Previewing the 2010 Colorado Buffaloes
by Husker Mike on Aug 31, 2010 6:30 AM CDT
in Nebraska Husker Football
Email
PrintLast year, Colorado fans took offense at my characterization of Colorado's new offensive philosophy as a "square peg meet round hole" and a potential "train wreck." They brought up a good point that the Colorado offense wasn't very good in 2008, so a change was in order. Very true, but while it was clear from this side of the Flatirons that the change to a "pro-style" attack was going to make things even worse, Buffalo fans were sure that Colorado's new offensive coordinator meant to merely implement a "pro-style rushing attack." Bob Bell of the Ralphie Report made it quite clear:
By no means would our coaches be ignorant enough to think Cody Hawkins will beat anyone throwing 30 times a game…
Well, guess what. Colorado's quarterbacks didn't just throw thirty passes a game...they averaged nearly 40 passes a game in 2009. And it only took about a game and a half for the sad awful truth to set in when Toledo pasted the Buffs on a Friday night.
If there is one thing that's a bigger mess than Colorado's football team on the field, it is the financial situation of the athletic department. You see, Colorado still hasn't paid off the loans they used to buy out Gary Barnett. To lessen the buyout fees, Colorado now wants to hang around the Big XII another year rather than join the Pac-10 in 2011. So Colorado really had no choice but to keep Dan Hawkins around for the 2010 season.
That doesn't necessarily mean that Dan's son Cody will be the starting quarterback. The last two years, Colorado has attempted to redshirt Tyler Hansen, only to throw him into the lineup midseason. Hansen's a more mobile quarterback, but only netted 61 yards last season on 84 carries. As the season progressed, he became a little better passer, completing nearly 56% of his passes with eight touchdowns but seven interceptions. Hansen was named the starter last week, but don't be surprised if the Buffs turn to Cody Hawkins if the offense continues to struggle.
At running back, it's going to be junior Rodney Stewart carrying most of the load. Much ballyhooed recruit Darrell Scott bailed on the Buffs early last season, and transferred to South Florida. Stewart is a nice back, rushing for 804 yards and nine touchdowns last season, earning honorable mention all-Big XII mention. After that, the cupboard is rather bare. Brian Lockridge is the only other back with experience, rushing for 53 yards last season. Perhaps freshmen Quentin Hildreth or Justin Torres will step up and provide some depth here.
If the Buffs are going to insist on throwing the ball most of the time, they'll need some receivers produce, and Scott McKnight is Mr. Dependable for the Buffs. McKnight led the Buffs with 76 catches for 893 yards and six touchdowns last season. But after Markques Simas was dismissed from the squad this spring, the Buffs don't have a lot of experience returning at receiver. Junior Jason Espinoza is next on the list of returning receivers with 13 last season. Buff fans are looking for senior Travon Patterson, freshman Paul Richardson, junior Toney Clemons, or sophomore Will Jefferson to step up.
Colorado's offensive line has plenty of experience on the offensive line, but the results to date have been spotty to say the least. The Buffs ranked 113th in rushing last season and 117th in sacks allowed. Despite those totals, left tackle Nate Solder is a preseason all-American and right guard Ryan Miller was honorable mention all-Big XII last season. The Buffs think they finally have the depth to put together a decent offensive line.
Like the offensive line, the results on the defensive line don't match up with the experience level on the field. The Buffs were 80th in rush defense. Senior defensive end Marquez Herrod was the leader of the bunch with 38 tackles and a team leading six sacks last season. The Buffs frequently go with a 3 man line, bringing in an additional defensive back to go with a 3-3-5 nickel formation.
Only one starter returns at linebacker, senior B.J. Beatty who had only 30 tackles last season. Once again, the Buffs are hoping that young players like sophomore Jon Major, a former high school player of the year in Colorado, are going to step up and make an immediate impact.
