Turn out the lights, the party's over. Colorado took a 10 point lead into the 4th quarter and managed to lose by 11 points, 41-30. Actually, the season was never much of a party. Maybe just a surprise party where the guest of honor was smart enough to not show up.
Although the Buffs mathematically have a chance to win another game, they won't. They make the worst rushing teams in the Pac-12 look like Barry Switzer's 1980's Oklahoma Sooners.
One could say that head coach Mike MacIntyre quit on his team by taking away their last chance for a win. The Sun Devils ran it down Colorado's throats all 2nd half, and Colorado was unable to stop them. Despite that, he choose to punt the ball back to ASU with less than three minutes left.
Most of us figured that ASU would run out the clock but Colorado failed to stop any runs and the Sun Devils scored another clinching touchdown.
The score against USC next week will be as embarrassing as the Washington and Washington State games. Mark that prediction. Whatever the line is, the Trojans will probably triple it.
Sadly, a season predicated on promised great success has turned out to be yet another lost season in Boulder. At least it's almost time to hit the slopes. Or maybe go traveling. Anything other than more wasted time.
Showing posts with label USC Trojans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USC Trojans. Show all posts
Saturday, November 4, 2017
Saturday, October 28, 2017
Colorado Breaks Out the Enthusiasm, Wins 44-28 over Cal
Wow!
The Colorado Buffaloes finally broke out the Joie de Vivre and had a good time. As a consequence they earned a big win, 44-28 over the California Golden Bears.
Football is a game. It's supposed to be fun. But for much of this year Colorado has looked like a group of guys doing chores instead of playing a game. Against Cal, they finally looked like they were having fun.
This was the Colorado team fans had been hoping to see all season. It was exciting to see.
The question now is whether the Buffs can take the momentum created today and carry it over to the last three games. One more win and they can earn a bowl berth, which just a few days ago seemed quite unlikely.
More will be known by the end of the night. Colorado's next two opponents, Arizona State and USC, face off tonight in Tempe. The winner takes control of their own destiny for the Pac-12 South. The loser will need help.
Colorado can no longer win the South, but they can play a big part in determining who takes the crown. It can be fun to be a spoiler too, especially if it also allows CU to make it to a second consecutive bowl game.
They'll be watching tonight to scout the next two opponents. The key to winning one or both of those games is to come and play with enthusiasm. They need to keep on having fun.
Here's to hoping they do just that. Go Buffs!
The Colorado Buffaloes finally broke out the Joie de Vivre and had a good time. As a consequence they earned a big win, 44-28 over the California Golden Bears.
Football is a game. It's supposed to be fun. But for much of this year Colorado has looked like a group of guys doing chores instead of playing a game. Against Cal, they finally looked like they were having fun.
This was the Colorado team fans had been hoping to see all season. It was exciting to see.
The question now is whether the Buffs can take the momentum created today and carry it over to the last three games. One more win and they can earn a bowl berth, which just a few days ago seemed quite unlikely.
More will be known by the end of the night. Colorado's next two opponents, Arizona State and USC, face off tonight in Tempe. The winner takes control of their own destiny for the Pac-12 South. The loser will need help.
Colorado can no longer win the South, but they can play a big part in determining who takes the crown. It can be fun to be a spoiler too, especially if it also allows CU to make it to a second consecutive bowl game.
They'll be watching tonight to scout the next two opponents. The key to winning one or both of those games is to come and play with enthusiasm. They need to keep on having fun.
Here's to hoping they do just that. Go Buffs!
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Colorado Buffaloes Thoroughly Outcoached in 21-17 Loss to USC
The Colorado Buffaloes forced FOUR turnovers against USC, and still managed to lose 21-17 to the Trojans. How did that come about? Let us count the ways.
1. Colorado gave up more than 500 yards to the Trojans.
Much has been made of the fact that the Buffaloes do not use their tight ends for anything other than blocking. It's certainly OK to not have tight ends be used for catching passes, but Colorado seems to think that nobody else uses their tight ends to catch passes either. In their two losses so far this season, the Buffs were lit up over and over by tight ends.
Against Michigan, All-American Jake Butt was wide open so often one would have thought he was wearing a stealth jersey that made him invisible to Colorado defenders. Butt caught seven passes for 87 yards, and was the only Wolverine player with more than two catches.
USC scored three touchdowns in their victory of Colorado. All three were scored by wide open tight ends. Daniel Imatorbhebhe and Tyler Petite only caught a total of four passes between them, but their 3 TD's provided all the scoring the Trojans would need to win their 11th straight against Colorado.
