Central Arkansas - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

[BlackNGold]

The Good -

Great weather and Great setting for a college football game. Tailgating was great - the only good thing about the late game is the opportunity to grill some great Rib Eyes.

We got a win. The is always good.

Paul Richardson - truly a difference maker. He has been a force on the field, getting open and making plays.

The Defense for being opportunistic. Bell's return ended the game, you could just feel the energy drain out of CAU.

The Defense overall played well.

The Bad -

Paul Richardson is our offense, lacking him we could be really hurting. I thought Connor Wood played well at times but too many mistakes. Four turnovers will lose most games. Once again their was no rushing attack. Don't know why but that has to improve.

Pass rush was still not very strong.

The Ugly -

I debated between the turnovers and the special team coverage and the special team coverage won out. The coaches have lost confidence in our coverage ability so went to the pooch kick on the Kick offs resulting in the other team getting good field position. This is not going to be tolerable as the season goes on and the competition gets better.

The student section was totally empty at Kickoff - someone in our section said there seemed to be a big bottle neck at the student entrance. Do not know if true or not.

Whoever messed up Ralphie's Run needs to be fired. This probably caused most of the team's issues during the game due to bad Karma. MacIntyre needs to focus on this issue as a priority and then special teams.

Overall -

Being 2 - 0 is good and maybe we just have been playing to the level of our competition. But we were playing a FCS team and they were competitive with us. The competition is going to get tougher (as we all know) and I think we are going to see more game planning by defenses to take PRich out of the offense.

 

[Shldr2Shldr]

1st of all. There is a bottle neck at the student entrance. They all have to use a single gate. Extremely inefficient.

2nd. Ralphie was spooked by the smoke and the team jumped early. Combination of errors. Maybe they practice that once this week.

 

[Darth Snow]

The Ugly - I didn't get to watch the game.

The Good - I am watching the game today.

 

[J.R. Ewing]

Some more good...

We've currently ranked 23rd nationally by holding our opponents to 4.3 yards per play. Offensively, we're getting 6.1 yards per play (49th). Yes, we've played some bad teams, but so have most teams. It really is special teams errors and turnovers that are keeping these teams around. Hopefully fixable.

 

[buffaholic]

Bell's return didn't really end the game. That tied it up and certainly changed momentum, but Chido Awuzie's strip and their blown coverage on the PRich TD that followed was huge. We did a lot of things right from Bell's pic onward I will say.

 

[BlackNGold]

Bell's return didn't really end the game. That tied it up and certainly changed momentum, but Chido Awuzie's strip and their blown coverage on the PRich TD that followed was huge. We did a lot of things right from Bell's pic onward I will say.

It ended the game emotionally for CAU. You could see it in the way they took the field after that - they were beaten mentally and emotionally.

 

[sackman]

Why they continue to have a separate student entrance remains a mystery to me. It's ridiculous. I don't know what it accomplishes, other than to annoy the students and make them not want to go to the games.

 

[Rraalph 3000]

I'm guessing the separate student entrance is all about infrastructure & $$ (which guess what, we don't have a lot of). Students have to swipe their BuffOne card to gain access into the game. CU only has a certain number of scanners that read those cards, so either CU would have to invest in more scanners ($$) or completely change how tickets are sold to students to align with the bar code scanners the rest of us use.

 

[BuffClass90]

Being 2 - 0 is good and maybe we just have been playing to the level of our competition. But we were playing a FCS team and they were competitive with us. The competition is going to get tougher (as we all know) and I think we are going to see more game planning by defenses to take PRich out of the offense.

I don't think that's possible, unless you have a NFL caliber corner and they double cover most of the game. At that point, our other receivers open up.

 

[Shldr2Shldr]

I don't think that's possible, unless you have a NFL caliber corner and they double cover most of the game. At that point, our other receivers open up.

Teams will be committing a safety over the top, every play from now on. He will be double covered every play. If defenses continue to allow single man coverage they are idiotic. Either way its good for us. DD has game changing quicks, spruce has great hands, and TMc has the size to be a big time possession receiver. Once defenses commit the personnel to PRich the other 3 should be open early and often.

 

[Buffnik]

Other good:

The defense continues to be effective at getting off the field on 3rd downs.
The offense continues to be effective at making plays on 3rd downs.
The running game started to come on a bit (CA was likely gassed, but still). Tony Jones with a 4.8 ypc is encouraging.

I could go on and on with this.

But... I didn't like seeing the mistakes with penalties and turnovers. I didn't like seeing the OL struggle to get a push in the run game or handle the CA pass rush. I didn't like see the offense struggle to get the ball to DD. I didn't like seeing zero production from our TEs. I didn't like to see our DEs struggle at the point of attack on powers and read options. I didn't like that it took CU so long to recover from missing the opportunity to put CA away early until the team finally responded in the 4th quarter (we were dominated for 2 1/2 quarters). And I am ready to eat glass and spit fire over what I'm seeing from our ST coverage.

At the end of the day, we're 2-0. We beat a good team that would have a winning record if it played in some of the lesser FBS conferences. They have a senior quarterback and winning culture. You knew they'd play like they expected to win and make CU take it from them. Despite not playing its "A" Game, CU did just that.

Some things need to get fixed. More of the offense and defense need to get installed. Some players need to step up their game. But we won, we're moving on, and football is ****ing fun again.

 

[Shldr2Shldr]

I think that the QB pressure issues we have are directly related to our Run game issues. If teams can pin the ears back and shoot the gaps with no respect for the run, we are going to have a very sore QB this season.

 

[BlackNGold]

I don't think that's possible, unless you have a NFL caliber corner and they double cover most of the game. At that point, our other receivers open up.

