Part of Mike MacIntyre's motivational playbook last week was referring to the Buffs' loss to Hawaii as an "anomaly" while preparing his squad for the game against UMass. Considering that the Buffs went into Hawaii with a 6-18 record and 9 game losing streak under MacIntyre, some might argue that another loss was hardly an anomaly.
Mac's a pretty smart guy, so what's important is to look deeper than just the final score of the Hawaii game. Against the Rainbow Warriors, the Buffs rushed the ball for 215 yards, which was almost 58% of their offense. The Buffs rushing for more yards than they pass for does not happen very much for Colorado. And losing when they do so is very much an anomaly, historically.
For eight years in a row and 11 of the past 12, the Buffs have lived and died primarily as a passing team. Starting with the 2003 season, the Buffs have only had one season (2006) in which they gained more than 50% of their yards on the ground. From 2003 to 2014, the Buffs had a record of 45 wins and 100 losses.
If one starts back in 1982 when Bill McCartney arrived in Boulder, the Buffs since then have had 21 seasons in which they were primarily a passing team, and only 12 in which they were primarily a running team.
In 12 seasons as a running team, the Buffs had winning records in 11 of them.
In fact, the only Buff team since 1982 that ran for more than they passed and also had a losing record was the 2006 team under Dan Hawkins (2-10). That team was truly an anomaly. Take away that team's record from the other 11 running teams and the Buffs as a running team were 93-29-4. Those teams had bowl games every year, were usually ranked in the Top 20, and several times played for the National Championship.
In 21 seasons as a passing team, the Buffs had winning records only six times, and 14 losing seasons. One year they were an even 6-6.
What makes that even worse is that three of those winning seasons for passing teams owe their success to the Buffs dominant running game reputation. In 1992, McCartney's Buffs went 9-1-1. It was the only passing dominant team in Mac's last 10 years as head coach. In 1995 and 1996, the Buffs rode the McCartney built dominant offensive line protecting Koy Detmer (and John Hessler when Koy was injured) to back to back 9-win regular seasons as passing teams under Rick Neuheisel.
Take those three teams out of the equation and the Buffs with a pass heavy attack have only 3 winning teams in 18 years and a record of 69-138-1.
The stats are fairly simple, the Buffs as rushing team over the last 33 years only lose 23% of the time (if you don't count Hawk's anomaly). And the Buffs as a passing team lost 2 out of every 3 games over 18 years.
MacIntyre said this week that the Buffs will keep on being a running team "until somebody stops us". That is a good thing. But he needs to keep an eye on his offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren to make sure he is not the one "stopping" the Buffs. If the Buffs had kept running the ball in the 2nd half against Hawaii, instead of trying to pass the ball so much, but Buffs would have likely won. In fact, if they had not started off the game trying to pass so much (and very poorly at that) and had instead dominated on the ground from the start, the Buffs would have won handily, probably by several touchdowns.
The Buffs are going to need that running game going forward. CSU is a good team.
There are lots of good teams on Colorado's schedule. Other than Nicholls (the anomaly), most of them are better than CSU. Colorado needs to work on the details of becoming a run dominant team and to be able to do it against good teams.
Running the ball wears down other teams. Sometimes it doesn't show up on the scoreboard until the second half. And those big ole hogs up front would much rather fire off the line and blow holes in the defense than the alternative. It's much more fun. It also eats up the clock and helps deny the other teams' time of possession.
The Buffs need to run the ball and control the clock. The yards and the points will come, and it will keep the Buff defense fresh. They need to look at the past and see what works. If they want to be a bowl caliber team, the Buffs must become and stay primarily a running team.
Showing posts with label Rick Neuheisel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rick Neuheisel. Show all posts
Monday, September 14, 2015
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Exceptional Quarterbacks are Very Rare, Exceptional Coaches are Even More So
An exceptional quarterback is the dream shared by fans as well as QB coaches, offensive coordinators and head coaches. He is what allows a bad team to be ordinary, an ordinary team to be good, and a good team to become great.
A great quarterback rains fire from the sky and sometimes even slashes and burns across the gridiron. Like a general who will not be defeated, he marshals his troops to the most advantageous and strategic positions to ensure victory.
Fans know that certain quarterbacks give their team a REAL chance to win to every time they step on the field. Some coaches use their proximity to exceptional quarterbacks to further, or even "make" their careers. They can do this because coaches can take credit for an exceptional quarterback. The problems arise when the exceptional quarterback leaves and the coach has not found another one to take his place.
No one can doubt that Troy Aikman was an exceptional quarterback. After two years at Oklahoma he transferred to UCLA, where he went on to become a consensus All-American and the #1 overall pick in the 1989 NFL Draft. He was a 3-time Super Champion for the Dallas Cowboys and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006.
One coach who rode Aikman to greater glory for himself was Rick Neuheisel. He parlayed his role as QB coach to Aikman in 1988 to fancy himself a quarterback guru in years to come. Back in the late 80's, reality set in when he was moved to coach wide receivers a year after Aikman was gone.
