Official CU vs USC game day thread

[OUBuff]

I didn't see anything in Apsay's performance last night that shakes my confidence in his ability to lead this team in at least the last two games.

I fully expect a young QB to miss blitzes and keep the ball a little too long in the pocket. I think we will see leaps and bounds in performance in the next two games from him as he gets 1's reps and the game slows a little.

He throws a nice ball and I didn't recall many WTF passes from him last night. Perhaps the double screen to the left where Bobo wasn't on the sheet of music and the deep "attempt" to Irwin up the left side. I actually thought the pass to Irwin was a throw away to an empty part of the field.

 

[Buffalo Born]

I'm tired of hearing the coaches keep saying we have to coach better, I know it's coach speak but they don't need to coach better they need to make better decisions that frankly are easy decisions. Powell no longer needs to play that was evident when he fumbled in the CSU game. D Ross he is a spot guy at best almost every time his number is called he falls down sometimes guys are just that way. Coach your kid is better play JMac. Go to playmakers on big plays that's why they are playmakers they are better than the other guys. I really think it's that simple. They always say it's only a few plays, then take away the options for bad plays

 

[AeroBuff99]

Well, just read all 16 pages. Some random thoughts:

That was the first game in a while where I had to fight the crowd getting out of the stadium, haha.

At the game, listing to KOA, I LOVE GB in the booth. He is SO much more insightful than Larry Z. I also like Chad Brown. Those two guys know their football.

If Mac hadn't called time out just before the USC FG, we would have run the block back for a TD. Can't blame Mac for that though.

That offside on the 3rd down sack was maddening!! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!

When will our DB's EVER turn their heads back toward the damned ball?

I never want to see Powell cary the ball again! Not even in warm ups. NEVER!

I haven't seen the replay, but how the hell was SC not called for pass interference on the two passes to Spruce at the beginning of the game? Geez. It looked like they were trying to get piggy back rides on Spruce's back. After true second one, Mac was in a heated exchange, not out of control "heated", with the refs. I'm sick of being ****ed over by the officials.

I've lost my confidence in Diego. He looked pretty good until the last couple of games. That is why I'd have either punted or, possibly, gone for it. But not try a 51 yard FG on a cold night.

Apsay throws a nice ball. But, damn, he needs to be more aware and pick up the blitzes. Word on the radio was Sefo is done for the year. Has anyone heard anything else?

Why wasn't the attempt to slam dunk Apsay into the turf not a penalty?

We've played better than or equal to two top 25 teams in the last 3 weeks. We probably deserved a better outcome in at least one of those.

I at least have hope we can win one of these last two, though we'll be decided underdogs.

Mac stiffed KOA for the post game interview. Can't blame him. I'm sure he was busy encouraging the kids. They played their asses off and hearts out.

The Apsay / Powell fumble was a bad exchange. Powell never secured the ball. I would say it was 70% his fault, 30% on Apsay. The Diego block was all on the right half of the line. They let two guys through and were on top of him before he had a chance. The ball wasn't kicked low. Diego was a little slow starting his stride, but hit a good ball. 95% lines fault, 5% on Diego. Other than that I thought we made fewer mistakes than SC and played a hell of a game. Win the next two and still have an outside shot at a bowl game with a waiver.

 

[EddieCrowder]

I am never a big moral victory guy but that was a helluva effort. To me the difference right now is depth, we have about 1/2 a roster of real PAC 12 players, and most teams we play are loaded with them. we run out of gas in the 3rd and 4th with no one to turn to. It is however better then it has been in quite some time

 

[Alfred91]

Yeah, those guys were in too fast for it to be on Diego.

Having said that, I had no confidence that he would hit that kick. It would have been much better to punt that and make SC go the whole field.

 

[RalphieSpeaks]

Rewatched some of the game this morning and more impressed by Apsay's play given the circumstances. My bold prediction, or maybe not so bold, is that Sefo does not start for CU again.

Not an anti Sefo rant. You give Apsay and Montez the whole offseason and spring practices and I think one establishes themselves. Apsay is clearly a more talented thrower than Sefo.

 

[darth-horax]

Down three with 4 to go, you try the fg. His numbers are better from long distance.

