Changes coming for Buffs’ defense
By Patrick Ridgell
© 2009 Longmont Times-Call
BOULDER — There’s going to be something new, something different, about the Colorado Buffaloes’ defense in 2009.
They just won’t yet divulge what it’ll be.
“We expected a lot from our defense last year, and obviously, we didn’t show up,” linebacker Michael Sipili said. “We love this new defense right now. This new defense we got is real simple, real easy.”
What’s new about the defense?
“Just how everybody is there to stop the run,” Sipili said. “I don’t want to say too much about it.”
Sipili might have said enough. A year after the Buffaloes fell to ninth in the Big 12 with a run defense that allowed teams to average 4.4 yards a carry and 166.2 per game, changes are expected. Especially for a program and coaching staff seeking a winning season for the first time in four seasons. CU opens 2009 Sunday at home against Colorado State. (5 p.m., FSN).
One change appears to be the team’s mindset. The Buffs have stressed stopping the run for years. But they haven’t allowed a team to average more than 4.4 yards a carry over a season since 1999, when they gave up 4.5 per carry.
Meanwhile, the Buffs gave up the fewest passing yards in the Big 12 last year, 215.3 per game, and ranked fifth in the conference in pass efficiency defense.
Are those numbers confusing? Not to fourth-year defensive coordinator Ron Collins. He dismisses the disparity in rankings between rushing and passing yards, saying it simply means opponents “could run the ball and run the clock, and we were in no position to do anything about it.”
Collins added that many of those rush yards came late in the season when the Buffs trailed late in games. A good example: Oklahoma State ran for 226 yards on CU during its win in Boulder in November. The Cowboys never trailed that night.
Collins added that the responsibility isn’t the defense’s alone. The offense and special teams must help put the defense in spots to succeed, he said.
But some players suggest last year’s emphasis was on stopping the pass in a pass-happy league, and that won’t be the case in 2009.
“I think each year, your defense, your team, is going to have certain aspects of a game they’re trying to stop,” linebacker Marcus Burton said. “Last year, it was the pass for us. It was evident.
“I think this year, we’re going back to hard-nosed football and playing the run.”
Added Sipili: “We’re not too worried about the passing game on the defensive side of the ball. Right now, our main goal is to stop the run.”
Even Collins is fairly clear.
“We have to get down to where we can stop the run and force teams to throw the ball,” Collins said. “That’s our deal.”
If that is the case — if the Buffs are bound and determined to stop the run once again — it could simply mean devoting more defenders to the effort. If so, that’ll put a lot of pressure on the secondary, especially the corners, to defend the pass against Big 12 quarterbacks. CU faces three of the best in 2009 in Texas’ Colt McCoy, Oklahoma State’s Zac Robinson and Kansas’ Todd Reesing.
Obviously, that’ll require lots of confidence in the secondary. Coaches believe the secondary is strong.
“Does it make us nervous? No,” cornerback Ben Burney said. “We have schemes, and we have stuff in where the safeties do things. We’re really comfortable with it.
“When we go out there, it’s about playing the game. If the run is the emphasis on first and second down, then always on third down, you have to stop the pass. That’s a matter of making sure the offense doesn’t get as much on first and second down, so we can do more on third downs.”
CU coaches aren’t going to reveal schemes. They just say they won’t be easy to figure out.
“We’ll be a wide variety of things,” secondary coach Greg Brown said. “We never want to have it where somebody’s going to be able to pin us down as to what we’re doing.
“We feel good about the path we’re on. We think we’re on the right track, and we’re building team chemistry and defensive unity. We feel like we’re going to be OK.”
Guys, this is from SoonerBS website. And I'm of the same opinion that the Buffs are going to be very intent of stopping the CSU run game and make the new QB beat them passing. As of last week their coach was still undecided who he even wanted to start. There are 3 QB's scrambling for the job. Including a coverted WR. I'm about 99% sure that whoever they put back there to start isn't going to beat the Buffs passing the ball. I'm seriously thinking about upping my bet on this game. At -10 I think it's the best number left on the board.
