BOULDER — For the second straight week, the Colorado Buffaloes will be catching a team whose offense snapped out of a slump the previous week and put up big numbers.
A week ago, it was Arizona State. This week, it’s the 4-2 Arizona Wildcats, who ended a two-game drought last weekend with a 44-7 win over Oregon State.
Here’s what the 3-3 Buffs will need to do to stop the Wildcats in Saturday game at Folsom Field (7 p.m., Fox Sports 1) and end a 13-game Pac-12 winless stretch:
Contain Solomon. The Wildcats have a powerful running game, but their offensive success revolves around quarterback Anu Solomon, whose run-pass option skills are terrific. The UA sophomore completed 17 of 30 passes last week for 276 yards and did not throw an interception.
Solomon has great feet and the scrambling ability to keep plays alive, and thus can lure a defense out of position. The Buffs’ pass rush can’t allow Solomon to escape to the outside and the interior has to maintain its gaps. In the secondary, CU’s pass defenders have to be disciplined and not let Solomon pull them out of coverage.
Made Wildcats work for scores. Of Arizona’s 32 touchdown drives this season, 17 have lasted two minutes or less, and the ‘Cats have 42 plays of 20 yards or longer.
That’s been a bugaboo for the Buffs. CU has given up 15 plays of 30 yards or longer this season; and in the Buffs’ three losses this year, opponents have seven scoring plays of 25 yards or more. If the Buffs can limit the big plays and make Arizona put together sustained drives for its scores, it will be a game they can win.
Turnovers/takeaways. Some simple statistics: The Buffs are 3-0 when quarterback Sefo Liufau does not throw an interception and they’re 0-3 when he throws one. Arizona is 4-0 when forcing at least one turnover and 0-2 when not forcing any. And, when the Buffs win the turnover/takeaway battle, they are 3-0.
The Wildcats have been solid with their ball security. They’ve lost just four fumbles this year, Solomon hasn’t thrown an interception in 145 attempts and backup QB Jerrard Randall has just one.
It means takeaways won’t come easily for the Buffs — but if they’re going to take this one into the fourth quarter with a chance to win, they’ll have to figure out a way to pry the ball out of the Wildcats’ hands at least a couple of times.
Running game. This goes both ways. The Wildcats have an extremely capable back in Nick Wilson, who has rushed for 683 yards and eight touchdowns this year. Wilson has six rushes of 20 yards or longer and is averaging almost 6 yards per carry. If the Buffs don’t keep Wilson in check and complete the tackle on first contact, it will be a long night.
CU, meanwhile, has to establish a consistent ground game, and it should be better this week with tackle Sam Kronshage back in the lineup. Arizona’s run defense hasn’t been great. The Wildcats have given up an average of 185.7 yards per game, and yielded 213 to UCLA and 314 to Stanford in back-to-back losses. With Arizona linebacker Scooby Wright still out, the Buffs need to establish a rhythm with Phillip Lindsay, Christian Powell and Patrick Carr.
Pass protection. The Buffs have given up 13 quarterback sacks in the last two games. While Liufau has missed his share of open receivers, more than a few of his throws have been off target because he’s been hit just as he released the ball.
This is also where a consistent run game comes into play. If the Wildcats have to respect the running game, they can’t simply tee off on Liufau every down.
Liufau did complete a couple of long balls last week, including a 68-yard touchdown pass to Devin Ross. He's also looked sharp in practice this week. If he gets some protection and improves his short game — particularly to his tight end — he could have a big game against the Wildcats.
This game to me says everything about this season. We come out and dominate, then you feel like the excuses for why we lost to UCLA and Stanford were justified and we still have a shot for 8+ wins. We play them close but win, then you feel like WSU is a must win as we will be underdogs in every game past that one and we pretty much know it is a low end bowl year.
We lose, well about 38,000 fans show up for the homecoming game against WSU and that becomes the biggest game of Rich Rod's career as it becomes the epitome of must win. However most fans write the season off and move on to basketball season.
I think we win. Big if Nick Wilson plays (45-20), closer but still a win if he doesn't (31-28). Maybe I put too much stock into Nick Wilson, I think Rich rod could even turn me into a good RB based on his track record.
2004 First Team All American Football Poster as voted on by GOAZCATS
Because that worked so well for the basketball team.
What is with this university? Basketball and now football teams guaranteeing victories, student section acting like they're a prestigious school... it's sad how badly they want to be relevant.
“The reality is that the hardest games to win are over teams on their home court. Teams that don’t play those games can spin it however they want, but what they’re saying is, ‘We don’t want to lose in our non conference season.’" - Sean Miller
Of the 12 coaches, Rush picked the one whose fans have the deepest passion, the longest memories, the greatest lung capacity and … did I mention deep passion?
The Colorado Buffaloes started the week Sunday with a players-only team meeting.
They hope to finish the week Saturday with a win over the visiting Arizona Wildcats (7 p.m., Fox Sports 1).
Players-only meetings are seldom held when things are going well, and the Buffs’ Sunday get-together was no exception. Coming in the wake of a disappointing 48-23 loss to Arizona State, the meeting was a forum for the Buffs to clear the air and make sure the locker room attitude wasn’t ready to head south.