At cornerback, the Buffs defense truly has a solid foundation. Seniors Jimmy Smith and Jalil Brown are the leaders of a secondary that ended up fourth in the Big XII in pass defense. Senior Anthony Perkins slides over to start at strong safety this season after starting much of last season at free safety, accounting for 78 tackles. Sophomore Ray Polk moves into the lineup at free safety; he added 40 tackles last season in a backup role. After that, the Buffs will be breaking in freshman in reserve roles, so again, inexperience raises it's head in Boulder.
Buff fans are optimistic going into this season. If the offensive line can reach it's potential and young talent at receiver and linebacker develops as they hope, this team should be better than last year. With home games against Hawai'i, Baylor, and Iowa State, Buff fans should be hoping to get wins against Colorado State, Kansas, and then pulling off one upset at some point to get to bowl eligibility.
And if that happens, don't be surprised if Colorado doesn't grant Dan Hawkins the contract extension he desires. Colorado still can't afford to buy out Hawkins, and letting Hawkins' run out his contract will absolutely destroy recruiting. Plus, let's be brutally honest. Hawkins is the second lowest paid coach in the Big XII; chances are that Colorado would need to pay a new coach more than Hawkins makes. If Colorado doesn't regress further this year, Colorado could negotiate a deal with Hawkins similar to the one Pat Hill and Fresno State agreed to. More years at a lower salary gives Colorado more time and budget flexibility to dig themselves out of their financial hole, and Hawkins gets a second chance to jumpstart his program with the assurance that, barring a complete collapse of the program, he's not leaving Boulder anytime soon.
That's likely not going to sit well with Buffalo fans who wrote off Hawkins last season, but some coaches need a little more time to get their program started. Dan McCarney didn't get Iowa State to a bowl game until his sixth season, so just because Hawkins has failed thus far doesn't make it an assurance he never will succeed.
11 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
it still
surprises me that Hawkins has done as poorly as he has there.Hell, when he was hired, it looked damned good… now he just looks lost.
I guess after this year…. it won’t matter much to us. Just beat ol’ Buffie one last time.
Go Big Red Nebraska!
Our Cobs Are Bigger Than Yours!
Corn Nation!
Twitter!
cornnation@gmail.com
You should keep your analysis
to the actual team (which was fine) and stay away from money and coaching issues which you obviously don’t know much about. CU does not “want” to stay in the Big 12 in 2012. It is a negotiating ploy plain and simple. The odds are still very good we will leave next year. About Hawkins: He has already taken the Buffs to a bowl, in his second year. I’m just saying, I’m not defending him as a coach. CU isn‘t Iowa State, he would of never gotten his FIRST extension if it wasn‘t for showing that improvement in his second year (which obviously turned out to be a mirage). No way Hawkins gets an extension for winning 6 games this year, in fact he almost definitely gets fired if he doesn’t win 7 or more. The money was there to buy him out last year but the university higher-ups (not the AD, who wanted to fire him) didn’t want the bad P.R. they would get if they paid a state employee millions of dollars NOT to work when people were losing their jobs left and right.
so
by your estimation – you won’t be staying in the Big 12 until 2012?
I realize it’s a tactic, but what do you think the chances are? And with a completely serious question – if you’re in the position of firing a coach, buying him out, and hiring another one at the same time you’re switching conferences, aren’t you worried that you’ll dig a financial hole that it’ll take years to get out of????
Go Big Red Nebraska!
Our Cobs Are Bigger Than Yours!
Corn Nation!
Twitter!
cornnation@gmail.com
in my humble estimation no
I honestly think the chances are still 80%+ that we’ll be moving in 2011 for a multitude of reasons: The Big 12 wants it to happen. The Pac-12 wants it to happen. CU wants it to happen. The Pac-12 has committed to helping us out financially with the move (who knows what exactly that means, but it’s gotta mean SOMETHING). You would think the combined negotiating power of CU and NU would be able to bring the Big 12 down a little on the exit fee.