That didn't slow down slick Rick, however, as he moved on to the University of Colorado in Boulder in 1994, and as quarterbacks coach, he inherited not one, but TWO exceptional quarterbacks in Kordell Stewart and Koy Detmer. (Just a note: The Slickster's Wikipedia page claims that Neuheisel was the offensive coordinator for CU in 1994, but that is NOT true. Elliot Uzelac was the offensive coordinator under Bill McCartney in '94).
The 1994 Buffaloes were arguably the best CU team ever. It was loaded with NFL talent. They had SEVEN players taken in the first 3 rounds of the 1995 NFL Draft, and nine drafted overall. Needless to say, that would have been a great team no matter who was coaching quarterbacks.
Neuheisel somehow convinced CU president Judith Albino he was the right guy to fill the shoes of Bill McCartney when Mac suddenly announced his retirement at the end of the season. Rick was young, good looking, had a law degree, and seemed like the perfect guy to carry on the McCartney legacy (in Albino's eyes, anyway). Problem was, Neuheisel was not a Mac guy. He had only been in Boulder for one year. Mac gave Albino advice on who to promote to head coach, but his advice was ignored.
In '95 and '96, Neuheisel had teams that were built by Mac and led by perhaps the best football mind ever to take a snap at CU in Koy Detmer. This writer remembers when Koy came to Colorado and hearing stories from some sports writers at the Daily Camera about how football savvy the kid was.
Traditionally, when college players go to meetings it is to learn from their coaches. Stories were told then about the young gun from Texas who taught his coaches a thing or two about playing quarterback. (It helps when your father is a high school coaching legend and your brother is a Heisman Trophy winner.) Put it this way, if Koy had the body or athletic gifts of Troy Aikman or Kordell Stewart, he would have been the best quarterback ever to play the game. He was a football savant with a skinny and fragile body.
With Detmer as the primary QB, the Buffs won 10 games each year in '95 and '96. When he left, along with all those great players recruited by McCartney and his staff, the wheels fell off the bus at Colorado. With Koy on the field (or the sideline when injured), the Buffs finished the season ranked #4 in '95 and #8 in '96. Their record was 20-4.
After Detmer graduated on to the NFL, Neuheisel's Buffs won 13 games and lost 10 over the next two years. There were also reports that the NCAA was investigating Colorado for recruiting violations. Like a rat fleeing a sinking ship, the Slickster headed west and took the job at Washington.
WHAT DOES ALL THIS HAVE TO DO WITH COLORADO IN 2015?
Brian Lindgren, the current Colorado QB coach and Offensive Coordinator, came with coach Mike MacIntyre to Colorado in 2013 after leading San Jose State to 11 wins and a top 25 ranking in 2012. It was Lindgren's first year at SJS, and the success of that team gave him great reviews as one of the best young offensive coordinators around.
When one goes back, however, it is easy to note that maybe the success Lindgren had at SJS was due mostly to David Fales, their excellent quarterback now with the Chicago Bears. Fales holds most of the SJS passing records despite being at the school for only two years.
When MacIntyre and Lindgren came to Colorado in 2013, they inherited a team that was possibly the worst in the country in 2012. What they also inherited was a 5* quarterback transfer from Texas in Connor Wood. Despite the pedigree, Lindgren was unable to coach Wood into a top quarterback. In fact, seven games into the season, Wood was benched and freshman Sefo Liufau took over the reins. Wood decided to leave football after that year.
Liufau finished out 2013 as the starter and in 2014 broke many Colorado passing records. Most of the records were due to the sheer volume of passes attempted. Sefo attempted 498 passes in 2014.
By comparison, Koy Detmer threw 458 in '95 and '96 combined. And Kordell Stewart averaged 261 passes each of his three seasons as starter. Kordell also left CU with more almost 1300 yards rushing.)
"Yards per Attempt" (Y/A) is one of they key stats for quarterbacks. Compare the following #'s in Y/A for notable quarterbacks:
9.1 -- Koy Detmer
9.0 -- Darian Hagan
8.9 -- David Fales
8.4 -- Troy Aikman
8.3 -- Kordell Stewart
6.5 -- Sefo Liufau
Each pass attempted by the first five listed was 30-40% more effective in gaining yards than those thrown by the Colorado QB who broke so many records under the guidance of Brian Lindgren.
Even more important than Y/A is the record a team has under the guidance of an exceptional quarterback. These records are for when each was the primary quarterback (starter unless injured) for their team.
30-5-3 Darian Hagan
28-6-2 Kordell Stewart
20-4 Koy Detmer
20-4 Troy Aikman
17-8 David Fales
3-15 Sefo Liufau
Sefo Liufau has been added purely for statistical and comparative reasons. Unlike the others listed above, he was truly thrust into the fire his true freshman season. No redshirt year... no backup up year.... Just take over for a team that has been struggling for a decade.
That being the case, his QB coach and offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren needs to take all the criticism for lack of production from the quarterback and the offense.
If (or when) the Buffs turn it around, all the credit should go to Sefo and his fellow players. If not, the blame falls on the coaches. Like in war, privates and corporals can be heroes, but the loss of the battle belongs on the officers, and ultimately the commanding officer.