Early reaction was positive. Defensive end Derek McCartney said some of the things said “got some guys fired up.” Quarterback Sefo Liufau said the Buffs “came out with a better feeling and better understanding of what needs to be done.”
But the proof, as they say, will be in the pudding — or more specifically, the performance, as the Buffs take aim at ending a current two-game losing streak and a 13-game Pac-12 skid that stretches back to late in the 2013 season.
Newportcat wrote:This game to me says everything about this season. We come out and dominate, then you feel like the excuses for why we lost to UCLA and Stanford were justified and we still have a shot for 8+ wins. We play them close but win, then you feel like WSU is a must win as we will be underdogs in every game past that one and we pretty much know it is a low end bowl year.
We lose, well about 38,000 fans show up for the homecoming game against WSU and that becomes the biggest game of Rich Rod's career as it becomes the epitome of must win. However most fans write the season off and move on to basketball season.
I think we win. Big if Nick Wilson plays (45-20), closer but still a win if he doesn't (31-28). Maybe I put too much stock into Nick Wilson, I think Rich rod could even turn me into a good RB based on his track record.
I would say my prediction was fairly accurate. Close game but we had enough offense to win and Rich Rod deserves a lot of credit sticking Randall in there. Defense showed up at the end too, well not that last drive giving up the TD and 4th and 15
2004 First Team All American Football Poster as voted on by GOAZCATS
Newportcat wrote:This game to me says everything about this season. We come out and dominate, then you feel like the excuses for why we lost to UCLA and Stanford were justified and we still have a shot for 8+ wins. We play them close but win, then you feel like WSU is a must win as we will be underdogs in every game past that one and we pretty much know it is a low end bowl year.
We lose, well about 38,000 fans show up for the homecoming game against WSU and that becomes the biggest game of Rich Rod's career as it becomes the epitome of must win. However most fans write the season off and move on to basketball season.
I think we win. Big if Nick Wilson plays (45-20), closer but still a win if he doesn't (31-28). Maybe I put too much stock into Nick Wilson, I think Rich rod could even turn me into a good RB based on his track record.
I would say my prediction was fairly accurate. Close game but we had enough offense to win and Rich Rod deserves a lot of credit sticking Randall in there. Defense showed up at the end too, well not that last drive giving up the TD and 4th and 15
Very accurate, and I would have liked to have seen Bradford get a few series in there. Dude can pound the rock a little harder than Baker, just obviously not as fast. Big props to Baker though, he played his ass off.
Also with our RBs newport, you stand no chance of making the team
RichRod put a win together out of duct tape and baling wire. Sometimes that's how you have to do it. He had a lot of options available and he went and used them to great effect.
Solomon just didn't look right after the first couple of series. The run game suffers if he's not a running threat, as we saw last year when he had the foot injury. RichRod alluded to both of these things in the post game comments. Colorado picked up on him not looking to keep the ball, and was able to lay the secondary back and keep the receivers blanketed very well. That's why Randall was the game changer. With Solomon not running it was basically 11 on 10, but when Randall came in it was 11 on 11. Randall broke off some runs, and Colorado got so preoccupied with stopping him that they lost sight of containing Baker. Randall made a couple of throws and that got the secondary thinking they had to stay on the receivers instead of selling out on the run - ballgame.
Solomon said before the Oregon State game that he doesn't remember anything about the night of the UCLA game. He may be a little gun shy out there; he didn't see some open guys. It didn't help that Grant dropped a touchdown that was dropped right in the breadbasket. I typically tend to believe that if you have two quarterbacks you don't have one, except in certain unusual situations. This is one of those situations. Mix-and-match might be a good strategy for the next week or two.
On, and in my opinion, Randall made a legitimate case for Pac-12 player of the week.
You are totally right in that when randall made a couple of those throws (the guy has a cannon by the way) it really opened things up for us. That was the ballgame.
If randall could be more accurate, he is the perfect QB for Rich Rod's system as he can run so well and I think usually makes the right read on the read option plays. I commend the coaches for going to him in that critical moment of the game. No doubt Rich Rod knows how to work an Offense. And honestly, our defense stepped up at times last night thought that last drive sucked, 4th and 15th, really.
Special Teams..well not so special
2004 First Team All American Football Poster as voted on by GOAZCATS
not sure if anything will change at this point, but hasn't randall been taking reps at RB and WR during practice? would be fun if there were packages that capitalized on anu's knowledge of the offense and randall's motor at the same time (sort of like how ucla utilizes devin fuller sometimes), esp if nick is banged up and essentially a concussion away from a very serious discussion about his playing career. maybe we'll see this down the stretch, but not holding my breath, as i'm sure the coaching staff was a lot more meat-n-potatoes challenges to work on right now. and i'm guessing RR will want to play it safe with his QB2's health.
Good read. This says it all as far as I'm concerned: But there's nothing in the playbook that says you have to look good while winning. Just win baby!!
What was the deal with Bradshaw not playing and McCall getting limited minutes? Are they hurt as well
Waiting at the Rose Bowl patiently for the cats to arrive
"I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more wildcat sports"
2019 BDW Survivor Pool Champion
McCall was dinged up to start the year, so I wonder if he's 100% now. Also wonder if RR isn't keeping some of the guys a little fresh for later in the season. If McCall isn't full speed, you might not want to play him too much the week before you go up against Leach's air show.
