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Weekly "Fire Neinas" thread (week 3)

This narrative is an interesting choice. It was very much a mixed bag. To argue special teams flat out won the game is disingenuous.

Boiled down to its base elements, special teams did win the game. A blocked FG keeps CSU from scoring in OT, a made FG wins it.

Our special teams have gotten a lot better, IMO.
 
Im not ready to go that far, but I'd have thought the "fire Neinas" volume would have been quieted after that game. Guess not.

One partly good game does not a decent coach make.

Our failure to cover the opening KO put us in a hole from the start. We lost the punting game and we had a very makeable FG blocked on a blown protection.

We had one solid KO return but also gave up a couple other than the long one to open the game.

He hit the ball bad so I don't know if it had any impact but the snap and hold at the end of regulation was lousy as well.

We stunk last year at the start of the season then got better as we did in M2's first season. Can't afford a ST coach who needs 3 games to start getting us looking like a competent unit each year. This isn't the NFL with exhibition games to iron out the kinks, these games count.
 
Boiled down to its base elements, special teams did win the game. A blocked FG keeps CSU from scoring in OT, a made FG wins it.

Our special teams have gotten a lot better, IMO.

Poor opening kickoff, blocked FG before half, and a missed FG to end regulation. I am glad plays were made in OT, but again, it was a mixed bag. If there was ever a true team win, this was it. All three phases had clear ups and downs.
 
The guy (forgot whom) that blocked the field goal made an incredibly awesome play hurdling the defender.

That's not coaching to me. Agree to disagree.
 
Here's where I am: Special teams rarely win games, but they can certainly lose them. Yesterday, it's up to debate whether they won the game, but there's no debating that they certainly didn't lose it. Had we lost, it wouldn't have been the fault of our special teams. All I ask for from special teams is to not screw it up. That's been too much to ask ever since Mason Crosby graduated. Yesterday, special teams was more than adequate. Call it coaching, call it execution because we finally have some decent players we can plug into special teams roles, call it crappy special teams play on CSU's part. However you choose to classify it, special teams isn't the Achilles heel it once was.
 
It was coaching. MacIntyre said in his post practice interview today that they work on that specifically.

Then I stand corrected. That was a hell of a play. But I'd rather have consistent punting and field goals and coverage 9 times out of 10. We lack the necessary consistency (Diego has been good).
 
From CUBUFFS.com

PUNTING IMPROVEMENT: Thanks in large part to a blocked punt in the first game of the year, the Buffs entered Saturday’s game with one of the nation’s lowest-ranked net punting numbers while CSU was ranked No. 1.

But freshman Alex Kinney and his cohorts acquitted themselves well Saturday. Kinney kicked seven times for a 39.1 yard average, and more importantly, pinned the Rams inside their 20 three times. CSU punter Hayden Hunt punted three times for a 44.3 average and had one inside CU’s 20.

CU’s net punting for the night was 35.3 yards while CSU’s was slightly better at 37.7.

Sticking them inside the 20 is hugely important. 40yds avg is decent, but still needs to get better. On the right trajectory though.
 
The point here that keeps getting missed about Nienas (other than his pathetic recruiting) is not that things got better this game but that three years in a row we are going into the third game of the season looking to get things straightened out.

You can excuse it away the first year after a coaching change. Teams are adjusting to completely new systems. You can even excuse a little bit the second year as they are adjusting to a bunch of new players. This is the third year and we are still screwing around on special teams well after the start of the season, with a dedicated STs coach there is zero excuse for making the STs mistakes we make at this point.
 
The point here that keeps getting missed about Nienas (other than his pathetic recruiting) is not that things got better this game but that three years in a row we are going into the third game of the season looking to get things straightened out.

You can excuse it away the first year after a coaching change. Teams are adjusting to completely new systems. You can even excuse a little bit the second year as they are adjusting to a bunch of new players. This is the third year and we are still screwing around on special teams well after the start of the season, with a dedicated STs coach there is zero excuse for making the STs mistakes we make at this point.
Agreed, how many starters do we have playing on special teams? I have not paid attention. We have all talked about our overall lack of P5 talent, is this just another example of lack of talent in this area, especially if only 50% (a guess) of these special teams are made up of starters?
 
