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Team speed

buffs04

Well-Known Member
Even the very casual observer would probably note that our apparent overall team speed as of late, on both sides of the ball, has been nothing to write home about. Was this a product of scheme, personnel use, recruiting philosophy, conditioning deficiencies, etc., or just a reflection of our overall talent level? The recent disasters against Cal, Missouri, and even Toledo had our players often looking like they were simply overmatched. Can we expect Embree to correct this via coaching or is it more of a systemic issue wrt talent? Has he acknowledged it as an issue?
 
It certainly seemed like our "scheme" required our players to catch the ball at a complete stop and then try to break free. It seemed very evident on defense that our LB'ers weren't allowed to roam free, but had to stay home and wait for the play to come to them.

Our overall team speed isn't "great" but we shouldn't play against our weakness either.

Having a true speed guy like Richardson was an overwhelming upgrade in that area of the game that only exposed what we have been missing for several years (outside of a few guys). Having one or two WR's or CB's isn't "team speed", but I think a more aggressive gameplan will make up for any lack of true speed.
 
When players are coached right and in position they "play" fast. When the are not coached right and out of position the end up flat footed and look slow. So to answer your question, I think the team will look faster under JE.
 
I'd agree that scheme and coaching come into play a bit here, but IMO, it's more talent than anything else. There's a reason that Major when he was healthy looked like he was 100x faster than the other guys on our D and why PRich looks so damn fast on O. It's their talent level more than the fact they know the scheme.
 
BinaryBuff said:
I'd agree that scheme and coaching come into play a bit here, but IMO, it's more talent than anything else. There's a reason that Major when he was healthy looked like he was 100x faster than the other guys on our D and why PRich looks so damn fast on O. It's their talent level more than the fact they know the scheme.
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You either are or you aren't. Gameplanning and coaching can only help maximize the talent that exists. We should be able to perform better against the schools with lesser talent and also do well in catching unprepared teams with better talent. That being said, we will have to wait for the Embree-EB recruits to start coming in before we see a fundamental change in the actual speed of the team.
 
When your fastest guys are sitting on the bench, its hard to have good team speed on the field. DH was a master of strategy.
 
BlackNGold said:
That 94 team should of won the MNC. IMO it was the most talented CU team ever.
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One bad day in Lincoln. Mac was determined to run the ball down Nebs throat and didn't start throwing the ball until it was to late.
 
ScottyBuff said:
It certainly seemed like our "scheme" required our players to catch the ball at a complete stop and then try to break free.
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a real pet peeve (to put it mildly) of mine over the last 5 years. we had so many "routes" in the offense where the WR/TE catches the ball facing the QB. YAC in that situation is much tougher than catching the ball in stride heading downfield. as prone as we were to self-destruction nearing FG range or the red zone (sack, penalty or 3rd and short, etc.).....just breaking a long one for an actual TD might have made the difference for us a couple times or two.
 
The really impressive thing about that 94 squad was that they didn't just have good straight-line speed, they had great "football" speed. A lot of kids can run fast in shorts, but put the pads on them and get them on the field and they don't have functional game speed.
 
SCB said:
One bad day in Lincoln. Mac was determined to run the ball down Nebs throat and didn't start throwing the ball until it was to late.
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Salaam had a fine day, it was Kordell who had a bad day, especially on 3rd and 4th downs (zero conversions). Big Red's punter Erstad killed us, too
 
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