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Thoughts after week 2

Bufffan68

Club Member
Club Member
The Buffs look to have some talent, but lack consistent maturity, focus and intensity. Bumpy season ahead.

Stanford - They look really good. They were the better team, but made too many mistakes against USC.
Oregon - They look for real.
Washington - They look like their trying to adjust to Petersen's system. Should be better than their first 2 games show.
WSU - Surprisingly bad...looks like a step back this year.
OSU - Looking good, may upset 1-2 conference games this year.
Cal - Look surprisingly good. Unlike CU, they had talent to start with...they may be adjusting to Dykes' system.

USC - I wasn't sold on Sark, but they are looking really good.
UCLA - Biggest negative surprise so far...they do not look very good.
ASU - Hard to tell, but not great games against weak opponents.
UA - Offense looks goods.
Utah - Biggest positive surprise so far...was not expecting them to dominate like they have.
 
Unfortunately all the teams I saw us beating look much more improved than we do. The only one that hasn't that I had up in the air was Washington. They have regressed a fair amount with the changes and losses. Praying we improve defensively and can be more consistent on offense. Would like to beat Hawaii and get two conference wins somehow.


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As many have said the Pac12 is moving at light speed - all the multiple meanings intended. At the beginning I was worried we would be an improved team but not as improved as the rest of the pac. Now I am worried we might not be improved. Hopefully we just have Dline assignment problems that can be fixed with more practice.
 
As many have said the Pac12 is moving at light speed - all the multiple meanings intended. At the beginning I was worried we would be an improved team but not as improved as the rest of the pac. Now I am worried we might not be improved. Hopefully we just have Dline assignment problems that can be fixed with more practice.

As little as I paid attention to the game, I will say that something appeared to fall into place in the 4th quarter for a few players. Hope that is the start of a trend.
 
As little as I paid attention to the game, I will say that something appeared to fall into place in the 4th quarter for a few players. Hope that is the start of a trend.
When the team was actually focused and fired up, they played like they should and went on a 21-0 run. They dominated CSU in the first half too, though the score didn't show it. Being so young, much more rides on their emotional state than it would for an older squad. They talked about how they imploded emotionally in the second half of the CSU game and how that changed in the second half of the UMass game.

Their success will depend on their ability to play focused and fired up for 60 solid minutes, since they don't have the talent to play well only part of the game and expect to compete. I'm not hopeful, but maybe we catch a team or 2 having a bad game and we play well for 45-50 minutes. I will consider it progress if the team can put together longer runs of focus and passion throughout the year.
 
Peterson may be the next Boise coach to fail in stepping up. Long history of that with others as we unfortunately know to well.

Riley at OSU continues to be an underrated coach. He has proven that he can find talent and he has proven that he can coach. He will have some wins this year that are called upsets but after doing it this often are they really upsets anymore.

Right about Cal they have some talent. Hope that this is just a blip and they fall apart again before we play them but don't think that will happen.

Saw some Zona the last couple weeks and haven't been impressed. They might just blow a game against us.

Oregon showed a lot against a tough Michigan State team. Some prior Ducks teams would have lost that game.
 
When the team was actually focused and fired up, they played like they should and went on a 21-0 run. They dominated CSU in the first half too, though the score didn't show it. Being so young, much more rides on their emotional state than it would for an older squad. They talked about how they imploded emotionally in the second half of the CSU game and how that changed in the second half of the UMass game.

Their success will depend on their ability to play focused and fired up for 60 solid minutes, since they don't have the talent to play well only part of the game and expect to compete. I'm not hopeful, but maybe we catch a team or 2 having a bad game and we play well for 45-50 minutes. I will consider it progress if the team can put together longer runs of focus and passion throughout the year.

I thought it was weird how calm and low key the Buffs appeared before the CSU game. It is almost like Mac wanted to calm them down due to their youth.
If you are really good, you can sometimes out talent and out think other teams playing calmly in football. Generally, though football games are won by the ones with the most intensity. A little foam at the mouth does not hurt. CSU had way more intensity, and they were fired up.
Its easy to blame this on the coach but it is a balancing act, and frankly the intensity difference is something I have now seen at the Rocky Mountain showdown for eons. Maybe playing as the underdog will allow some of players to get a little loose and fired up.
 
Per CU, believe this team has some upside. At minimum BUFFS, continue to get better and play more as a team. Linebacker and D line need to elevate their play obviously. Kickoff coverage is horrid. Appeared the O line clicked a bit in UMASS during the second half which would be huge if sustained.

Saturday is a very difficult test to see if we can sustain things in a positive direction. Stay on the field with ASU and don't get slobber knockered..... Daunting as Sat night is, expectations are so low currently, it does offer an opportunity if the team can elevate.
 
