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Spring Game Thoughts

Darth Snow

Hawaiian Buffalo
Club Member
Junta Member
only watched the first half and a bit of the 4th.

#1: For better or worse, Cody is gonna be the starting QB. Putting aside the injury, it was obvious on the field. Hansen had happy feet, he couldn't pull the trigger, he wasn't finding open men, etc etc etc... He did not play ready. He did not move the team. Cody looked solid. Several bad throws, but it wasn't exactly throwing weather... and some really great throws as well. I was watching how he went through his progressions, and he was actually doing them! He checked down, didn't get happy feet (which has always been a problem for him), ran when he had to, stepped up, etc. Was he perfect? No. Was he great? No. Was he far and away the better QB? Yes.

#2: Oline wasn't great (neither was the Dline), but they were solid. I would call this one a draw.

#3: Holy crap, our RBs look good.
Scott is a different player: By that I mean last year he would just run into the line every time and try and break free. He showed patience and decisiveness today. If it wasn' there, he took what he could get. Sometimes he broke it outside... very very much a better looking back. However, he still sucks as pass blocking :lol:. Blew an assignment pretty bad that would have gotten hansen killed in a real game. Shows good hands in the passing game when he goes out for a pass tho.
Lockridge: Holy ****, look out for this guy. Not dangerous inside, but if he gets outside... good to have him back!
Speedy: Still speedy. nuff said.
Sumler: pickin up where he left off at the end of last year. Surprisingly shifty, and very strong. Dependable. broke a few very nice runs.

#4 WRs: Simas looked like a solid possession WR. not a game breaker, but the QB's trusted him on some tough throws, and more importantly, he made the defense concentrate on him which made everyone else look a lot better...

JflY: looking like a better WR. Made some good adjustments with the ball in the air. Definitely benefited from not being doubleteamed on every play due to Simas's presence. Reminded me of 2 years ago when he had some room to work with! Good kickoff return. Solid.

Numerous Walkon Wideouts: Espinoza!! solid route runner, good speed, soft hands. Not a bad guy to have on a team.

WR OVerall: We need a jumbo WR bad. Still missing some pieces here for sure. However, definitely better than last year with Simas in there!

#5 TEs: good Runblocking, didn't really see them do anything much in the passing, although wallace did get overthrown just barely by cody on a seam route...

Defense Note: Tackling was a bit soft, but it was against our own team, so I won't note it further.

#6: CBs: some damn solid coverage, and some bad stuff. Vigo was totally lost at times, but he is thick for a CB! Other than that, sort of lost. No real plays.

#7: Safeties: again, nothing noteworthy. However, that may be a good thing cause if Mahnke wanted to hurt somebody, I am sure he would have :smile2:. A few blown coverages (notably on a fake screen to simas), but otherwise solid and dependable.

#8: LBs: Burton is BACK. Man was sideline to sideline and all over the place. he is HUGE. It is almost unnatural that he can move as well as he does, he is wider than some of our DT's... Sipili did a good job, and beatty was a damn solid Pass rusher at times. Mohler did well with the 2d team. Smart was invisible... hope Mohler steps it up and gets on the first team, the athletic difference is astounding. Depth is the word here. woot!

#9: special teams: I hope to God Money plays like this in the early season. KR teams looked solid. PR coverage teams were doing well... not a lot to talk about here.

Anything I miss?
 
pretty good rundown, IMO. like you i only saw the first half.

i felt a bit gassy and too much deja vu on the Goodman 50+ FG drive with about ~4 minutes left in the 2nd quarter when we had 3rd and 4 going to the north EZ. jump off sides for 3rd and forget about it. and then Cody gets sacked for a 10 yard loss to *almost* take us out of FG range.

that was the thing that had me pissing blood last year was dumb mistakes once we crossed midfield to take away our own scoring opportunities. i know it's the Spring Game, but that was wicked deja vu except for Goodman bailed the O out.
 
my comments:

Hansen didn't have the protection Hawkins had in general, but agree that Cody was more polished.

TE run blocking: How do you really know without breaking down film? I have no clue.

Burton may be back, but if he lost 20 pounds he'd be really good. He's fat. I stood next to him after the game and the love-handles ain't going to help him. He looks like he's lost some of the fat he had last year, but still needs to lose 20.

O-line didn't road-grade and also seemed to struggle with pass blocking at times. Dline is either very good or we got more work to do, which isn't too surprising giving the new philosophy.

Have some serious weak spots still, but a lot of guys not playing due to injuries. The most obvious need is offensive playmakers.
 
They tried a lot of guys on returns, including Scott, Espinoza, JFly, who else?

Mahnke dropped a tipped gift INT.

Scott hit holes and pushed the pile, sometimes for 5 yards plus. Good to see. Lockridge looked good receiving and running. Sumler had a huge run to close out the game.

Did you take the cheerleaders wherever you went for the 2nd half? It seemed to deflate the team, too. Maybe they just ran more, but the 2nd half seemed to fly by w/o much to report.
 