I still don't see how we were "screwing around" on Saturday. Special teams looked competent to me.
 
The point here that keeps getting missed about Nienas (other than his pathetic recruiting) is not that things got better this game but that three years in a row we are going into the third game of the season looking to get things straightened out.

You can excuse it away the first year after a coaching change. Teams are adjusting to completely new systems. You can even excuse a little bit the second year as they are adjusting to a bunch of new players. This is the third year and we are still screwing around on special teams well after the start of the season, with a dedicated STs coach there is zero excuse for making the STs mistakes we make at this point.
Agreed, how many starters do we have playing on special teams? I have not paid attention. We have all talked about our overall lack of P5 talent, is this just another example of lack of talent in this area, especially if only 50% (a guess) of these special teams are made up of starters?
 
This narrative is an interesting choice. It was very much a mixed bag. To argue special teams flat out won the game is disingenuous.
I think it's wrong. CSU's special teams lost them that game way more than ours won it.
 
I can go along with the idea that CSU's special teams cost them the game more than ours won it. I generally don't think special teams wins games anyway, but they can certainly lose them. So if I'm going to be consistent, I would agree that CSU's special teams were atrocious. That doesn't mean ours were dog sh!t, though.
 
Special teams won the game for us and we are bitching about it?

Mmmmmmkay.


Neinas apparently had nothing to do with the blocked field goal:

MacIntyre said CU safety Tedric Thompson told CU coaches he could block CSU’s field goal attempt in overtime.

“He said, ‘Coach, I can get it. I can get it,’” MacIntyre said. MacIntyre said Thompson noticed a weakness in CSU’s scheme on the Rams’ previous try, a 47-yarder that went wide right.

http://www.cubuffs.com//ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=210358814

CSU Tight End coach also coaches their special teams. So we have a dedicated coach for special teams who got completely clinic-ed by a student. Neinas is absolutely useless on this staff.
 
I think you guys are a bit blinded by your dislike of Neinas. Not that I don't necessarily share that dislike, but give some credit where it's due. Our special teams were competent against CSU.
 
Tedric is a stud.

This team is starting to come together with some playmakers on both sides of the ball.
 
I think you guys are a bit blinded by your dislike of Neinas. Not that I don't necessarily share that dislike, but give some credit where it's due. Our special teams were competent against CSU.
PARTS of the special teams were competent against CSU. It was pretty awesome to see CU block a kick for the first time in a long time. Placekicking was "competent" (made all XPs, 2/4 on FGs including a 52 yarder). However, I think we'd all agree that finishing in the bottom quartile of FBS would not be considered competent. For instance:

  • The gross punting for CU, which was touted by CUBuffs.com in an above-quoted article as being an improvement on the season, was 39.1 yds. That would put CU as tied for 104th in the nation. For the season, CU is averaging 35.7 yds, good for 118th.
  • One would think with such a low gross punt average that the coverage would be good. However, CU gave up an average of 9.0 yds. per return on 3 punts. That may not sound like much, but it's good enough to move the net punting down to 35.3 yds. That would be tied for 98th worst in the NCAA this season. This is compounded by the fact that CU had to punt twice as much as CSU- the defense was constantly put in a bad position.
  • The kick coverage was abysmal. For starters, CSU was able to return 3 out of 6 kicks, meaning that CU was not getting much distance on the kicks. Secondly, CU gave up an average of 30.3 yards on those three returns. If that were extended to the entire season, CSU would rank 12th in the FBS for return yd. average. On the flip side, giving up an average of 30.3 yds on returns would put CU 122nd in FBS. As it is, CU is 82nd.
One could make the case that special teams didn't lose the game, but I'd have a hard time saying on balance that they gave CU any separation from CSU.
 
What is the CU record for the number of blocked punts and FGs given up in a season?
 
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