Honestly these kids have nothing to lose against ASU. If they don't "leave it all on the field" I will be disappointed. No more of these dejected faces on the sidelines. If their disappointed in how the game is going, then rally together and go out there and do something about it.

Losing while putting out the effort is fine with me. Losing while giving up is a joke.


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As little as I paid attention to the game, I will say that something appeared to fall into place in the 4th quarter for a few players. Hope that is the start of a trend.

I agree. I think it actually started a few minutes into the 3rd. The interception they had was just an exceptional play on their part. But on offense in the 2nd half we went 279 yards (not counting the clock-burning possession to close the game). On Defense we allowed 159 yards in the 2nd half, but only around 100 when you take away penalties. We allowed only one TD after the first few minutes of the 3rd quarter and during that TD drive we gave them nearly 40 yards of penalties. We allowed 80 yards rushing in the 1st half but only allowed 20 yards rushing in the second half! We kept giving them great field position and we gave 124 yards in penalties through the game.

So the stats tell the story of a young team traveling across the country and playing a sloppy first half who then came back and dominated the second half while still making some sloppy mistakes.
 
I agree. I think it actually started a few minutes into the 3rd. The interception they had was just an exceptional play on their part. But on offense in the 2nd half we went 279 yards (not counting the clock-burning possession to close the game). On Defense we allowed 159 yards in the 2nd half, but only around 100 when you take away penalties. We allowed only one TD after the first few minutes of the 3rd quarter and during that TD drive we gave them nearly 40 yards of penalties. We allowed 80 yards rushing in the 1st half but only allowed 20 yards rushing in the second half! We kept giving them great field position and we gave 124 yards in penalties through the game.

So the stats tell the story of a young team traveling across the country and playing a sloppy first half who then came back and dominated the second half while still making some sloppy mistakes.

There is some magic at Folsom Field, and hopefully the young team can find it.
 
This team is finding itself, if slowly. The DL was real bad, and I think the coaches made it worse by going small early, but this week should tell us whether we will improve enough to prevent complete embarassment this season.
 
This team is finding itself, if slowly. The DL was real bad, and I think the coaches made it worse by going small early, but this week should tell us whether we will improve enough to prevent complete embarassment this season.
I agree that they will find themselves, I am more upset that the coaches were not prepared. I hope HCMM starts cracking the whip. Maybe all the weight loss has softened him
 
This team is finding itself, if slowly. The DL was real bad, and I think the coaches made it worse by going small early, but this week should tell us whether we will improve enough to prevent complete embarassment this season.

Would have been nice to have have Hennington and Samson out there at ends against CSU.
 
Watching the linked ESPN highlight was very instructive for me about our DE play.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=11477562&ex_cid=espnapi_public

What do you make of this?

31 (LB) overpursued
98 (DE) did not recognize where the run was going and blew his responsibility to seal the edge. Instead doubled the OT attempting to push him back into what he thought was the running lane
55 (DT) was doubled and then released on back side of play.
56 (DT) did his job in occupying the blocker and stretching the play. Was 98's responsibility to seal the edge.
whoever the other end is, was too far away and not really involved.
 
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31 (LB) overpursued
98 (DE) did not recognize where the run was going and blew his responsibility to seal the edge
55 (DT) was doubled and then released on back side of play.
56 (DT) did his job in occupying the blocker and stretching the play. Was 98's responsibility to seal the edge.
whoever the other end is, was too far away and not really involved.

Db put up a week attempt to shed the block.
 
Watching the linked ESPN highlight was very instructive for me about our DE play.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=11477562&ex_cid=espnapi_public

What do you make of this?

Am I crazy, this was a goal-line play! Maybe it is the bad multiple camera angles, or my lack of context...but #98, young DE Mr. Gilbert, jogs in pursuit of the running back and then nearly stop as the RB gets tackled by someone else in the inzone. If instead he had full on run to the back he would of had a TFL.

I want to be positive....these are young 20 year old kids. But this week in practice I would hammer into folks that you need to go hard through every play...especially in the red-zone (where we have given up something like 9 of 10 attempts).

Good news: these are discipline issues. They will get better...
 
Am I crazy, this was a goal-line play! Maybe it is the bad multiple camera angles, or my lack of context...but #98, young DE Mr. Gilbert, jogs in pursuit of the running back and then nearly stop as the RB gets tackled by someone else in the inzone. If instead he had full on run to the back he would of had a TFL.

I want to be positive....these are young 20 year old kids. But this week in practice I would hammer into folks that you need to go hard through every play...especially in the red-zone (where we have given up something like 9 of 10 attempts).

Good news: these are discipline issues. They will get better...

Not goal line, but close to it. Like the 5 or so. #98 was tasked to seal the edge, apparently, and thought the run was cutting back inside. He made a poor decision. Right place, wrong execution.
 
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