2. Colorado needs to work on their tackling.
One of the most frustrating things of watching the game was the sheer number of times that the Buffaloes hit a Trojan player behind the line of scrimmage or well short of a first down... only to have the SC player squirt away for positive yardage or gain another back-breaking first down.
Despite all the numerous times the Buffs hit the ball carrier behind the line of scrimmage, the Buffs ended the game with only ONE tackle for a loss on the day. The failure to wrap up Trojan ball carriers kept the Buffs D on their heels all day long.
3. The Colorado coaches failed to call long pass plays (The Buffs bread and butter) until too late in the game.
Colorado could not get their ground game going because the Trojans were crowding the line of scrimmage with up to SEVEN defenders. It made it nearly impossible to run on the Trojans and the Buffs play callers chose to have their QB's only throw short passes (until late in the game), allowing the USC defensive backs to have their men in front of them for most of the afternoon.
Even the TV announcers (not normally known for their insight) kept commenting that Colorado needed to spread the field in order to keep the Trojans from loading up the line of scrimmage. Unfortunately, the Buffs did not start doing it until late in the game. It allowed the Buffs to come back from a 14 point deficit, but it turned out to be too little too late.
Buffs QB's ended the game with a paltry 4.3 yards per attempt (less than half their average) and only 7.7 yards per completion. Their longest completion from the QB position was for 22 yards.
Worst of all, one of the "throwaway" deep passes was on the Buffs' last possession. Instead of working for a first down and eating the clock to send the game into overtime, the Buffs instead wasted a down to force third and long. They failed to convert and then chose to kick a field goal. It pulled them within four but they never got the ball back.
4. It was quite obvious that USC coaches came in with specific game plans both offensively and defensively designed to defeat Colorado.
USC crowded the box defensively from the the beginning of the game and dared Colorado's twin offensive coordinators to adjust. They didn't until too late in the game and by then it was too late.
Offensively, the Trojans were only stopped by turnovers. They only punted three times all day. Poor tackling by the Buffaloes let the Trojans hold on to the ball time and time again when they should have been forced to punt.
And when USC got close to pay dirt, they unleashed their tight ends and Colorado acted as if they did not know tight ends were eligible receivers.
5. Lastly, Pac-12 officials are, at best, horribly inconsistent. At worst, they are completely incompetent. #Pac-12OfficialsSuck
The entire USC team was penalized twice on the day (the same number of times the Colorado center was penalized for snap infractions).
The Colorado punter was hammered on one play, but the call was not a personal foul. It was only a 5 yard penalty and was ultimately declined.
On another punt, the official threw a flag for hitting the returner on a fair catch EVEN though the player that hit the returner was on his own team. Granted, after a referee conference they picked up the flag, but did so after inexplicably concluding that the Colorado player was blocked into the returner. The CU player was blocked toward the returner, but managed to avoid hitting him. It was the USC blocker who smashed into his own guy.
Normally, if any team was playing good clean football, one would point to their excellent coaching. In this case, however, the officiating was just awful. The holding being done by the USC offensive team was as blatant as it was uncalled by the refs.
Conclusions?
The Colorado coaches better get on this promptly. Pac-12 coaches adjust very quickly to fellow coaches who fail to adapt their play calling. Arizona State's Todd Graham is coming to town with his Sun Devils next Saturday and they are looking to take Colorado out of first place in the South division. And Graham is one of the best in the conference at attacking weaknesses in game planning.
Colorado coaches are not the only ones not adjusting. David Shaw at Stanford is learning this the hard way, and his Cardinal have given up 86 points in the last two weeks. It could be worse, however. He could be Mark Helfrich, whose Oregon Ducks have given up 162 points in the last three games.
Meanwhile, Washington State has come storming back after two losses to open the season to win three in a row. Even Oregon State's Gary Andersen seems to be turning the corner. His Beavers won their first conference game since 2014. They did it by shutting down Cal's Bear Raid offense in a game which featured 791 yards of RUSHING!
1. Colorado gave up more than 500 yards to the Trojans.
Much has been made of the fact that the Buffaloes do not use their tight ends for anything other than blocking. It's certainly OK to not have tight ends be used for catching passes, but Colorado seems to think that nobody else uses their tight ends to catch passes either. In their two losses so far this season, the Buffs were lit up over and over by tight ends.
Against Michigan, All-American Jake Butt was wide open so often one would have thought he was wearing a stealth jersey that made him invisible to Colorado defenders. Butt caught seven passes for 87 yards, and was the only Wolverine player with more than two catches.
USC scored three touchdowns in their victory of Colorado. All three were scored by wide open tight ends. Daniel Imatorbhebhe and Tyler Petite only caught a total of four passes between them, but their 3 TD's provided all the scoring the Trojans would need to win their 11th straight against Colorado.
