Game Notes

[slider]

Well I'm definitely happy I was wrong and we won. The 1st half was miserable weather wise. Once the strong gusts of winds started fans were cramming the aisles to leave in the 1st Q. The weather definitely helped is in the 1st half. Cal couldn't throw the ball at all yet still called long passes that the wind affected?? After half-time the crowds were bare. But those that stayed were definitely into it.

Offense:

Sefo didn't make mistakes to lose the game. YAC definitely helped out here but he still had a high completion % in difficult weather.
PRich was noticeably hobbled but still awesome as always. He catches anything near him.
Catch-22 was great. I didn't think he had that YAC in him
The TD to Slavin was beautifully executed. You could tell the game-plan on CU was run on 2nd down in the RZ and not to cover the TE. He was wide open. Nice play call.
Adkins is hard to bring down
OL was solid. 0 sacks and not much pressure all day. CAL's DL was playing really well vs USC last week

Defense:
Solid pressure all day was the difference maker. Lots of stunts were effective. Kafovalu got a lot of PT at DT and was disruptive all day. We've missed him. CUD shot out like a bullet on his sack. He was also the one guy who could keep contain on Bigelow. Props to Parker for his PBU and Henington for his sack(s).
Not a super impressive game by the LB's. Greer didn't play and Daigh was the back-up OLB.
Awuzie is solid in run-support. Aggressive and great tackler. Plus I hardly notice him in coverage which is a good thing, especially for a freshman CB where the learning curb is steep (see Crawley, Chapelle Brown etc). Crawley is still getting picked on. He is a soft tackler and not good in coverage. Solid INT tho, he was very excited.
I also didn't notice Tedric much which is also good. Great PBU late in the game. Bell destroyed that RB.

Other: Cal sucks (sorry flukes). The onside for a TD had to be embarrassing. How often does that happen? Their RB Bigelow is really good. Also Dykes was jerking around the QB's again. He put Kline in for like 2 drives then Goff again. Kline looked better to me. Anyways I'm happy for the win and the players were excited to sing the fight-song with the students and then the band after. Go Buffs

 

[boydbuff]

Good summary and agree with it all. We actually left some points on the board such as the overthrow of PRich. On the LBs, Gillam seemed to play pretty well. You are right that our lines played much better and that may have been the biggest key in this game. Thompson had an awesome play where he stretched out full on and deflected a pass that was going for a 1st down.

But if you were giving grades to each area:
Offense: A-
Especially Sefo, receivers and OL. The running game was decent but still needs improvement. Adkins and TJ had special TDs on passes though.

Defense: A-
DL played so much better and regularly pressured the QB for one of the 1st times all year. DB's played pretty well too limiting Cal's powerful passing game. Dropped several INTs though. LBs played OK

Special Teams: C
We had no good PR or KR but they didn't either. The onside kicks on both sides were something different. We got beat on an onside kick but then again, Spruce's return of the onside kick was awesome. Also we got lucky on a squib kick intended to go deep but we recovered. They punted way better than we did.

 

[Buffenuf]

Special Teams: C[/B]
We had no good PR or KR but they didn't either. The onside kicks on both sides were something different. We got beat on an onside kick but then again, Spruce's return of the onside kick was awesome. Also we got lucky on a squib kick intended to go deep but we recovered. They punted way better than we did.

Shirley, you jest! Any time your STs recover a squib-kick (which led to a TD just before halftime) and score on an on-side kick, they rank far better than a "C". Fielding Cal punts in that wind was also top notch, particularly when the Cal punter was going for hang-time and coverage. Punting rugby-style in that wind also was smart and nearly led to a couple of Cal muffs. And Oliver scored 11 pts. total.

So the STs had a hand in 23 pts.---i.e. the difference in the game. Not bad, from any perspective.

 

[leftybuff]

One of Sefo's picks was the result of GH getting blown up by Coleman and bull rushed into Sefo's face. GH didn't hold that block for more than 2 secs. Other than that, a pretty well played game all the way around. KC shows flashes and then looks like he goes to sleep at other times. The DL brought pressure, Spruce branched out into some serious YAC and had a great ST play. Adkins is going to be special. Very pleased. Congrats to the team, a well deserved W.

 

[cu3x]

what was up with Cal being 24 points down w/ 9 mins left, scoring a TD and NOT going for 2? They scrambled around like they wanted to try and come back, but did that twice/

 

[Quattro]

what was up with Cal being 24 points down w/ 9 mins left, scoring a TD and NOT going for 2? They scrambled around like they wanted to try and come back, but did that twice/

Dykes is either an idiot or he's given up

 

[leftybuff]

Dykes is either an idiot or he's given up

I'll take idot for $500, Alex.

 

[Deleted member 807]

Shirley, you jest! Any time your STs recover a squib-kick (which led to a TD just before halftime) and score on an on-side kick, they rank far better than a "C". Fielding Cal punts in that wind was also top notch, particularly when the Cal punter was going for hang-time and coverage. Punting rugby-style in that wind also was smart and nearly led to a couple of Cal muffs. And Oliver scored 11 pts. total.

So the STs had a hand in 23 pts.---i.e. the difference in the game. Not bad, from any perspective.