If we had punted, people would be saying Mac had no balls. I like the call.

Apsay has a Quick release and has plenty of power and accuracy. Nice to see the game open up when the short routes are hit.

I foresee one win at least in the next two weeks. The game at Utah will be close as well, with a punchers chance at a victory.

 

[BuffLuke80]

Well, only thing I know is we need to hit the gas when we have a lead. We can't afford to sit on a lead for obvious reasons. I'm proud of the guys, they played hard but they don't know how to close.

 

[Burrito]

That fumble last night was disappointing, but Pow had given his all to the program right from the get go. At times he was the best thing the Buffs put on the field. Thanks, CP, for all the tough running!

 

[BuffLuke80]

That fumble last night was disappointing, but Pow had given his all to the program right from the get go. At times he was the best thing the Buffs put on the field. Thanks, CP, for all the tough running!

No doubt, he's put everything into it. He's not even a rb imho but he stepped up and did it. We'll miss him.

 

[Alfred91]

Down three with 4 to go, you try the fg. His numbers are better from long distance.

If we had punted, people would be saying Mac had no balls. I like the call.

I don't necessarily disagree with the way you put it, but it was the second play of the 4th quarter. Now, you could argue that the defense hadn't really stepped up at that point in the second half, but as I said - I had no confidence in Diego making that FG. I would have preferred a punt or going for it, I suppose, although the chances of converting on that were small.

 

[BuffLuke80]

Idk I'm just the type that would think ahead and have some confidence in my D before I decided to just say **** it and go. Single up Spruce and make a play. Like I said before, floor it and WIN the game. Sorry but I don't have much confidence in our D.

 

[DBT]

Apsay reminded me of Koy, at least appearance wise.

 

[DiggerBuffs]

First, why was the defensive holding in the 2nd quarter not an automatic first down? Per Section 9-3-4, it should be 10 yards and an automatic first down. There was a call that happened in the FSU game of same situation and it an was automatic first down.

-I thought Apsay played very well. He threw a dart on the Spruce TD and completed some passes that had me pleasantly surprised. He had zip on his balls. It was nice to see. He is definitely undersized for Pac 12 but looked like same size as Cody. He didn't do the best on the read option, but it took Sefo a long time to pic that up.
-Spruce was great. The punt return was HUGE. Got us back into it. Otherwise our WRs were meh. We need to get the TEs more integrated. Both Kinney and Irwin can carve up the middle.
-Defense played lights out. Impressed with Awuzie more every week and I am more of a TT fan but Awuzie was huge. Best game Witherspoon may have played. Was great seeing Bell get that pick. It was an athletic play. He has always been solid player. Was surprised Moeller got start over him but may have been Bell wasn't healthy.
-Powell should not have seen the field. He is the 4th best back and this sharing the rock thing just doesn't work with 4 backs. I am okay with 2 or 3, but 4? His fumble was a dagger.
-Our OL and DL were overmatched and they played pretty damn well on defense. On offense we played as well as expected but had no push for running game. I felt Apsay was fairly well protected but a few times had NO chance.
-Bad 4th and 5 play call to end our chances.
-FG wasn't a good decision. Listening to Barnett since I had to leave early with a tired 6 year old but he would have pinned USC deep and let the defense have a long field to work with.

We have some guys that will push some of our biggest deficiencies next year. I met Lynott. He is huge. He doesn't look like he likes losing and he would have probably played a couple years ago, but these coaches set up for next year knowing we were a fringe 5 to 7 win team in 2015. Same goes for Montez. Huntley is dynamic. He is a huge get for us. May be best recruit in that Florida trio. Watts is a player, Julmisse is as well. We have talent coming in. It centers around what McCartney said, getting that talented black athlete to CU. This team isn't the Hawkins underathletic group. We have a ton of playmaking talent but need some guys upfront to get us over the top.

We are close. Tired of saying that but we are a better team than last year. Next year will be different!!!

 

[SpacemanSpiff]

First, why was the defensive holding in the 2nd quarter not an automatic first down? Per Section 9-3-4, it should be 10 yards and an automatic first down. There was a call that happened in the FSU game of same situation and it an was automatic first down.

