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Best CU WR ever.
- Thread starter BuffLuke80
- Start date
This is the answer. I loved watching this guy and he was dominant and versatile. Still remember the Pigskin Classic back in 1990. Bienemy was suspended and they Pritchard in as the running back for the game. We tied that game like 37-37 or something and he went for like 300 yards rushing. I was at that game and it sealed him as one of my favorite all time Buffs.
Branch is before my time but my dad tells me he was the best he's ever seen in a Buff uniform so Branch got my vote.
I have very faint memories of Cliff with the Raiders, but not enough to put him in context of the others I saw personally.
I saw Cliff Branch in his early 40's toast his own son, Brent, forr the first ever legitimate alumni touchdown in the Spring game in the spring of 89 or 90. 60 yard fade pattern. The smack talk was unbelievable.
My vote still goes with Mike Pritchard for what I saw week to week.
My vote still goes with Mike Pritchard for what I saw week to week.
Damn shame I've never seen Branch play. All I've seen of him was Raider clips. Ill stick with CJ but FLA made me think a bit with his comments on Pritchard. He saw the dude everyday.
8Jah
Well-Known Member
can kind of see what you and Buffnik are saying. Since our title, the number of plays per game have increased throughout college football, and the number of CU pass attempts have doubled over this time.
Our passing yardage has increased by ~25% over this time.
so the early 90s guys were receiving yards in chunks...but they were still getting 25% less yards out of the option than our modern college Offenses (my apologies to Georgia Tech and AFA). Since CJ, Pritchard and MW went on to solid NFL careers I have to think the handicap for the option was at least 25%...not really counting that these guys got way fewer reps. Some of their large per catch yardage was probably due to their talent.
While plotting these numbers it made me sad to see that our offense has been in steady decline for 25 years.
I saw Branch play but was to young to make a fair comparison. I do remember him going against the very best athletes that Oklahoma and Nebraska could put on the field and making them look like they had no chance.
Pritch had the whole package, enough speed to go by people, quickness to make guys trip over themselves, and as mentioned earlier skills with the ball in his hands good enough to fill in at tailback and have a huge game.
With all that if I were starting a team from scratch my first pick would probably be Westbrook. He had sprinters speed and muscle to right through attempts to bump him at the LOS or to arm tackle him after he had the ball.
He ended up having an impressive career at CU despite playing on some teams that were run heavy and splitting receptions with CJ who was an impressive WR in his own right.
Pritch had the whole package, enough speed to go by people, quickness to make guys trip over themselves, and as mentioned earlier skills with the ball in his hands good enough to fill in at tailback and have a huge game.
With all that if I were starting a team from scratch my first pick would probably be Westbrook. He had sprinters speed and muscle to right through attempts to bump him at the LOS or to arm tackle him after he had the ball.
He ended up having an impressive career at CU despite playing on some teams that were run heavy and splitting receptions with CJ who was an impressive WR in his own right.
CitizenKane
Well-Known Member
Branch was amazing, so was Westbrook. Pritchard and Carruth belong in the conversation... CJ and PRich were nice players, but clearly third string compared to the rest of the group. If forced I would go 1. Branch 2. Westbrook. That being said, my favorite WR of all time is definitely soupie (Jeff Campbell), I mean sure he looked like papa smurf with a helmet on, but dude could fly and was a human ping pong ball with an amazing attitude.
I don't really disagree but CJ, PRich could flat ball. Campbell could ball too. Didn't ask favorite, asked the best. I'd be cool with Branch.
I'm gonna watch a few clips of Pritchard, I watched him before but I was a kid. I've got time, she's asleep.
EddieCrowder
Well-Known Member
Cliff Branch is perhaps one of the greatest players in Buff history. Not only a great WR, but could change a game with his return ability. My vote went to Cliff
you may very well be correct, are there any surviving films on youtube or some other archive?
Can't find any CU highlights on him. My parents said that most of the crowd would stand up when he was back returning kicks because he was so electric and everyone knew he could take it to the house every time. All I could find was this bit when he played for Oakland.
[video=youtube;OhlgY0timTA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhlgY0timTA[/video]
Branch not being in the HOF is one of the biggest omissions. Different era and his numbers don't compare with more modern WRs. Pretty much on par when comparing the same seasons with Lynn Swann, who is in the HOF. Plus, at the time he retired Branch was the NFL's all-time leader in playoff receptions and yards.
Doesn't make sense.
I didn't know any of that, messed up, he should be in. All I've seen of Branch is the old school Nfl Films footage.
I hate the Raiders and anything to do with the Raiders. I believe that they have multiple players in the HOF who are at least questionable considering some of the guys from the same era from other teams who aren't in.
That said you are absolutely correct. In Branches case his numbers for the era should put him in. More importantly his impact on the games should definitely put him in.
He flat out scared defenses. Corners would play 15 yards off and still turn and run immediately on the snap, even then defenses would put a safety 25-30 yards back to help. His presence on the field created huge gaps for other players to exploit.
He also was not simply a speed guy. Because of those drops the screen was always open, he had many plays where he took a 5 yard pass, made a move on one guy and ran through the arm of another on the way to a big gain.
You could even say that the eventual downfall of Al Davis came because he spend the following decades trying to replicate what he had with Branch but could never find a guy who had similar speed and was a real football player at the same time.
BuffNut99
Club Member
:wow:
Branch was iffy as a college WR; he didn't learn to catch the ball consistently until Al Davis started taping $100 bills to the ball and told Cilff he could keep them if he held on to the pass.
Gotta go with Westbrook. The only guy who could stop Westbrook was Eliot Uzelac!
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EddieCrowder
Well-Known Member
I was at a game when I was 7 or 8 so my memory of this is sketchy but I think Cliff took 2 returns to the house (1KO-1PR) I do recall for sure the KO being just jaw dropping, he almost stepped out of the back of the end zone and was back into the field of play to the 14 to 16 yd line before he encountered any traffic.
Son of a bitch, that's flying. If he trained as an Olympian, he would've bettered that time too probably.
Joe Theismann's Leg
Well-Known Member
I had such hopes for Westbrook as a pro. I wasn't a college football fan as a kid, I didn't care that he was a Buff, I just thought he'd help bring my Skins out of the basement. Instead he physically assaulted and sucker punched my favorite player before flaming out and leaving a vast ocean of untapped potential.