What???, we WON???...

[leftybuff]

Very exciting game.

A few thoughts:

I'll start where everyone was looking:

QB: Pitiful that CH has had a start since the KU game last year. I REALLY doubt TH would have been the savior, or Ballanger for that matter back then, but who in their right mind would look at TH and CH in practice and think they are similar? Somebody in Hawkins colored glasses thats who. If TH had gotten the reps when his RS was burned last year, this would be a completely different team.

DH screwed the pooch big time on this one and it is last name driven IMO. Complete and utter BS and probably ruined his coaching name for the foreseeable future, especially if TH continues to light it up. What a cluster DH is as a HC when his son is on the roster.

WR: Simas is a player. Somehow, just like I predicted, Mangino can get a talented frosh on the field (MCDougald, remember him?) for big plays but Simmons still sits for CU. Unbelievable.

OL: Played decently given the merry go round with the players. Nice run blocking.

RB: Speedy is just better than Scott right now.

DL: Played very well


DB's: Catching fire. Burney laid the wood, this time on the field and not in a blog, J. Brown was exceptional, Jimmy Smith played well too. Polk had a monster hit on ST.

LB: So so, not a great game, but then again, the rush was pretty much shut down for KU, I'll give the LB's an A-

ST: Goodman squeaked one through. I doubt I'll ever look at him trottin on the field as a confidence boost. DiLallo looks like he eats a handful of barbituates before he punts, the action is slow, but he does boom once it gets off his foot. Our punt catch team needs work. Will there be a time when the punt catcher DOESN"T run into his own blocker immediately after catching the ball?


DH is still in the doghouse. His QB mismanagement reflects VERY poorly on his objectivity and ability to identify talent.

[Wise Old Man]

... I can not agree with what you have to say about the Hawkins' . Both of them. I do not believe Tyler is the savior of the program. We won, but barely. I'm not saying Hanson is not the better of the two, but if he is, it's not by much.
Coach Hawkins has the hardest task of getting our team confidence, and that is something that they have to really figure out for themselves. The coaching has been very good since the west virginia game, both offensively and defensively. The players had lost it.
We just don't have that bruiser mentality yet. Every time we are winning we see it as a surprise and it always seems predictable when the other team comes back to win; which Kansas very well could have.
When we win, and win big over teams we should beat, than we are over the hump.
We won because we ran the ball and were able to stay ahead thanks to the turnover and great defensive play and schemes in the first half.
I felt the offence rode on the shoulders of stewart; not Hanson.
I agree with your assesment of the rest of the play, but i am not convinced our quarterback play is better than middle of the road. Kansas does not have a whole lot of speed. Mizzou will be a good way to gauge.

[buffaholic]

Hansen looked great and he's the QB from here out. WIth that said, it's not pitiful that CH started. In the spring game, Hansen did not show much improvement over last year. He was clearly trying to not make every play with his feet and he was trying to stay in the pocket and make his reads, and in that situation, he was not as good as Cody. The vast majority of us agreed on that opinion. Perhaps Helfrich was really pushing on him to make that his priority as his feet were good last year, but he was one-dimensional. In the fall, I saw him once, and it was exactly the same. I was disappointed by the lack of progress.

What we saw Saturday was a guy who was using his feet to buy time and pass first. It really looks like it's all come together (but that was one game). My hats off to Kiesau on Hansen's development. He's made huge strides since I saw him in the early fall.

But let's remember. Thru the offseason to the spring game, thru the summer, and into early fall, there were no real signs of what we saw Saturday.

[buffs04]

If you think Cody Hawkins and Tyler Hansen are comparable QBs you are flat out wrong. There is no way CU wins on Saturday with Hawkins at QB.

[leftybuff]

If I am reading Wise Old Man and Buffaholic right, TH became the QB he was Sat. night in the last week? Last two weeks? Last three weeks? I don't buy that. LAst year what you saw was a kid who came straight off the scout team, and then got three weeks of work with the first O. No, as I said, he wasn't the savior back then, but he did have the ability to throw something other than a three yard curl or five yard out pattern. He could run. Why as a coach you wouldn't grab that then and start working it is beyond me. Especially when as far back as mid-October '08 you knew what you had wasn't cutting the mustard. Sounds harsh, but it is big boy FB here. TH is a better QB, period. Is he the second coming? I don't know and one stellar game a great QB does not make, but at least he has the tools. And those tools would be much sharper now if he hadn't rode the pine for the past twelve months. It's not like '08 wasn't already in the tank when TH finally got the start.