-I thought Apsay played very well. He threw a dart on the Spruce TD and completed some passes that had me pleasantly surprised. He had zip on his balls. It was nice to see. He is definitely undersized for Pac 12 but looked like same size as Cody. He didn't do the best on the read option, but it took Sefo a long time to pic that up.
-Spruce was great. The punt return was HUGE. Got us back into it. Otherwise our WRs were meh. We need to get the TEs more integrated. Both Kinney and Irwin can carve up the middle.
-Defense played lights out. Impressed with Awuzie more every week and I am more of a TT fan but Awuzie was huge. Best game Witherspoon may have played. Was great seeing Bell get that pick. It was an athletic play. He has always been solid player. Was surprised Moeller got start over him but may have been Bell wasn't healthy.
-Powell should not have seen the field. He is the 4th best back and this sharing the rock thing just doesn't work with 4 backs. I am okay with 2 or 3, but 4? His fumble was a dagger.
-Our OL and DL were overmatched and they played pretty damn well on defense. On offense we played as well as expected but had no push for running game. I felt Apsay was fairly well protected but a few times had NO chance.
-Bad 4th and 5 play call to end our chances.
-FG wasn't a good decision. Listening to Barnett since I had to leave early with a tired 6 year old but he would have pinned USC deep and let the defense have a long field to work with.

We have some guys that will push some of our biggest deficiencies next year. I met Lynott. He is huge. He doesn't look like he likes losing and he would have probably played a couple years ago, but these coaches set up for next year knowing we were a fringe 5 to 7 win team in 2015. Same goes for Montez. Huntley is dynamic. He is a huge get for us. May be best recruit in that Florida trio. Watts is a player, Julmisse is as well. We have talent coming in. It centers around what McCartney said, getting that talented black athlete to CU. This team isn't the Hawkins underathletic group. We have a ton of playmaking talent but need some guys upfront to get us over the top.

We are close. Tired of saying that but we are a better team than last year. Next year will be different!!!

I'll wait for Mtn's summary of your post but I'm with you on the holding call. I can't believe the refs couldn't hear me from Houston because I was quite vocal about that being a first down.

 

[patebuff]

Apsay reminded me of Koy, at least appearance wise.

Going from a 240 pound quarterback to a 190 pound quarterback will do that

 

[DBT]

Going from a 240 pound quarterback to a 190 pound quarterback will do that

Yep

 

[aghcsm]

...We are close. Tired of saying that but we are a better team than last year. Next year will be different!!!

Seems like we are 'close,' great-looking first half (best in recent memory against a quality team!). A little hesitant to go all-in on the improvement as opponent psychology is an unknown factor. Do we keep losing leads late in the game (same as last year) because the opponent took us lightly at first, but when they realized we were not going to roll over, they picked up just enough effort to win? This clearly seemed the case with USC, maybe UCLA. If the program improves enough that good opponents take us seriously, will they bring more effort and make winning just as challenging?

Just being a little cautious on my own expectations. I'm afraid it could be at least another couple of painful years before we are in position to compete on a more level basis (meaning better Buff talent) with upper-tier P12 teams.

 

[Shldr2Shldr]

Rewatching the game now, since I was at Folsom and couldn't see a ton.

The 1st quarter was truly impressive for CU on both sides of the ball. The D gave up 1 big run and that was about it. USC could not move the ball effectively at all. The O was really starting to move. It looked like for the first time all season that the coaches and players were on the same page. Really really unfortunate for Sefo to have gotten injured. For many reasons.

ST did well bottling up USC on kick/punt returns for the most part.

You could tell Apsay had a "deer in the headlights" moment on his first play at the start of the 2nd quarter. A recurring theme, he just tried to do to much pretty often. That is something he can work on this week with all of the 1st team reps he should be getting. His 1st full drive looked pretty good actually. He moved the ball well on the short field after the int from Bell. That throw to Spruce was an absolute dime.

Watching the 2nd quarter on TV, I am much more impressed with Apsay than I was at the game. At half time they made some adjustments and dialed up the pressure and apsay wasn't ready for it. I am excited to see what he can do with a full week of reps.

D also got some serious pressure on Kessler. That is a huge development, and bodes well for the future. WSU gave up a ton of qb pressure against UCLA. Falk got banged up because of it.

