You shouldn't be that happy with CU's win over Zona.
Last week after Tuesday's practice, I asked coach Mac if he at all used Wazzu's throttling of Zona last week as a gauge of what to expect from his team; would CU's performance vs. Arizona be fair to compare with Washington State's game against the Wildcats as sort of a measurer of the Buffs' overall talent vs. the Cougars'? Mac said no, he doesn't really look at it that way.
Well I do. At least somewhat. I had looked at Wash St's 69-7 beatdown of Arizona as somewhat of an outline of what to expect from CU. To me, the Buffs' 49-24 win was far from satisfying. After the game, Sefo Liufau, Jimmie Gilbert and Shay Fields, Jr. spoke to the media.
It was a pretty lighthearted press conference. Although I will say that the guys admitted that their overall game wasn't perfect, but I did feel like the aftermath was a bit too happy go lucky. And don't get me wrong, I love the hell out of those guys and am happy that they can finally show some happiness after games. They deserve it. But after this particular win, it should have been toned down.
Isaiah Oliver commented last week that the Buffaloes have yet to put together a win that's displayed great offense, great defense and great special teams. The postgame feeling I detected was that the win over Arizona had accomplished that. I think it was no doubt far from it.
Arizona was allowed waaay too many yards on the ground. Both Brandon Dawkins and Samajie Grant constantly had massive holes to run through. I felt that early in the game, the linebackers and DBs were spread out often, which allowed Dawkins to basically tuck and run whenever he chose to do so.
Now I'm clearly not a defensive coordinator and this is somewhat ridiculous citing play calls from Madden, but I woulda liked to have seen some sort of quarterback spy play called. In the past the Buffaloes have struggled against dual threat QBs and given Dawkins' early demonstration of his ability to stretch his legs, I would have liked to see the defense adjust more accordingly.
Phillip Lindsay finished with 119 rushing yards and three TDs on 25 attempts, good for a 4.8 average. However, at halftime, Lindsay was averaging just 2.6 YPC, and had rushed 13 times for 37 yards. After the third quarter, he had a 3.8 YPC average. Now, with the many offensive linemen that CU lost during the contest, that's somewhat understandable, but still, the fact remains that Lindsay was effectively subdued for a decent chunk of the game.
Arizona finished with a 5.0 YPC average on the ground vs. the Buffaloes' defense. That seems like a stat that should belong to the 2014 Buffs' defense.
Shining star was Sefo. Wow were his passes looking great! A few weeks removed from he himself saying that he missed like 9 throws vs The Cardinal, Liufau looked good. The TD passes to JayMac and Fields, Jr. were beautiful, and he did a good job of hitting his targets all night. The tipped INT was an unfortunate blemish on his stat line.
On a separate note though, Brandon Dawkins took some savage hits in that game. Gillam got him good as he released the ball and Gilbert laid him tf out on a sack. Ivan from the Daily Wildcat (the kid who did Frat w/ the Enemy) said that Dawkins is known for consistently taking RG3-esque hits. Dangerous game you're playing, Brandon, but I respect that, nonetheless.
A few closing positive notes, CU averaged 5.9 yards per play on 1st down and converted 7-of-14 3rd downs. Don't quite know how Arizona outgained the Buffaloes in total yardage, given the score, but life is full of mysteries.
I got back into Boulder a bit ago after driving through the night right after the game ended last night. I'm gonna take a quick cat nap and then I have postgame quotes I'll put up.
The last few weeks are gonna be some of the most exciting for Boulder, the team, and students/fans.
P.S. -- Don't sweat it that College Gameday isn't coming to town this Saturday. I'd rather have them potentially come in two weeks when we host Utah, in a game that could determine the Pac-12 South winner.
Last week after Tuesday's practice, I asked coach Mac if he at all used Wazzu's throttling of Zona last week as a gauge of what to expect from his team; would CU's performance vs. Arizona be fair to compare with Washington State's game against the Wildcats as sort of a measurer of the Buffs' overall talent vs. the Cougars'? Mac said no, he doesn't really look at it that way.
Well I do. At least somewhat. I had looked at Wash St's 69-7 beatdown of Arizona as somewhat of an outline of what to expect from CU. To me, the Buffs' 49-24 win was far from satisfying. After the game, Sefo Liufau, Jimmie Gilbert and Shay Fields, Jr. spoke to the media.
It was a pretty lighthearted press conference. Although I will say that the guys admitted that their overall game wasn't perfect, but I did feel like the aftermath was a bit too happy go lucky. And don't get me wrong, I love the hell out of those guys and am happy that they can finally show some happiness after games. They deserve it. But after this particular win, it should have been toned down.
Isaiah Oliver commented last week that the Buffaloes have yet to put together a win that's displayed great offense, great defense and great special teams. The postgame feeling I detected was that the win over Arizona had accomplished that. I think it was no doubt far from it.
Arizona was allowed waaay too many yards on the ground. Both Brandon Dawkins and Samajie Grant constantly had massive holes to run through. I felt that early in the game, the linebackers and DBs were spread out often, which allowed Dawkins to basically tuck and run whenever he chose to do so.
Now I'm clearly not a defensive coordinator and this is somewhat ridiculous citing play calls from Madden, but I woulda liked to have seen some sort of quarterback spy play called. In the past the Buffaloes have struggled against dual threat QBs and given Dawkins' early demonstration of his ability to stretch his legs, I would have liked to see the defense adjust more accordingly.
Phillip Lindsay finished with 119 rushing yards and three TDs on 25 attempts, good for a 4.8 average. However, at halftime, Lindsay was averaging just 2.6 YPC, and had rushed 13 times for 37 yards. After the third quarter, he had a 3.8 YPC average. Now, with the many offensive linemen that CU lost during the contest, that's somewhat understandable, but still, the fact remains that Lindsay was effectively subdued for a decent chunk of the game.
Arizona finished with a 5.0 YPC average on the ground vs. the Buffaloes' defense. That seems like a stat that should belong to the 2014 Buffs' defense.
Shining star was Sefo. Wow were his passes looking great! A few weeks removed from he himself saying that he missed like 9 throws vs The Cardinal, Liufau looked good. The TD passes to JayMac and Fields, Jr. were beautiful, and he did a good job of hitting his targets all night. The tipped INT was an unfortunate blemish on his stat line.
On a separate note though, Brandon Dawkins took some savage hits in that game. Gillam got him good as he released the ball and Gilbert laid him tf out on a sack. Ivan from the Daily Wildcat (the kid who did Frat w/ the Enemy) said that Dawkins is known for consistently taking RG3-esque hits. Dangerous game you're playing, Brandon, but I respect that, nonetheless.
A few closing positive notes, CU averaged 5.9 yards per play on 1st down and converted 7-of-14 3rd downs. Don't quite know how Arizona outgained the Buffaloes in total yardage, given the score, but life is full of mysteries.
I got back into Boulder a bit ago after driving through the night right after the game ended last night. I'm gonna take a quick cat nap and then I have postgame quotes I'll put up.
The last few weeks are gonna be some of the most exciting for Boulder, the team, and students/fans.
P.S. -- Don't sweat it that College Gameday isn't coming to town this Saturday. I'd rather have them potentially come in two weeks when we host Utah, in a game that could determine the Pac-12 South winner.