[sackman]

I felt the offence rode on the shoulders of stewart; not Hanson.

I don't want to diminish what Stewart did, because he was terrific. However, the fact that KU's defense had to respect the pass enabled him to do much better. Therein lies the difference between an offense led by Hawkins and one led by Hansen. CU will face much more straight-up defenses with Hansen playing than they would with Hawkins in the game. That's the simple truth.

Hansen won this game.

[leftybuff]

I don't want to diminish what Stewart did, because he was terrific. However, the fact that KU's defense had to respect the pass enabled him to do much better. Therein lies the difference between an offense led by Hawkins and one led by Hansen. CU will face much more straight-up defenses with Hansen playing than they would with Hawkins in the game. That's the simple truth.

Hansen won this game.

You mean having the safeties more than five yards off the ball can make a difference in the run game? Who knew?

[buffs04]

The fact that Cody was kept in as starter so he could get CU's career TD record and then was immediately benched is particularly inappropriate behavior.

[sackman]

You mean having the safeties more than five yards off the ball can make a difference in the run game? Who knew?

Not only that, but CU's receivers were often more open than they were when Hawkins was the QB. Because they knew CH couldn't throw the ball more than 20 yards downfield, they could jam the receivers at the LOS and play a lot tighter.

Having a mobile, strong armed quarterback makes a huge difference in how the opposing team plays you. I guess this is what I've been saying all along, that it didn't matter which guy was better in practice. What mattered was which guy could make the most plays. That guy has been Hansen from day one.

[GoBuffs08]

CU does not win this game with CH at QB. There was 6-10 plays in the game that TH turned into positive yards with either a run or just having the ability to move around the pocket and keep the play alive.

Plays that went for 5-7 yards resulting in 3rd &3 instead of throwing the ball out of bounds or getting sacked. Plays that kept drives going.

The best part about TH was you could actually see him looking around the entire field trying to make plays.

Like Sacky said, a QB that can move around, run, and pass makes the D change. No longer can they just put 8-9 guys on the line. TH should make both the running game, and our O line look better from here out.

[TheRoyale90]

Not only that, but CU's receivers were often more open than they were when Hawkins was the QB. Because they knew CH couldn't throw the ball more than 20 yards downfield, they could jam the receivers at the LOS and play a lot tighter.

Having a mobile, strong armed quarterback makes a huge difference in how the opposing team plays you. I guess this is what I've been saying all along, that it didn't matter which guy was better in practice. What mattered was which guy could make the most plays. That guy has been Hansen from day one.

Exactly right. This makes Hawk's stubborness over keeping Cody in all the more baffling. Hawk isn't stupid he can see that Cody doesn't have half the skill set Tyler does but he never even considered making the change till he had no choice left.

CU does not win this game with CH at QB. There was 6-10 plays in the game that TH turned into positive yards with either a run or just having the ability to move around the pocket and keep the play alive.

Plays that went for 5-7 yards resulting in 3rd &3 instead of throwing the ball out of bounds or getting sacked. Plays that kept drives going.

The best part about TH was you could actually see him looking around the entire field trying to make plays.

Like Sacky said, a QB that can move around, run, and pass makes the D change. No longer can they just put 8-9 guys on the line. TH should make both the running game, and our O line look better from here out.

Tyler isn't superman but he changed the dynamic of our offense completely. No team from here on out should be able to just stack the line like they did against Cody. If it's possible I think I dislike DH even more for having wasted half a year before making a change. Did he really think it was going to pop with Cody or was he trying to get him the records? I really can't tell.

[F.I.M.]

I keep hearing the secondary had a good game. I was on the road and didn't get to see the game, but it is hard to imagine they had a good game giving up 430 yards of passing.

Could somebody who did see the game explain how they had a good game to me!??

[sackman]

I keep hearing the secondary had a good game. I was on the road and didn't get to see the game, but it is hard to imagine they had a good game giving up 430 yards of passing.

Could somebody who did see the game explain how they had a good game to me!??

They had an OK game. They gave up a lot of yards to two very big, strong WR's who caught balls that no normal human being should be able to catch. There were very few passes that weren't contested.

[F.I.M.]

Thanks Sacky, that's what I was looking for, especially the last sentence.

[leftybuff]

Thanks Sacky, that's what I was looking for, especially the last sentence.

I'll echo Sacky. Briscoe was unreal. That guy goes pro this year IMO. He had some great catches, but he usually had a DB right on him contesting the play.