TE RunBlocking: lots of breaks to the outside on running plays means (to my uninformed opinion) that the TE's are holding their blocks and not letting their guys through. thats all. I didn't catch anything else.
 
My last memory of Cody is the 'braska game. He was spot on in that game. He had several impressive throws. If Hansen did not look good today, then, IMO, he will never look good. He had the entire off season to get ready and everything was in place for him. If he can't take advantage of that, then, well.....
 
My last memory of Cody is the 'braska game. He was spot on in that game. He had several impressive throws. If Hansen did not look good today, then, IMO, he will never look good. He had the entire off season to get ready and everything was in place for him. If he can't take advantage of that, then, well.....

He looked ok. Cody just looked pretty good in the first half save one overthrow.
 
He looked ok. Cody just looked pretty good in the first half save one overthrow.
two overthrows... one close, one AWFUL.

Also... Shotgun isn't dead, but the spread sure was. They still did some of the slow developing rollouts, but a lot less of them. :woot:
 
Good reporting, The Darrel Scott punt was a boomer and the rest of the kicking game seemed soft. QB play was spotty at best, did Hanson get hurt early and play with pain? Over all they looked pretty good.
 
two overthrows... one close, one AWFUL.

Also... Shotgun isn't dead, but the spread sure was. They still did some of the slow developing rollouts, but a lot less of them. :woot:
The camera work on the internet broadcast was piss poor. Zoomed in so you couldn't see the play.
 
My two cents are: Cody is definitely still the starter, he had a solid scrimmage. The running game racked up 310 yards. From what I could tell the running backs were all showing some really good stuff. The D-line wasn't getting blown off the ball, at least in the first half, the running backs were just finding openings especially off the right side. Darrell Scott is looking like the difference maker he was believed to be. He is running with speed, vision, and power. He is impossible to bring down on first contact and punishes tacklers for extra yardage every time. Can't wait to unleash him on CSU.
 
just remembered... The toss play is back in the playbook... I don't know why it was gone but woot on having it back!!
 
My last memory of Cody is the 'braska game. He was spot on in that game. He had several impressive throws. If Hansen did not look good today, then, IMO, he will never look good. He had the entire off season to get ready and everything was in place for him. If he can't take advantage of that, then, well.....

Sorry DBT - but that is one of the stupider things I've seen posted around here. The kid is still a freshman, and this was his first spring game. Let's give him awhile before we decide 'he will never look good'.
 
Sorry DBT - but that is one of the stupider things I've seen posted around here. The kid is still a freshman, and this was his first spring game. Let's give him awhile before we decide 'he will never look good'.

Agreed.

Definitely.

The above said, he is most certainly behind Cody at this point in the SPRING, though.
 
Agreed.

Definitely.

The above said, he is most certainly behind Cody at this point in the SPRING, though.
:yeahthat:

I think the only reason he is still listed as pushing cody is because the coaches are pulling for him to push cody.
 
:yeahthat:

I think the only reason he is still listed as pushing cody is because the coaches are pulling for him to push cody.

not just the coaches. TH got the second biggest cheer of the day when he took the field for his first series. the biggest was D Scott.

edit: i don't think there's anyway Cody doesn't start against CSU. Hanson will get some "change of pace" series....but Cody is your QB1 for the Colorado Buffaloes, for better or worse.

Cody=Cody. i think we can win 7-8 games with Cody if the D steps up.
 
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Cody was the clear leader in moving the offense today, with the broken thumb putting Hansen further behind. I was impressed with all of the running backs today, especially Lockridge and Sumler. Lockridge looked fast, Sumler ran tough! Of course, Darrell Scott looked better, but that should surprise no one! Speedy looked like Speedy, but he received the fewest carries of the "4-Headed Monster"...probably because he is still healing up from his broken leg.

I hope the incoming Freshmen receivers were watching today because a couple of them could really make a difference THIS season! Simas was clearly our best receiver on the field, but he was not anything special. Smith looks better, but has a lot of work to still put in to be a solid receiver. Espinoza seemed too short to make a couple of plays across the middle. Everyone else was invisible, with Scotty McNight sitting out other than to hold for FG's and Extra Points.

I was expecting more fireworks from the Tight Ends, but there were a couple of near misses. They struggled at times controlling the outside backers and DE's.

The O-line was decent at times, but did not open the holes I was hoping to see for our "4-Headed Monster"!

The Special Teams were better this year, with players flying to the ball on punts and kick offs! Obviously Goodman kicked better today, but it was more like a practice than a real game situation. The punting was solid, and Josh Smith looks like he will be providing more fireworks as a return man this season. Darrell Scott also looked impressive on his returns.

The D-line played better than I expected, but there is room for Nuckols and Kasa to work in for serious playing time.

The strength of the defense was the linebacking core, which we have expected all season long. Beatty was flying around everywhere; Sipili and Burton played like we have been waiting for the past three years! Mohler and Smart solid as usual.

