 yards per sack. By contrast, Oregon's QB's were sacked three times for a total of six yards, or an average of two yards per sack.

Take away those sacks and Colorado's rushing attack is a little better. It's not great, but a lot closer to the old standard, "four yards and a cloud of dust."

• 31 rushes for 115 yards, or 3.7 yards per rush

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More importantly, it is very enlightening if one looks at the breakdown of what Buffs offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren actually called against Oregon.

Called Running Plays -- 26 : -- which is 32.9 percent
Called Passing Plays  -- 53 : -- which is 67.1 percent.

More telling still is to break down what happened on those 53 called pass plays.

• 5 times -- Colorado QB sacked 
• 6 times -- Buff QB scrambles for positive yardage
• 5 times -- QB hit while passing or throws ball away

That means 16 times (that's 30% of all called passing plays) the Buffs tried to throw the ball but were unable to successfully get the pass into the field of play.

When the Buffs were able to successfully get a pass off, the numbers are very telling. In this stat, the numbers show where the ball was thrown to and caught, and not at how many yards were gained after the catch.

• 6 times -- Buffs threw the ball behind the line of scrimmage. (Completed 5)
• 13 times -- Buffs threw between 0-5 yards. (Completed 10)
• 12 times -- Buffs threw between 5-10 yards (completed 7, with 1 TD and 1 interception)
• 3 times -- Buffs threw between 10-20 yards (completed 2)
• 3 times -- Buffs threw more than 20 yards (completed 1)

In 53 called passing plays, the Buffs only managed to "spread the field" by calling a pass 10 yards or more beyond the line of scrimmage six times. That's a paltry 11.3% of called passing plays that Oregon had to worry about a man down field.

If you were a defensive coordinator in the Pac-12, those kind of stats make your life a whole lot easier. You would know that 89% of the time the ball on passing plays would be tossed in front of where your safeties would likely start the play or the QB would be sacked, hit while throwing, or be forced to run.

What Lindgren does not seem to understand is that throwing the ball down the field keeps the defense honest and does not allow them to continually bring their safeties up for run support.

With the number of fast receivers on the Colorado offense, they should be used frequently to stretch the field.

In the first half against Oregon, which ended with a 17-17 tie, the Buffs threw the ball beyond 10 yards 4 times. In the second half, in which the Ducks outscored the Buffs, CU only threw it past 10 yards twice.

Neither half showed enough balls down the field. Some might even argue that balls thrown between 10-20 yards hardly counts as "down the field" in Pac-12 play. In that scenario, the Buffs really only stretch the field less than 6% of the time on called passing plays.

Against Oregon, the Buffs threw as many passes BEHIND THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE as they did 10 or more yards down field. That's a travesty. And not new. Even when Lindgren's Buffs had speedster Paul Richardson, they often threw as few as two out of 36 passes beyond 12 yards down the field.

To help the running game, the offensive coordinator needs to call passing plays that keep defensive players on their heels. When the running starts going well, it will open of the passing lanes for Colorado receivers.

More and more, Colorado players have shown they can play with anyone in the Pac-12. But they do not call their own plays. They have improved mightily on the defensive ball under Jim Leavitt and all the defensive coaches. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the other side of the ball.

Brian Lindgren is the LEAST FEARED O.C. in the Pac-12.

Lest anyone think this is a new conclusion, see these prior posts:

• History Says It's No Anomaly, the Buffs Need to Run to Win  (published 09/14/2015)
• Colorado Head Coach Mike MacIntyre Must Take Control of the Offense  (published 9/01/2014)
• Colorado Must Stretch the Field and Utilize Goodson to Win in Washington  (published 11/09/2013)
• Passing Game Predictability Working Against Buffs in Pac-12 (published 10/20/2013)