By Patrick Ridgell
© 2009 Longmont Times-Call
BOULDER — There’s going to be something new, something different, about the Colorado Buffaloes’ defense in 2009.
They just won’t yet divulge what it’ll be.
“We expected a lot from our defense last year, and obviously, we didn’t show up,” linebacker Michael Sipili said. “We love this new defense right now. This new defense we got is real simple, real easy.”
What’s new about the defense?
“Just how everybody is there to stop the run,” Sipili said. “I don’t want to say too much about it.”
Sipili might have said enough. A year after the Buffaloes fell to ninth in the Big 12 with a run defense that allowed teams to average 4.4 yards a carry and 166.2 per game, changes are expected. Especially for a program and coaching staff seeking a winning season for the first time in four seasons. CU opens 2009 Sunday at home against Colorado State. (5 p.m., FSN).
One change appears to be the team’s mindset. The Buffs have stressed stopping the run for years. But they haven’t allowed a team to average more than 4.4 yards a carry over a season since 1999, when they gave up 4.5 per carry.
Meanwhile, the Buffs gave up the fewest passing yards in the Big 12 last year, 215.3 per game, and ranked fifth in the conference in pass efficiency defense.
Are those numbers confusing? Not to fourth-year defensive coordinator Ron Collins. He dismisses the disparity in rankings between rushing and passing yards, saying it simply means opponents “could run the ball and run the clock, and we were in no position to do anything about it.”
Collins added that many of those rush yards came late in the season when the Buffs trailed late in games. A good example: Oklahoma State ran for 226 yards on CU during its win in Boulder in November. The Cowboys never trailed that night.
Collins added that the responsibility isn’t the defense’s alone. The offense and special teams must help put the defense in spots to succeed, he said.
But some players suggest last year’s emphasis was on stopping the pass in a pass-happy league, and that won’t be the case in 2009.
“I think each year, your defense, your team, is going to have certain aspects of a game they’re trying to stop,” linebacker Marcus Burton said. “Last year, it was the pass for us. It was evident.
“I think this year, we’re going back to hard-nosed football and playing the run.”
Added Sipili: “We’re not too worried about the passing game on the defensive side of the ball. Right now, our main goal is to stop the run.”
Even Collins is fairly clear.
“We have to get down to where we can stop the run and force teams to throw the ball,” Collins said. “That’s our deal.”
If that is the case — if the Buffs are bound and determined to stop the run once again — it could simply mean devoting more defenders to the effort. If so, that’ll put a lot of pressure on the secondary, especially the corners, to defend the pass against Big 12 quarterbacks. CU faces three of the best in 2009 in Texas’ Colt McCoy, Oklahoma State’s Zac Robinson and Kansas’ Todd Reesing.
Obviously, that’ll require lots of confidence in the secondary. Coaches believe the secondary is strong.
“Does it make us nervous? No,” cornerback Ben Burney said. “We have schemes, and we have stuff in where the safeties do things. We’re really comfortable with it.
“When we go out there, it’s about playing the game. If the run is the emphasis on first and second down, then always on third down, you have to stop the pass. That’s a matter of making sure the offense doesn’t get as much on first and second down, so we can do more on third downs.”
CU coaches aren’t going to reveal schemes. They just say they won’t be easy to figure out.
“We’ll be a wide variety of things,” secondary coach Greg Brown said. “We never want to have it where somebody’s going to be able to pin us down as to what we’re doing.
“We feel good about the path we’re on. We think we’re on the right track, and we’re building team chemistry and defensive unity. We feel like we’re going to be OK.”
Guys, this is from SoonerBS website. And I'm of the same opinion that the Buffs are going to be very intent of stopping the CSU run game and make the new QB beat them passing. As of last week their coach was still undecided who he even wanted to start. There are 3 QB's scrambling for the job. Including a coverted WR. I'm about 99% sure that whoever they put back there to start isn't going to beat the Buffs passing the ball. I'm seriously thinking about upping my bet on this game. At -10 I think it's the best number left on the board.