A great quarterback rains fire from the sky and sometimes even slashes and burns across the gridiron. Like a general who will not be defeated, he marshals his troops to the most advantageous and strategic positions to ensure victory.
Fans know that certain quarterbacks give their team a REAL chance to win to every time they step on the field. Some coaches use their proximity to exceptional quarterbacks to further, or even "make" their careers. They can do this because coaches can take credit for an exceptional quarterback. The problems arise when the exceptional quarterback leaves and the coach has not found another one to take his place.
No one can doubt that Troy Aikman was an exceptional quarterback. After two years at Oklahoma he transferred to UCLA, where he went on to become a consensus All-American and the #1 overall pick in the 1989 NFL Draft. He was a 3-time Super Champion for the Dallas Cowboys and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006.
One coach who rode Aikman to greater glory for himself was Rick Neuheisel. He parlayed his role as QB coach to Aikman in 1988 to fancy himself a quarterback guru in years to come. Back in the late 80's, reality set in when he was moved to coach wide receivers a year after Aikman was gone.
That didn't slow down slick Rick, however, as he moved on to the University of Colorado in Boulder in 1994, and as quarterbacks coach, he inherited not one, but TWO exceptional quarterbacks in Kordell Stewart and Koy Detmer. (Just a note: The Slickster's Wikipedia page claims that Neuheisel was the offensive coordinator for CU in 1994, but that is NOT true. Elliot Uzelac was the offensive coordinator under Bill McCartney in '94).
The 1994 Buffaloes were arguably the best CU team ever. It was loaded with NFL talent. They had SEVEN players taken in the first 3 rounds of the 1995 NFL Draft, and nine drafted overall. Needless to say, that would have been a great team no matter who was coaching quarterbacks.
Neuheisel somehow convinced CU president Judith Albino he was the right guy to fill the shoes of Bill McCartney when Mac suddenly announced his retirement at the end of the season. Rick was young, good looking, had a law degree, and seemed like the perfect guy to carry on the McCartney legacy (in Albino's eyes, anyway). Problem was, Neuheisel was not a Mac guy. He had only been in Boulder for one year. Mac gave Albino advice on who to promote to head coach, but his advice was ignored.
In '95 and '96, Neuheisel had teams that were built by Mac and led by perhaps the best football mind ever to take a snap at CU in Koy Detmer. This writer remembers when Koy came to Colorado and hearing stories from some sports writers at the Daily Camera about how football savvy the kid was.
Traditionally, when college players go to meetings it is to learn from their coaches. Stories were told then about the young gun from Texas who taught his coaches a thing or two about playing quarterback. (It helps when your father is a high school coaching legend and your brother is a Heisman Trophy winner.) Put it this way, if Koy had the body or athletic gifts of Troy Aikman or Kordell Stewart, he would have been the best quarterback ever to play the game. He was a football savant with a skinny and fragile body.
With Detmer as the primary QB, the Buffs won 10 games each year in '95 and '96. When he left, along with all those great players recruited by McCartney and his staff, the wheels fell off the bus at Colorado. With Koy on the field (or the sideline when injured), the Buffs finished the season ranked #4 in '95 and #8 in '96. Their record was 20-4.
After Detmer graduated on to the NFL, Neuheisel's Buffs won 13 games and lost 10 over the next two years. There were also reports that the NCAA was investigating Colorado for recruiting violations. Like a rat fleeing a sinking ship, the Slickster headed west and took the job at Washington.
WHAT DOES ALL THIS HAVE TO DO WITH COLORADO IN 2015?
Brian Lindgren, the current Colorado QB coach and Offensive Coordinator, came with coach Mike MacIntyre to Colorado in 2013 after leading San Jose State to 11 wins and a top 25 ranking in 2012. It was Lindgren's first year at SJS, and the success of that team gave him great reviews as one of the best young offensive coordinators around.
When one goes back, however, it is easy to note that maybe the success Lindgren had at SJS was due mostly to David Fales, their excellent quarterback now with the Chicago Bears. Fales holds most of the SJS passing records despite being at the school for only two years.
When MacIntyre and Lindgren came to Colorado in 2013, they inherited a team that was possibly the worst in the country in 2012. What they also inherited was a 5* quarterback transfer from Texas in Connor Wood. Despite the pedigree, Lindgren was unable to coach Wood into a top quarterback. In fact, seven games into the season, Wood was benched and freshman Sefo Liufau took over the reins. Wood decided to leave football after that year.
Liufau finished out 2013 as the starter and in 2014 broke many Colorado passing records. Most of the records were due to the sheer volume of passes attempted. Sefo attempted 498 passes in 2014.
By comparison, Koy Detmer threw 458 in '95 and '96 combined. And Kordell Stewart averaged 261 passes each of his three seasons as starter. Kordell also left CU with more almost 1300 yards rushing.)
"Yards per Attempt" (Y/A) is one of they key stats for quarterbacks. Compare the following #'s in Y/A for notable quarterbacks:
9.1 -- Koy Detmer
9.0 -- Darian Hagan
8.9 -- David Fales
8.4 -- Troy Aikman
8.3 -- Kordell Stewart
6.5 -- Sefo Liufau
Each pass attempted by the first five listed was 30-40% more effective in gaining yards than those thrown by the Colorado QB who broke so many records under the guidance of Brian Lindgren.