So far as I could tell, Ryan Severson was not back on kick return duty. I noticed because everything Cal kicked into the EZ wasn't being run out. I'm ok with that.

FR Tedric Thompson left an impression by drawing a foul on a Cal fair catch.

The 40 yard missed FG and shanked Oneill punt didn't help the grade. I'm on board with a C or C+ grade, with Oliver and Spruce pulling the grade up.

 

[liverflukes]

Other: Cal sucks (sorry flukes). The onside for a TD had to be embarrassing. How often does that happen? Their RB Bigelow is really good. Also Dykes was jerking around the QB's again. He put Kline in for like 2 drives then Goff again. Kline looked better to me. Anyways I'm happy for the win and the players were excited to sing the fight-song with the students and then the band after. Go Buffs

Yeah, we sure suck but congrats. You guys played hard and were clearly the better team. Our coaching decisions were baffling while your coaching was better and your players executed well. I didn't see the onside kick or anything afterwards. I was huddled inside the bowels of the stadium trying to stay warm with hundreds of other CU fans. I'm not mad that we lost either, I'm mad that I got hit in the side of the head by a pizza box traveling at 65 MPH and still have leaf particles in my sinuses. That weather was crazy.

Anyway, great job on a Pac 12 win and good luck the rest of the season. Thanks to everyone at Sackygate this year and to other buffs who texted me encouraging things throughout the game. "Suck it bear", "Eat sh*t hippie" and "Do you nerds know how to tackle?" were some of my favorites. Gotta love college football.

 

[Swish]

My sympathies to you Flukie. Not that far removed (1 Year) from where you are at right now, ain't no fun. Here's to the Buffs vs the Bears when we are both 9-0 and in contention for the Rose bowl and more.

 

[Deleted member 807]

Yeah, we sure suck but congrats. You guys played hard and were clearly the better team. Our coaching decisions were baffling while your coaching was better and your players executed well. I didn't see the onside kick or anything afterwards. I was huddled inside the bowels of the stadium trying to stay warm with hundreds of other CU fans. I'm not mad that we lost either, I'm mad that I got hit in the side of the head by a pizza box* traveling at 65 MPH and still have leaf** particles in my sinuses. That weather was crazy.

Anyway, great job on a Pac 12 win and good luck the rest of the season. Thanks to everyone at Sackygate this year and to other buffs who texted me encouraging things throughout the game. "Suck it bear", "Eat sh*t hippie" and "Do you nerds know how to tackle?" were some of my favorites. Gotta love college football.

* Pizza box contained urine filled ziplock baggies
** Asparagus

Safe travels back to a more mild climate.

 

[Daaah]

Anyone have a torrent of this game?

 

[tante]

I don't get Cal speak. So flukes bumped a gigantic rail of leafs off a strippers ass and now his nose hurts.

What does getting a pizza box to the head mean? Is this some kind of atomic mushroom stamp?

 

[fatbuff]

My sympathies to you Flukie. Not that far removed (7 days) from where you are at right now, ain't no fun. Here's to the Buffs vs the Bears when we are both 9-0 and in contention for the Rose bowl and more.

Fixed. Until next week.

 

[Yung Buffalo]

Good summary and agree with it all. We actually left some points on the board such as the overthrow of PRich. On the LBs, Gillam seemed to play pretty well. You are right that our lines played much better and that may have been the biggest key in this game. Thompson had an awesome play where he stretched out full on and deflected a pass that was going for a 1st down.

But if you were giving grades to each area:
Offense: A-
Especially Sefo, receivers and OL. The running game was decent but still needs improvement. Adkins and TJ had special TDs on passes though.

Defense: A-
DL played so much better and regularly pressured the QB for one of the 1st times all year. DB's played pretty well too limiting Cal's powerful passing game. Dropped several INTs though. LBs played OK

Special Teams: C
We had no good PR or KR but they didn't either. The onside kicks on both sides were something different. We got beat on an onside kick but then again, Spruce's return of the onside kick was awesome. Also we got lucky on a squib kick intended to go deep but we recovered. They punted way better than we did.

I agree with everything you said, except for this. It may have appeared that way but I think more of Cal's punt attempts were with the wind. I was very impressed with Darragh, he had a couple of very nice punts into the wind in the first half.

 

[Quattro]

So far as I could tell, Ryan Severson was not back on kick return duty. I noticed because everything Cal kicked into the EZ wasn't being run out. I'm ok with that.

FR Tedric Thompson left an impression by drawing a foul on a Cal fair catch.

The 40 yard missed FG and shanked Oneill punt didn't help the grade. I'm on board with a C or C+ grade, with Oliver and Spruce pulling the grade up.

Not really sure that was a shank by O'Neil. The wind was nasty and it looked like they wanted to keep it low. I bet there were 50 MPH gusts when the ball was snapped.

My sympathies to you Flukie. Not that far removed (1 Year) from where you are at right now, ain't no fun. Here's to the Buffs vs the Bears when we are both 9-0 and in contention for the Rose bowl and more.

Flukes seems like a cool bear, but I just cannot feel sorry for any other school or their fans after the hell we've been through since that Iowa State game in 2005. My sympathy card is long gone.