 

[USCFan55]

Just wanted to jump in, and say that your team looked really inspired in the first half. I don't know if it was adrenaline from the senior night, the blackout, or something else...but they played really well. The crowd was loud, and really into it. It was an impressive start. Not sure what happened, but the second half started a lot different. I'm not that familiar with your players, or coaches, but it seemed the USC staff made some adjustments, or the players just decided to get their heads on straight. One thing I could tell though, is the crowd started to lose the feeling as USC started to put up some points. I know that can be disheartening to a fan base. Trust me, we have had that happen far too often at the Coliseum, when things didn't go well. I kept hearing people say "here we go again."

What I can say is, Spruce was huge for you. That punt return grabbed the momentum back, and put you right back in the game. He was huge all game. The backup QB was also pretty impressive. I heard he's a true freshman? Is that accurate? I felt he did a great job for you. His short passing game was working to find the open spots in our zone, and that really helped move the ball.

My son and I had never been to Folsom before, but we absolutely LOVED it! Beautiful stadium. Great people to watch a game with. The best away visit we've had. Also, the cleanest venue we've seen. Even the bathrooms were clean. Since we now live here, we are thinking of buying season seats, and going more often. I'm going to have to buy some Buffalo gear now! Seriously, we had a great time Friday night. Win or lose, it would have been amazing. Enjoy what you have, and have faith you will be rising in the PAC12 in the next couple of years.

Oh, and that defensive holding call should have given you a first down. We were surprised it didn't. We thought it was automatic.

 

[Shldr2Shldr]

Just wanted to jump in, and say that your team looked really inspired in the first half. I don't know if it was adrenaline from the senior night, the blackout, or something else...but they played really well. The crowd was loud, and really into it. It was an impressive start. Not sure what happened, but the second half started a lot different. I'm not that familiar with your players, or coaches, but it seemed the USC staff made some adjustments, or the players just decided to get their heads on straight. One thing I could tell though, is the crowd started to lose the feeling as USC started to put up some points. I know that can be disheartening to a fan base. Trust me, we have had that happen far too often at the Coliseum, when things didn't go well. I kept hearing people say "here we go again."

What I can say is, Spruce was huge for you. That punt return grabbed the momentum back, and put you right back in the game. He was huge all game. The backup QB was also pretty impressive. I heard he's a true freshman? Is that accurate? I felt he did a great job for you. His short passing game was working to find the open spots in our zone, and that really helped move the ball.

My son and I had never been to Folsom before, but we absolutely LOVED it! Beautiful stadium. Great people to watch a game with. The best away visit we've had. Also, the cleanest venue we've seen. Even the bathrooms were clean. Since we now live here, we are thinking of buying season seats, and going more often. I'm going to have to buy some Buffalo gear now! Seriously, we had a great time Friday night. Win or lose, it would have been amazing. Enjoy what you have, and have faith you will be rising in the PAC12 in the next couple of years.

Oh, and that defensive holding call should have given you a first down. We were surprised it didn't. We thought it was automatic.

Thanks for coming back to post. My guess is the difference in the game was that USC made some defensive adjustments at half time to confuse and take advantage of the backup QB. USC dialed up the pressure more often and forced him to make quick decisions and he wasn't ready for that.

Apsay is not a true freshman, he is a redshirt freshman.

Did about as well as we could considering what happened at the QB spot. If sefo had not gotten hurt, I think CU pulls off the upset.

Glad you enjoyed your visit to Folsom. We are pretty proud of her around here. She needs a little TLC, but the admin is getting there.

To the bolded, so did I. And by NCAA rules it is also an automatic 1st down. So idk what happened.

 

[HolyBuff]

I thought the offensive play calling was much better. Aspay was 18-23, not bad. However, Powell had no business being in the game and coughing up the rock. He is the 5th best RB that is active on this roster. He is definitely not a 1st down back. Senior night or not, if that is Lindsay carrying the ball, Carr or Lee, USC doesn't get the fumble or the game!

i agree. Powell has no business being in there. Lindsay, Lee and Carr are soooo much better.

 

[Shldr2Shldr]

This is the last 10yrs of colorado football in a nut shell.