The DB's were a little disappointing, frankly! They were badly burnt on more than one occasion, with no one stepping up to make a big game changing play. Mahnke had his shot at a sweet interception for a touchdown, but he showed why he plays defense and not offense by letting it fall through his hands!

It was great to watch Buffs football live again, so I give it a thumbs up overall! :thumbsup: There is a lot of work to be done before the fall, but the pieces are falling into place and 8 wins next year is not unreasonable based upon what I saw today! GO BUFFS!!!!
 
Major props to those who showed up for the game today. Sounds like the crowd was pretty good, all things considered. Next year coming off a big season and with better weather, we should get 25k+.:thumbsup:
 
Major props to those who showed up for the game today. Sounds like the crowd was pretty good, all things considered. Next year coming off a big season and with better weather, we should get 25k+.:thumbsup:
ya, the crowd was actually pretty impressive considering the weather. I thought it would be far worse than it was. With good weather and a winning year, hell ya we can meet 25k!
 
Cody was the clear leader in moving the offense today, with the broken thumb putting Hansen further behind. I was impressed with all of the running backs today, especially Lockridge and ...

Nice write up. Rep delivered.
 
ah. the end of spring ball... count me as an optimist, like every year.

GO BUFFS!
 
Good work guys.. Disappointed about Hansen, but Little Hawk can get the job done if he gets some help.. Not very encouraging signs about the OL through your reports.
 
Major props to those who showed up for the game today. Sounds like the crowd was pretty good, all things considered. Next year coming off a big season and with better weather, we should get 25k+.:thumbsup:

Weather wasn't that bad, except the benches. My ass was numb after sitting for an hour or so. :lol:
 
The OLine was lights-out on that first drive - and country to some of these posters, I thought they did a good job opening holes on a number of occasions.

I really liked see us setup in some big, power formations with a leading FB/TE
 
I saw the game (got back from the mountains here in washington) and the OL looked good as did all 4 rb's. Defense made some good plays. For those who were there, how did smith and simas look? Does cody look bigger and do his psses have any more zip on them? Couldn't get much of a feel for it from the video.

Considering the weather, draft and nuggets game,not a bad showing. CUBUFFS.COM said an estimated 11,500?
 
With the O-line missing Daniels, Max-T, Behrens, & Tight end R. Geer. I don't think they performed all that bad. Every O-line needs a little time to gel & it shouldn't take them long to do that. Remember last years line?

I loved Scotts punt, probably the best one of the day. No one has mentioned Goodman for obvious reasons. Even though he made a couple FG's, I believe he may still be a liabilty under real game conditions.

I thought Cody had a couple more bonehead moments than Hanson. Otherwise, I think Hansons pass to Simas down the sideline for a TD was awesome. Simas had a pretty decent game and I hope he keeps his head in the acedemics this year cause were going to need him.

Not as many throws/plays to the tight end as I thought there would be. Although that Shanahan kid caught a couple passes in heavy traffic that maybe shouldn't have been thrown in the 1st place.

To bad Polk was hurt and couldn't play. D. Rippy has all the tools to become a grate LB. Just needs some more playing time. I think Siepli looks average at best.
The corners look fine so far. And the jury is still out on the D-line, although the defense did flush the QB out for two or three hand touches.

Lots of kinks to work out on both sides of the ball and four months left to do it.
 
Considering the weather, draft and nuggets game,not a bad showing. CUBUFFS.COM said an estimated 11,500?

i was there for the first half and there was no way there was more than 6000 people there. people were coming and going, but i think 11,500 is ridiculous. the stadium was never close to being a 1/4 full.
 
i was there for the first half and there was no way there was more than 6000 people there. people were coming and going, but i think 11,500 is ridiculous. the stadium was never close to being a 1/4 full.

In the 1st period when we went up to the new Byron White suites, there were at least a thousand or so people up there watching the game.
 
With the O-line missing Daniels, Max-T, Behrens, & Tight end R. Geer. I don't think they performed all that bad. Every O-line needs a little time to gel & it shouldn't take them long to do that. Remember last years line?

I loved Scotts punt, probably the best one of the day. No one has mentioned Goodman for obvious reasons. Even though he made a couple FG's, I believe he may still be a liabilty under real game conditions.

I thought Cody had a couple more bonehead moments than Hanson. Otherwise, I think Hansons pass to Simas down the sideline for a TD was awesome. Simas had a pretty decent game and I hope he keeps his head in the acedemics this year cause were going to need him.

Not as many throws/plays to the tight end as I thought there would be. Although that Shanahan kid caught a couple passes in heavy traffic that maybe shouldn't have been thrown in the 1st place.

To bad Polk was hurt and couldn't play. D. Rippy has all the tools to become a grate LB. Just needs some more playing time. I think Siepli looks average at best.
The corners look fine so far. And the jury is still out on the D-line, although the defense did flush the QB out for two or three hand touches.

Lots of kinks to work out on both sides of the ball and four months left to do it.
Dude that td pass to simas was cody...
 
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