Even more important than Y/A is the record a team has under the guidance of an exceptional quarterback. These records are for when each was the primary quarterback (starter unless injured) for their team.
30-5-3 Darian Hagan
28-6-2 Kordell Stewart
20-4 Koy Detmer
20-4 Troy Aikman
17-8 David Fales
3-15 Sefo Liufau
Sefo Liufau has been added purely for statistical and comparative reasons. Unlike the others listed above, he was truly thrust into the fire his true freshman season. No redshirt year... no backup up year.... Just take over for a team that has been struggling for a decade.
That being the case, his QB coach and offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren needs to take all the criticism for lack of production from the quarterback and the offense.
If (or when) the Buffs turn it around, all the credit should go to Sefo and his fellow players. If not, the blame falls on the coaches. Like in war, privates and corporals can be heroes, but the loss of the battle belongs on the officers, and ultimately the commanding officer.
Friday, August 29, 2014
Colorado Buffaloes a Team in Search of an Identity in 2014 and Beyond
Heading into today's Rocky Mountain Showdown, the University of Colorado Buffaloes enter the game as a team in search of an identity. If they hope to win six games and become bowl eligible for the first time since 2007, they need to establish who they are and then be that team.
The Buffs have been a team in search of a real identity for a long time.
Their run toward to the bottom of the football pile began with Dan Hawkins, whose only apparent goal was to make his son Cody the all time leading passer in Colorado history. He accomplished that goal, but he turned a team that had been to bowl games 17 of the previous 21 seasons into a program that was a shell of its former glory. Hawkins destroyed the foundation of the house that Bill McCartney built, and left the program in a shambles with no depth, horrible player development and in-fighting on the team by young men who wanted to be more than supporting players for the head coach's son.
The run continued when the CU Brass decided to hire two ex-Buffs from the glory days to come in and run the program. Enter Jon Embree and Eric Bieniemy, who were great players for the Buffs but who were completely unqualified for their new jobs as Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator. Their main tone during their two year stay was to curse and yell at their players and to whine and sulk about how the school was not committed to football.
In truth, the school brass was definitely NOT committed to the football program and they showed that to the entire country by having the lowest paid football coaches and Athletic Director in the Big 12 and the Pac-12 following the change in conferences. However, lack of support from the top does not excuse the horrible relationship the coaches had with their players, the woeful recruiting of student athletes who were unqualified to get into the program, and game-day play calling that was so bad that it was embarrassing to CU fans around the country.
Colorado found its identity under Bill McCartney.
Following the horrible days of the Buffs under Chuck Fairbanks, the Buffs turned to Michigan assistant coach Bill McCartney, who was highly recommended by the Wolverines' legendary coach Bo Schembechler. McCartney played college ball at Missouri under another coaching legend, Dan Devine.
It took time for Mac to transform the the Buffaloes. They won only 7 out of 33 games during his first three years. What he did, however, was instill a philosophy of playing hardnose defense. He was named the Big 8 coach of the year in 1985 after his team went from one win in '84 to seven wins in '85. They gave up on average only 14.5 points per game, and all four of their losses in the regular season were to ranked teams (3 in the top 7, and one ranked #12).
To take advantage of his strong defensive team, McCartney abandoned the pass-happy days under Fairbanks in which the Buffs once gave up 82 points to Oklahoma while scoring 42 of their own. The 124 combined points was a shocker to the nation (this was before overtime games added 4 or 5 touchdowns to the real score).
McCartney went completely in the other direction and changed to the wishbone offense for the 1985 season. It was an offensive scheme that allowed a team without as much talent to compete against more dominant programs. They committed to running the ball with the triple option and began a run of nine bowl games in the next 10 years under McCartney (including a national championship).
McCartney knew that controlling the ball on the ground also controlled the clock and gave his strong defense a chance to stay fresh and dominate the other team. The coaching staff also went after great punters during recruiting. They realized that during defensive struggles with top teams like Nebraska and Oklahoma that they could move down the field slowly just by trading punts several times.The Buffs had three All-American punters during the late 1980's.
As the Buffs found more and more success, better players came knocking. With the addition of great talent, the Buffs were able to move back toward a traditional offense that more equally used both running and passing. Three years after winning the national title as a predominantly running team, the Buffs had Rashaan Salaam earn the Heisman Trophy playing for a team with a strong passing attack as well as a dominant running game.
Bill McCartney retired after the 1994 season.
After Mac stepped away from college football, the Buffs had 10 win seasons the next two years under Slick Rick Neuheisel. Buff fans thought that it would just be a continuation of the good times under McCartney. By year three, however, it became clear that Neuheisel was just a kid who had found the keys to his daddy's Ferrari and had taken it out for a two-year joyride.
When it came time for the players that he was responsible for developing to play, the Buffs were no longer a top program. The Buffs lost 10 games in the last two years of Neuheisel's reign. Mac's last six teams lost a combined 11 games. Knowing that the cupboard was bare and that NCAA rules had been broken, Neuheisel bolted to Washington after the '98 season. (His time in Washington also led to run-ins with the NCAA, but this article is about CU, not the Slickster.)