2. Colorado needs to work on their tackling.
One of the most frustrating things of watching the game was the sheer number of times that the Buffaloes hit a Trojan player behind the line of scrimmage or well short of a first down... only to have the SC player squirt away for positive yardage or gain another back-breaking first down.
Despite all the numerous times the Buffs hit the ball carrier behind the line of scrimmage, the Buffs ended the game with only ONE tackle for a loss on the day. The failure to wrap up Trojan ball carriers kept the Buffs D on their heels all day long.
3. The Colorado coaches failed to call long pass plays (The Buffs bread and butter) until too late in the game.
Colorado could not get their ground game going because the Trojans were crowding the line of scrimmage with up to SEVEN defenders. It made it nearly impossible to run on the Trojans and the Buffs play callers chose to have their QB's only throw short passes (until late in the game), allowing the USC defensive backs to have their men in front of them for most of the afternoon.
Even the TV announcers (not normally known for their insight) kept commenting that Colorado needed to spread the field in order to keep the Trojans from loading up the line of scrimmage. Unfortunately, the Buffs did not start doing it until late in the game. It allowed the Buffs to come back from a 14 point deficit, but it turned out to be too little too late.
Buffs QB's ended the game with a paltry 4.3 yards per attempt (less than half their average) and only 7.7 yards per completion. Their longest completion from the QB position was for 22 yards.
Worst of all, one of the "throwaway" deep passes was on the Buffs' last possession. Instead of working for a first down and eating the clock to send the game into overtime, the Buffs instead wasted a down to force third and long. They failed to convert and then chose to kick a field goal. It pulled them within four but they never got the ball back.
4. It was quite obvious that USC coaches came in with specific game plans both offensively and defensively designed to defeat Colorado.
USC crowded the box defensively from the the beginning of the game and dared Colorado's twin offensive coordinators to adjust. They didn't until too late in the game and by then it was too late.
Offensively, the Trojans were only stopped by turnovers. They only punted three times all day. Poor tackling by the Buffaloes let the Trojans hold on to the ball time and time again when they should have been forced to punt.
And when USC got close to pay dirt, they unleashed their tight ends and Colorado acted as if they did not know tight ends were eligible receivers.
5. Lastly, Pac-12 officials are, at best, horribly inconsistent. At worst, they are completely incompetent. #Pac-12OfficialsSuck
The entire USC team was penalized twice on the day (the same number of times the Colorado center was penalized for snap infractions).
The Colorado punter was hammered on one play, but the call was not a personal foul. It was only a 5 yard penalty and was ultimately declined.
On another punt, the official threw a flag for hitting the returner on a fair catch EVEN though the player that hit the returner was on his own team. Granted, after a referee conference they picked up the flag, but did so after inexplicably concluding that the Colorado player was blocked into the returner. The CU player was blocked toward the returner, but managed to avoid hitting him. It was the USC blocker who smashed into his own guy.
Normally, if any team was playing good clean football, one would point to their excellent coaching. In this case, however, the officiating was just awful. The holding being done by the USC offensive team was as blatant as it was uncalled by the refs.
Conclusions?
The Colorado coaches better get on this promptly. Pac-12 coaches adjust very quickly to fellow coaches who fail to adapt their play calling. Arizona State's Todd Graham is coming to town with his Sun Devils next Saturday and they are looking to take Colorado out of first place in the South division. And Graham is one of the best in the conference at attacking weaknesses in game planning.
Colorado coaches are not the only ones not adjusting. David Shaw at Stanford is learning this the hard way, and his Cardinal have given up 86 points in the last two weeks. It could be worse, however. He could be Mark Helfrich, whose Oregon Ducks have given up 162 points in the last three games.
Meanwhile, Washington State has come storming back after two losses to open the season to win three in a row. Even Oregon State's Gary Andersen seems to be turning the corner. His Beavers won their first conference game since 2014. They did it by shutting down Cal's Bear Raid offense in a game which featured 791 yards of RUSHING!
Monday, December 2, 2013
USC Again Shows Poor Form, Hires Sarkisian Away From Washington
You gotta hand it to those Trojans, they don't give a damn about any "gentleman's agreements" when it comes to their head football coaches. Today, USC hired Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian to be their new head coach, even though he was under contract to a fellow Pac-12 school.
It's not the first time that Southern Cal has pulled this stunt. Following the 1986 season, they reached across the desert to Tucson, Arizona and hired Larry Smith away from the Wildcats with the much deeper coffers available to USC. Arizona fans, and even those from other conference schools, were outraged. The Trojans just shrugged.
