CU: Areas for Improvement
Disappointment.
That was the overall feel from the game this past Saturday against Hawaii. The good felling and anticipation quickly turned into “here we go again” as the Buffs fell behind 17-0 at the half.
Although they did get within 24-17 seconds into the 4th quarter, the offense did not perform to its full potential.
Looking critically at this football game, there is definite room for improvement in multiple areas.
The first, and most glaring weakness that needs to be fixed before the Cal game, is the offensive line. They gave up 7 sacks and had a net total of 73 yards rushing. It also did not help that starting offensive tackle David Bakhtiari suffered a knee injury in the first half and was out the rest of the game. Nonetheless, 73 net yards of rushing is not acceptable for a run-first offense like CU’s. If they can get the O-line shored up for the Cal game they will have a chance. (Look for Bakhtiari’s replacement, Ryan Dannewitz to start against Cal. Bakhtiari is still day-to-day with a sprained right knee but hasn’t been completely ruled out for Saturday’s game.
The second area that needs improvement is quarterback play. Senior Tyler Hansen, who was the most consistent player in fall camp, did not have a good first half and it started with the first snap. Hansen fumbled the opening play and it set the tone for the rest of the half. The seven sacks given up were not all the offensive lines fault. Jon Embree was quoted as saying that some of the sacks were also Hansen’s fault due to a misread or holding onto the ball too long. In the second half Hansen made adjustments and threw for two scores but it was too little too late. If he is able to carry the momentum from the 2nd half into this weekends game CU’s offense will be a lot more effective.
Going into this weekend’s game against Pac-12 foe Cal, the Buffs are looking to redeem themselves. Not only from the Hawaii loss but the debacle that was last years 52-7 loss in Berkley. First things first, they need to get better in these two areas to even have a fighting chance.
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