What lessons can be learned by Mike MacIntyre?
The first thing that Mac and his staff had to do when they got to Colorado was to take a group of individuals and turn them into a team. All indications are that his staff has done an excellent job of restoring a sense of family to a program had become completely dysfunctional.
They have had to work on developing skills for individual players while also facing down the fact that prior coaches had left important positions on the team bare of recruits. 2013 saw a total of nine offensive linemen available for nine positions. It also saw a bunch of underclassmen defensive backs getting their trial by fire in the Pac-12 while also learning a new system.
This year, the Buffs have much better depth and higher level of talent across the board. But they also play in the toughest conference in the country. If they want to compete and become a team that once again looks to go to a bowl at the end of each season, they need to commit to an offensive and defensive philosophy that will allow them to do that.
If their defense is weaker than their opponents offense, they need to find ways to control the ball to limit the opportunities to score by the other team. The Pac-12 offers an excellent example.
Look at how Stanford has consistently shut down the Oregon Ducks.
The Quackers want to score on every play, to wait only 10 seconds to run each play, and as many possessions as they can get. They want a minimum of five possessions per quarter and want their scoring drives to last less than minute.
Unfortunately for Oregon, Stanford knows how to control the ball and limit the Oregon possessions to 2 or even 1 per quarter. They know that Oregon cannot score touchdowns unless they have the ball. And Stanford also plays hard-nose, knock-down, rough-you-up defense. The do not allow the Ducks to get into a rhythm, and every year the Ducks high flying offense and national title aspirations are dashed by the boys from Palo Alto.
Stanford usually falls short once or twice a season, but their whole philosophy is designed to beat Oregon. And they implement that philosophy very well.
What will Colorado's "philosophy" be during the 2014 season?
Every team in the country "wants" to run and/or pass the ball well. They all "want" to play good defense. They all "want" to be winning teams. The question for Mike MacIntyre and his Colorado staff and team is:
What are they willing TO DO to make their wants come true? Are they going to give lip service to running the ball, or are they going to do it? Same goes for the passing game. As Yoda said a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
"Do or do not. There is no try."
The Buffs have been a team in search of a real identity for a long time.
Their run toward to the bottom of the football pile began with Dan Hawkins, whose only apparent goal was to make his son Cody the all time leading passer in Colorado history. He accomplished that goal, but he turned a team that had been to bowl games 17 of the previous 21 seasons into a program that was a shell of its former glory. Hawkins destroyed the foundation of the house that Bill McCartney built, and left the program in a shambles with no depth, horrible player development and in-fighting on the team by young men who wanted to be more than supporting players for the head coach's son.
The run continued when the CU Brass decided to hire two ex-Buffs from the glory days to come in and run the program. Enter Jon Embree and Eric Bieniemy, who were great players for the Buffs but who were completely unqualified for their new jobs as Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator. Their main tone during their two year stay was to curse and yell at their players and to whine and sulk about how the school was not committed to football.
In truth, the school brass was definitely NOT committed to the football program and they showed that to the entire country by having the lowest paid football coaches and Athletic Director in the Big 12 and the Pac-12 following the change in conferences. However, lack of support from the top does not excuse the horrible relationship the coaches had with their players, the woeful recruiting of student athletes who were unqualified to get into the program, and game-day play calling that was so bad that it was embarrassing to CU fans around the country.
Colorado found its identity under Bill McCartney.
Following the horrible days of the Buffs under Chuck Fairbanks, the Buffs turned to Michigan assistant coach Bill McCartney, who was highly recommended by the Wolverines' legendary coach Bo Schembechler. McCartney played college ball at Missouri under another coaching legend, Dan Devine.
It took time for Mac to transform the the Buffaloes. They won only 7 out of 33 games during his first three years. What he did, however, was instill a philosophy of playing hardnose defense. He was named the Big 8 coach of the year in 1985 after his team went from one win in '84 to seven wins in '85. They gave up on average only 14.5 points per game, and all four of their losses in the regular season were to ranked teams (3 in the top 7, and one ranked #12).
To take advantage of his strong defensive team, McCartney abandoned the pass-happy days under Fairbanks in which the Buffs once gave up 82 points to Oklahoma while scoring 42 of their own. The 124 combined points was a shocker to the nation (this was before overtime games added 4 or 5 touchdowns to the real score).
McCartney went completely in the other direction and changed to the wishbone offense for the 1985 season. It was an offensive scheme that allowed a team without as much talent to compete against more dominant programs. They committed to running the ball with the triple option and began a run of nine bowl games in the next 10 years under McCartney (including a national championship).
McCartney knew that controlling the ball on the ground also controlled the clock and gave his strong defense a chance to stay fresh and dominate the other team. The coaching staff also went after great punters during recruiting. They realized that during defensive struggles with top teams like Nebraska and Oklahoma that they could move down the field slowly just by trading punts several times.The Buffs had three All-American punters during the late 1980's.