Sure it is possible. You do it in multiple ways. First make sure the QB never has more than 3 seconds to make a read, disguise your coverages, change up your coverages, Jam the receiver at the line more. The teams from here on out are going to have better athletes. PRich is not going to get 200 yards every game.

 

[sackman]

I think that the QB pressure issues we have are directly related to our Run game issues. If teams can pin the ears back and shoot the gaps with no respect for the run, we are going to have a very sore QB this season.

The screen to Spruce will give teams something to think about. We tried it in the third quarter and it looked horrible. They fixed whatever went wrong and ran it for a TD in the 4th. Screens are a great weapon against teams that stack the box.

 

[Buffnik]

The screen to Spruce will give teams something to think about. We tried it in the third quarter and it looked horrible. They fixed whatever went wrong and ran it for a TD in the 4th. Screens are a great weapon against teams that stack the box.

So is the seam pass to the TE.

 

[Dark Bohner]

Student bottleneck is an absolute joke. This needs to be fixed yesterday. Students are the lifeblood of the University and should honestly be given priority in getting into the game (I kind of want our loud boisterous fans in there ASAP). The AD needs to address this publicly with the students.

 

[Duff Man]

I think teams will be more than willing to let us try and win with Spruce, Goodson, and McCulloch. And yes, PRich will play some talented secondaries in the PAC-12 full of NFL prospects.

 

[Buffnik]

I think teams will be more than willing to let us try and win with Spruce, Goodson, and McCulloch. And yes, PRich will play some talented secondaries in the PAC-12 full of NFL prospects.

NCAA record for the FBS is 2,060 receiving yards in a season (Trevor Insley, Nevada, 1999).

I don't expect P-Rich to be breaking that record. He'll have some weeks against our remaining schedule where he's under 100 yards for the game. But it's not crazy to think that he could average 165 over 10 games and put his name at the top of the list. It won't happen, but he has actually made it a reasonable fantasy topic for Buff fans. He's that good.

 

[slider]

What about the record of most consecutive 200 yard games receiving? It's gonna be a shootout vs Fresneck and we're gonna pass it to him a lot.

 

[BlackNGold]

NCAA record for the FBS is 2,060 receiving yards in a season (Trevor Insley, Nevada, 1999).

I don't expect P-Rich to be breaking that record. He'll have some weeks against our remaining schedule where he's under 100 yards for the game. But it's not crazy to think that he could average 165 over 10 games and put his name at the top of the list. It won't happen, but he has actually made it a reasonable fantasy topic for Buff fans. He's that good.

I think the big question is how will offense fare against better defenses? I agree with Duff, other teams will try to shut down PRich and make the Buffs prove they have enough fire power without him.

Fresno will be a good measuring stick. I think CSU is so bad they may have trouble winning a game this year.

 

[Duff Man]

I think the RBs are going to need to be a bigger part of the passing game going forward.

 

[BuffsNYC]

Really, who the **** knows how good CU is? I'm pretty sure we haven't seen even a majority of the offensive or defensive calls that will be available by the end of the season and in future seasons. Wood is athletic and can run, but I can't recall one designed run yet--I'm sure some are coming. I haven't seen much pressure applied by LBs or DBs, with CU content to rush four most of the time, I'm sure those blitzes are coming. I havent' seen much from the RBs or TEs in the passing game, but we know those plays are available. Things will get interesting fast if the Buffs have come from more than one score behind against a better team--does Baer dial up the pressure, do you throw to a triple teamed Prich?

At least it's fun again.

 

[Darth Snow]

I think the RBs are going to need to be a bigger part of the passing game going forward.

:nod:

Screen game was the best part of the last staff's offense... our line is good at it. We should do it more.

 

[BlackNGold]

Really, who the **** knows how good CU is? I'm pretty sure we haven't seen even a majority of the offensive or defensive calls that will be available by the end of the season and in future seasons. Wood is athletic and can run, but I can't recall one designed run yet--I'm sure some are coming. I haven't seen much pressure applied by LBs or DBs, with CU content to rush four most of the time, I'm sure those blitzes are coming. I havent' seen much from the RBs or TEs in the passing game, but we know those plays are available. Things will get interesting fast if the Buffs have come from more than one score behind against a better team--does Baer dial up the pressure, do you throw to a triple teamed Prich?

At least it's fun again.

Don't expect a lot of QB running plays. With an unproven True Frosh behind Wood, I don't think the coaches are planning to expose the QB to much punishment.

 

[Buffnik]

Don't expect a lot of QB running plays. With an unproven True Frosh behind Wood, I don't think the coaches are planning to expose the QB to much punishment.

Agree. And as much as I loved that one scramble down the left hash by Wood for the first down on Saturday, I was holding my breath that he wouldn't take a shot to the head or land wrong. Coaches need to limit the number of hits Connor takes. If he stays upright, we have a good offense this year.

 

[Quattro]

I think the big question is how will offense fare against better defenses? I agree with Duff, other teams will try to shut down PRich and make the Buffs prove they have enough fire power without him.

Fresno will be a good measuring stick. I think CSU is so bad they may have trouble winning a game this year.

Fresno's defense is bad

 

[CUFan]

I think the RBs are going to need to be a bigger part of the passing game going forward.

I'd settle for a bigger part of the running game.

 

[White_Rabbit]

A healthy Pow Pow would be nice. Big dropoff at the RB position after him. Massive, in fact.

 

[Darth Snow]

I'v eonly watched the first half... and abron, whenever he didn't get hit as soon as he got the ball, was our best runner. Powell is tentative right now, and tony jones doesn't do anything. We need to get Abron more reps.

 

[BuffUp]

I'v eonly watched the first half... and abron, whenever he didn't get hit as soon as he got the ball, was our best runner. Powell is tentative right now, and tony jones doesn't do anything. We need to get Abron more reps.

TJones avereged 4.7 yds a carry this last game