As for your serious question, yes, that is a concern, but really only if we hire another crappy coach. In relation to that question and also to the 2011 exit, I think you guys are overestimating our financial “crisis” just a little bit. Obviously we’re no Texas (or Florida or Nebraska or whoever) but we’re hardly some charity case. We always make good TV money in football due to our scheduling, we pay our coaches (in all sports) peanuts, and while people like the dude down below think we play in an empty stadium every week we still fill a higher percentage of our seats than most schools. Like I said above, there were numerous reports (Chris Fowler and local newspaper guys) saying “the money was there” last year from boosters or whoever to pay Hawkins off last year. We’re getting 500k from coach Bzdelik for going to Wake Forest. We’re getting close to $2 mil from OSU next year (when you factor in the national TV money). Yeah, it won’t be popular with some people if Hawkins is fired (only for money issues) but if we tank again this year I don’t think we have a choice but to do it and it won’t bankrupt us.
Love the comment about throwing the ball 30 times last year.
The argument last year was about the pro-style offense vs. the spread. If you would have told me CU would fall behind early in games like Toledo and needed to throw the ball 60+ times try and catch up, I wouldn’t have made the statement about throwing 30 times a game. If you would have told me the Buffs would have lost Rodney Stewart for a period of time due to injury, Darrell Scott transferred and was injured, leaving us with little option for a running game, I wouldn’t have made that statement. All of that happened outside a change in offensive scheme that caused the Buffs to throw 30 times a game. If the Buffs were running the option and fell behind by 30 points to Toledo or lost their two starting running backs at different times in the year, pass attempts surely would have gone up as well.
Its not like the Buffs were 10 – 2 last year throwing the ball 30 times a game like a Texas Tech. That would have been a change in game plan, that would have been a change in the direction of the offense. Colorado was a poor football team that was playing from behind a lot and with injured running backs. The offensive line underperformed, it was a bad year but surely the scheme didn’t dictate that passing game.
Glad this is the last Buff preview you will have to write ever again.
The Ralphie Report - Covering the Colorado Buffaloes on SBNation - http://www.ralphiereport.com/
I wouldn't
count on that “ever again” thing, if there’s one (former) Big 12 team that I could see us playing again, it’d be Colorado.
I can tell you this – going forward, I can see myself already hating Iowa than I ever hated you sunsabitches.
Go Big Red Nebraska!
Our Cobs Are Bigger Than Yours!
Corn Nation!
Twitter!
cornnation@gmail.com
Revise History all you want...
…but the fact is that Cody Hawkins threw 19 passes in the FIRST half of that Toledo game, and 15 passes in the FIRST half of the Colorado State game. That’s a trendline that suggests passing stats at 30+ a game was always part of the CU game plan.
And all that was before Scott transferred or Stewart was injured…
yes, behind 20 - 3 in the first half to CSU and down 23 -3 to Toledo
Yes, again , shitty team, not a function of the offensive scheme but more the circumstances of being behind.
The Ralphie Report - Covering the Colorado Buffaloes on SBNation - http://www.ralphiereport.com/
So Hawk starts hitting the panic button that quickly?
6 points in 4 quarters of football had nothing to do with offensive scheme. Or did CU just decide to spot their opponents a 20 point lead at the opening kickoff.
Oh brother
This is the kind of crap us Colorado nebraskans have to put up with all the time. CU has no real fans they just like to hate. I mean just look at the screen names. Ever notice that most of ours are things like huskermic or bigredfan24 or something along those lines. What do we get fro CU fans? “nebraskasux”. Very original. Try supporting your team once in a while by actually showing up at games and cheering and u wouldn’t be in the financial trouble you’re in.
Maybe you should move back to Nebraska if your life is so miserable in Colorado
and you know exactly how much I support my team? Right.
Listen, I’ve been a member of this site way longer than you, I comment on things when I believe they are factually incorrect (like this preview and the “playing in Licoln for money” thing). I don’t come here to attack. Did I say anything negative about Nebraska in my post? Meanwhile you don’t comment on the actual article at all but make blanket attacks on a team’s fans and an entire state. Tell me, who’s the hater again?
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
SHOP THE CORN NATION STORE
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