As the Buffs found more and more success, better players came knocking. With the addition of great talent, the Buffs were able to move back toward a traditional offense that more equally used both running and passing. Three years after winning the national title as a predominantly running team, the Buffs had Rashaan Salaam earn the Heisman Trophy playing for a team with a strong passing attack as well as a dominant running game.
Bill McCartney retired after the 1994 season.
After Mac stepped away from college football, the Buffs had 10 win seasons the next two years under Slick Rick Neuheisel. Buff fans thought that it would just be a continuation of the good times under McCartney. By year three, however, it became clear that Neuheisel was just a kid who had found the keys to his daddy's Ferrari and had taken it out for a two-year joyride.
When it came time for the players that he was responsible for developing to play, the Buffs were no longer a top program. The Buffs lost 10 games in the last two years of Neuheisel's reign. Mac's last six teams lost a combined 11 games. Knowing that the cupboard was bare and that NCAA rules had been broken, Neuheisel bolted to Washington after the '98 season. (His time in Washington also led to run-ins with the NCAA, but this article is about CU, not the Slickster.)
What lessons can be learned by Mike MacIntyre?
The first thing that Mac and his staff had to do when they got to Colorado was to take a group of individuals and turn them into a team. All indications are that his staff has done an excellent job of restoring a sense of family to a program had become completely dysfunctional.
They have had to work on developing skills for individual players while also facing down the fact that prior coaches had left important positions on the team bare of recruits. 2013 saw a total of nine offensive linemen available for nine positions. It also saw a bunch of underclassmen defensive backs getting their trial by fire in the Pac-12 while also learning a new system.
This year, the Buffs have much better depth and higher level of talent across the board. But they also play in the toughest conference in the country. If they want to compete and become a team that once again looks to go to a bowl at the end of each season, they need to commit to an offensive and defensive philosophy that will allow them to do that.
If their defense is weaker than their opponents offense, they need to find ways to control the ball to limit the opportunities to score by the other team. The Pac-12 offers an excellent example.
Look at how Stanford has consistently shut down the Oregon Ducks.
The Quackers want to score on every play, to wait only 10 seconds to run each play, and as many possessions as they can get. They want a minimum of five possessions per quarter and want their scoring drives to last less than minute.
Unfortunately for Oregon, Stanford knows how to control the ball and limit the Oregon possessions to 2 or even 1 per quarter. They know that Oregon cannot score touchdowns unless they have the ball. And Stanford also plays hard-nose, knock-down, rough-you-up defense. The do not allow the Ducks to get into a rhythm, and every year the Ducks high flying offense and national title aspirations are dashed by the boys from Palo Alto.
Stanford usually falls short once or twice a season, but their whole philosophy is designed to beat Oregon. And they implement that philosophy very well.
What will Colorado's "philosophy" be during the 2014 season?
Every team in the country "wants" to run and/or pass the ball well. They all "want" to play good defense. They all "want" to be winning teams. The question for Mike MacIntyre and his Colorado staff and team is:
What are they willing TO DO to make their wants come true? Are they going to give lip service to running the ball, or are they going to do it? Same goes for the passing game. As Yoda said a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
"Do or do not. There is no try."
Monday, August 18, 2014
Colorado Football 2014: A look back and a look forward
Every year at this time, Buff fans ready themselves for another season of college football at the University of Colorado. They count the days and the hours until that opening kickoff. Hope springs eternal like a guiding light, and fans hope that light shines on a better tomorrow. Here before the first game, all teams are undefeated and looking forward to a winning season that is rewarded by a trip to a bowl game.
The last time the CU Buffs went bowling was way back to the 2007 season, in the one year in five that Dan Hawkins coached the team to six wins. His predecessor, Gary Barnett, had handed over a team that had won its division of the Big 12 four times in the previous five years. Barnett was the last coach to lead the Buffs to a bowl game victory following the 2004 season.
Historically, the Buffs have only performed marginally during bowl games, with a record of 12 wins and 16 defeats. That may seem like a poor record but the competition at the bowl level is certainly higher than the regular season.
The legendary Bill McCartney led the Buffs to the most bowl games, with nine appearances. After a rough first three years as head coach at CU, those nine bowl games came in the last ten years of his tenure. Only three of Mac's seasons ended with a bowl victory, but one of them was for the National Championship. It was the 2nd straight year that the Buffs had gone bowling as the #1 team in the country.
Gary Barnett and Eddie Crowder each led the Buffs to five bowl games. Crowder's Buffs won three times, and Barnett led them to two victories. The best record in bowl games for the Buffs goes to Rick Neuheisel, whose teams won all three of their bowl games in his four years in Boulder. All three of his bowl teams finished in the AP Top 10.
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Getting ready for the 2014 season, Buff fans are very hopeful that the team might win six games. The Buffs won four games last year under new head coach Mike MacIntyre, which was four times as many as they won the year before under Jon Embree, when they finished 1-11. And those familiar with the struggles of the Buffs over the last seven years know that the one win in 2012 was an absolute fluke, when Washington State imploded and lost a 20 point lead in the last 8 minutes of the game.
When MacIntyre was hired, Colorado was arguably the worst team in the FBS. Players brought in by prior coaching staffs were washing out of school at an alarming rate, and those who stuck it out played for coaches who did little to develop them as either football players or students.