The only other case of a conference coach jumping programs in recent memory is when Bruce Snyder left Cal for Arizona State following the 1991 season. Although the Cal athletic director claimed that Snyder was lured away by bigger dollars in Tempe, Snyder vigorously denied that before his death in 2009.
Snyder had taken a very down Cal program and turned it into a 10 win team for the first time since Pappy Waldorf's 1949 Cal team. Snyder said that he had a handshake agreement with Cal AD Dave Maggard for a new contract, but that Maggard left Cal for a job with Miami before the contract was signed. The interim AD, Bob Bockrath, refused to honor the deal and Snyder felt he was honor-bound to leave Cal.
Rick Neuheisel left Colorado for Washington following the 1998 season, but Colorado was then in the Big 12 conference and NOT a fellow conference member.
Twice in 27 years, the USC Trojans have gone trolling for head coaches within their own conference. They know that it cannot happen to them because no one else in the Pac-12 pays nearly as much as USC. They also know that they do not even have to disclose how much they pay their head coaches, or AD's, since they are a private school with no state requirement to share that information.
Of course, critics of the program also point out that USC also has a history of their boosters paying at least some of their players very well also. That being the case, hiring coaches away from fellow conference members is hardly their biggest sin. Let's just not have to listen to them bitch and moan about how few players they have under scholarship, which was due entirely to the penalties handed down to them for cheating in the first place.
Update:
Any moral high ground held by Washington after Sarkisian was hired away was lost after UW reportedly offered to double the pay of UCLA coach Jim Mora to come to Washington. Mora turned them down, but did use the offer to sweeten his contract with the Bruins.
Fortunately for Washington, they were able to do what many other schools had tried and failed -- they convinced Chris Petersen to leave Boise State. Petersen has the highest winning percentage in the FBS with a 92-12 record over eight seasons with the Broncos.
Washington and Petersen hope the moves works better than it did for former Boise State coaches Dan Hawkins and Dirk Koetter. Both had great success at Boise State, but found the winning much harder to do in the big boy conferences the Pac-10 and the Big 12. Koetter could not turn things around at Arizona State and Hawkins pretty much destroyed the program at Colorado.
It's not the first time that Southern Cal has pulled this stunt. Following the 1986 season, they reached across the desert to Tucson, Arizona and hired Larry Smith away from the Wildcats with the much deeper coffers available to USC. Arizona fans, and even those from other conference schools, were outraged. The Trojans just shrugged.
The only other case of a conference coach jumping programs in recent memory is when Bruce Snyder left Cal for Arizona State following the 1991 season. Although the Cal athletic director claimed that Snyder was lured away by bigger dollars in Tempe, Snyder vigorously denied that before his death in 2009.
Snyder had taken a very down Cal program and turned it into a 10 win team for the first time since Pappy Waldorf's 1949 Cal team. Snyder said that he had a handshake agreement with Cal AD Dave Maggard for a new contract, but that Maggard left Cal for a job with Miami before the contract was signed. The interim AD, Bob Bockrath, refused to honor the deal and Snyder felt he was honor-bound to leave Cal.
Rick Neuheisel left Colorado for Washington following the 1998 season, but Colorado was then in the Big 12 conference and NOT a fellow conference member.
Twice in 27 years, the USC Trojans have gone trolling for head coaches within their own conference. They know that it cannot happen to them because no one else in the Pac-12 pays nearly as much as USC. They also know that they do not even have to disclose how much they pay their head coaches, or AD's, since they are a private school with no state requirement to share that information.
Of course, critics of the program also point out that USC also has a history of their boosters paying at least some of their players very well also. That being the case, hiring coaches away from fellow conference members is hardly their biggest sin. Let's just not have to listen to them bitch and moan about how few players they have under scholarship, which was due entirely to the penalties handed down to them for cheating in the first place.
Update:
Any moral high ground held by Washington after Sarkisian was hired away was lost after UW reportedly offered to double the pay of UCLA coach Jim Mora to come to Washington. Mora turned them down, but did use the offer to sweeten his contract with the Bruins.
Fortunately for Washington, they were able to do what many other schools had tried and failed -- they convinced Chris Petersen to leave Boise State. Petersen has the highest winning percentage in the FBS with a 92-12 record over eight seasons with the Broncos.
Washington and Petersen hope the moves works better than it did for former Boise State coaches Dan Hawkins and Dirk Koetter. Both had great success at Boise State, but found the winning much harder to do in the big boy conferences the Pac-10 and the Big 12. Koetter could not turn things around at Arizona State and Hawkins pretty much destroyed the program at Colorado.
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