That's all changed under MacIntyre. Due to proper training techniques, games lost to injury dropped drastically in 2013. Players are held accountable as students first, and only then can they play on the gridiron. Those who stray outside the lines when it comes to legal matters are dealt with severely and correctly. (This is NOT Nebraska, which seems to welcome felons with open arms as long as they can help the team.)
Due to attrition, Mac and staff last year had one of the youngest teams in the country. This year they are THE youngest. It will be an uphill struggle to compete on a week to week basis in the Pac-12.
Most top teams in the country have a system in which new recruits come in and redshirt for a year, and then serve as backups for a couple years before becoming starters as upperclassmen. Those 3 years of learning the system, training and developing their bodies allows them to be as strong as they can be before taking the field of battle.
Because of their youth and lack of depth, the Buffs have had to play many true freshman and sophomores over the last several years. It showed as they were manhandled by stronger men, especially in the trenches.
For the first time in way too long, the Buffs finally have some depth on the offensive line. In the past several years, it has been hard for the Buffs to even split the team into two squads for scrimmages because there were not enough offensive linemen to man two squads. Now their numbers are way up and there are enough men to create competition at every position.
There is an old saying, "May the best man win!" When someone has no competition, they win their position just by the virtue of being there. Finally, this year, there are talented and numerous men fighting for the jobs manning the trenches. This alone could be the difference between a winning season and another losing one.
Unfortunately, even if the Buffs make a great improvement, it may not be reflected on the win totals. As fans, we may need to look at the scores and the stats to see the improvement. A loss by 7 points may be heartbreaking, but it is a massive improvement over the days when Colorado lost by 30, 40, or even 50 points.
The biggest "wins" this year may very well be losses in which we are still in the game in the 4th quarter. A big win this year is if we are not giving up touchdowns on defense at the same rate we are making first downs on offense. The Buffs have a tough road ahead, and must work the process put together by the coaches.
They may not go bowling this year... but they should be light years ahead of 2012 and significantly stronger and better than 2013.
The last time the CU Buffs went bowling was way back to the 2007 season, in the one year in five that Dan Hawkins coached the team to six wins. His predecessor, Gary Barnett, had handed over a team that had won its division of the Big 12 four times in the previous five years. Barnett was the last coach to lead the Buffs to a bowl game victory following the 2004 season.
Historically, the Buffs have only performed marginally during bowl games, with a record of 12 wins and 16 defeats. That may seem like a poor record but the competition at the bowl level is certainly higher than the regular season.
The legendary Bill McCartney led the Buffs to the most bowl games, with nine appearances. After a rough first three years as head coach at CU, those nine bowl games came in the last ten years of his tenure. Only three of Mac's seasons ended with a bowl victory, but one of them was for the National Championship. It was the 2nd straight year that the Buffs had gone bowling as the #1 team in the country.
Gary Barnett and Eddie Crowder each led the Buffs to five bowl games. Crowder's Buffs won three times, and Barnett led them to two victories. The best record in bowl games for the Buffs goes to Rick Neuheisel, whose teams won all three of their bowl games in his four years in Boulder. All three of his bowl teams finished in the AP Top 10.
-------------------------------------------------
Getting ready for the 2014 season, Buff fans are very hopeful that the team might win six games. The Buffs won four games last year under new head coach Mike MacIntyre, which was four times as many as they won the year before under Jon Embree, when they finished 1-11. And those familiar with the struggles of the Buffs over the last seven years know that the one win in 2012 was an absolute fluke, when Washington State imploded and lost a 20 point lead in the last 8 minutes of the game.
When MacIntyre was hired, Colorado was arguably the worst team in the FBS. Players brought in by prior coaching staffs were washing out of school at an alarming rate, and those who stuck it out played for coaches who did little to develop them as either football players or students.
That's all changed under MacIntyre. Due to proper training techniques, games lost to injury dropped drastically in 2013. Players are held accountable as students first, and only then can they play on the gridiron. Those who stray outside the lines when it comes to legal matters are dealt with severely and correctly. (This is NOT Nebraska, which seems to welcome felons with open arms as long as they can help the team.)
Due to attrition, Mac and staff last year had one of the youngest teams in the country. This year they are THE youngest. It will be an uphill struggle to compete on a week to week basis in the Pac-12.
Most top teams in the country have a system in which new recruits come in and redshirt for a year, and then serve as backups for a couple years before becoming starters as upperclassmen. Those 3 years of learning the system, training and developing their bodies allows them to be as strong as they can be before taking the field of battle.
Because of their youth and lack of depth, the Buffs have had to play many true freshman and sophomores over the last several years. It showed as they were manhandled by stronger men, especially in the trenches.
For the first time in way too long, the Buffs finally have some depth on the offensive line. In the past several years, it has been hard for the Buffs to even split the team into two squads for scrimmages because there were not enough offensive linemen to man two squads. Now their numbers are way up and there are enough men to create competition at every position.
There is an old saying, "May the best man win!" When someone has no competition, they win their position just by the virtue of being there. Finally, this year, there are talented and numerous men fighting for the jobs manning the trenches. This alone could be the difference between a winning season and another losing one.
Unfortunately, even if the Buffs make a great improvement, it may not be reflected on the win totals. As fans, we may need to look at the scores and the stats to see the improvement. A loss by 7 points may be heartbreaking, but it is a massive improvement over the days when Colorado lost by 30, 40, or even 50 points.
The biggest "wins" this year may very well be losses in which we are still in the game in the 4th quarter. A big win this year is if we are not giving up touchdowns on defense at the same rate we are making first downs on offense. The Buffs have a tough road ahead, and must work the process put together by the coaches.
They may not go bowling this year... but they should be light years ahead of 2012 and significantly stronger and better than 2013.
Friday, August 9, 2013
Colorado Buffaloes 2013 Opinion: Please Spare us the Musings of Slick Rick Neuheisel
The University of Colorado Buffaloes continued fall camp on Thursday and played host to the Pac-12 Network and their resident weasel "Slick Rick" Neuheisel. As a horrible past head football coach to no less than 25% of the teams in the new Pac-12, the weasely-one now returns as an "analyst" and "media celebrity." This apparently impressed the local media enough to have a plethora of articles written about whatever drivel leached out of his lips about the state of CU football, the University of Colorado, and Boulder.
It is truly an indictment of the local media that they chose to waste space that should have been allocated to Mike MacIntyre's Buffaloes by instead writing about the musings of a man who has been disgraced, fired, and frequently accused of being a liar and lawyer. I digress, of course, and must admit that calling anyone a liar and a lawyer would be redundant. But hey, after all, this is 2013 and fame is more important than anything, especially honesty and integrity.
Unfortunately for NewWeasel and the local media, some of us have been around long enough to remember the first go-round. I worked at the Daily Camera Newspaper when the boy wonder first made his way into Boulder in 1994 to work with the great Bill McCartney.
Mac had won one National Championship during his tenure coaching in Boulder, but more importantly, had come within two bad games of winning two more championships (the NC game against Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl following the 1989 season, and the 1994 game against Nebraska in Lincoln). If you had been there to see those games and those seasons, then you know what I am talking about.
McCartney shocked everyone by announcing his retirement following the game in which Rashaan Salaam wrapped up his Heisman Trophy by going over 2000 yards in a season during the season ending game with Iowa State. The 1994 team was so good that NINE Buffs were selected in the NFL Draft the following April, including SEVEN in the first three rounds.
Colorado surprised a great many people by choosing a very young Neuheisel over more experienced coaches with at least coordinator experience to become the next head coach of the Buffs for the 1995 season. I have to admit that I was excited that CU was showing rare foresight (or so I thought then) by hiring a guy who was nearly the same age I was. Judith Albino was wrong to hire Ricky Boy then, and I was wrong in thinking that a guy smart enough to get through law school and pass the bar had the dedication to be a great head coach.
As an aside, I realize that the Wikipedia page dedicated to Rick Neuheisel says he was the Offensive Coordinator for the Buffs in 1994, but that is wrong. The OC during Mac's final year was Elliot Uzelac.
Neuheisel inherited a perennial top-5 team built by Mac, and then got way too much credit when the Buffs won 10 games each of his first two seasons. In hindsight, the Buffs would have won 10 games in '95 and '96 no matter who was the coach because of the depth of the program built by McCartney. Once the program was in the hands of players developed by Neuheisel's staff, however, the wheels started to come off the program.
It was bad enough that the Buffs went from their typical 10 wins in a season to only 5 in 1997, more embarrassing still was that CU had to later forfeit their wins because they used an ineligible player. Also came revelations that there were recruiting improprieties from the very top (the big dog, or, in this case, the big weasel). Those things alone had me and other serious Buff fans calling for Ricky's job.
What really pissed me off about the articles written by the local media is that they really don't know anything about the people they are writing about. Several mentioned their incorrect belief that Buff fans were angry with Neuheisel for leaving CU to go to Washington. Nothing could be further from the truth. I became chat room friends with several people at UW fansites during that time. In a much more civilized era of college sporting discussions, I explained my misgivings about Neuheisel.
Several years later, after the general consensus that Neuheisel had embarrassed their school as well, they thanked me for trying to warn them. Years later, we marveled at the warped mentality that led UCLA to hire a man who had twice run afoul of the NCAA, leading to sanctions of his teams, and then successfully sued the NCAA and Washington for doing their own jobs poorly.
One would think that nowadays that any hiring Rick analysis would come with a comprehensive risk analysis. That is, considering his high pay, profile, and position, what does he offer as a benefit compared to potential risks to the prestige and financial health and wellbeing of the program?
All said, like most lawyers, you have to take anything Rick says with a grain of salt. Better yet, in the case of Neuheisel, you should probably add the wedge of lime and shot of tequila to make anything he says palatable. I am sure the local media, in their obsequious desire to pay homage to fame and/or infamy, believe they are entitled to share the opinions of such a man “who is like any other man, only more so.” (Casablanca). I think I share the opinions of many long time Buff fans who have the image of Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men come to mind when we say we “don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.”
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