Monday Grab Bag: What else is there to say?

If Air Force had been playing anyone other than CSU, I get the feeling that the State of Colorado would've gone 0-fer this weekend. It was a rough weekend all around; Superior Liquor was even out of Arrogant Bastard (Rico, you gotta talk to your supply people). Sigh... Onto the bag...

Buffs shut out again in Columbia, MO: Going into the game I knew CU would lose, but I thought we'd score, possibly even compete. Instead the team once again shit, ever so dolefully, down it's leg. In two true road games this year CU has been outscored 78-7, and the annual series with the Tigers ends with CU having been outscored 203-40 over the last 5 games. It's fucking disgusting and disheartening to be shutout yet again by Mizzou, but did it really surprise you? When the first Tiger punt landed at the 2 yard line I knew the Buffs were in for it. Honestly, 2 minutes into the game, I already knew what was going to happen; while the defense had stood strong, the special teams had fucked up twice and the offense already had that "just got prison raped" look on their face.

(Another CU road game, another picture that speaks to the state of CU football. From: TRR)

Defense doesn't deserve this: What's weird about CU having a 78-7 road game deficit this year is that the defense isn't anywhere near that bad. The entire CU defense (yes, even Mahnke) played well enough Saturday night to win. Missouri never looked comfortable on offense, and had to keep scheming to get around the looks Ron Collins was throwing at them (Even throwing a fake punt at the anemic special teams to keep a drive alive). The defense has been solid yet has been routinely screwed over by the offense. Ringo came up with 5 touchdowns scored against CU on the road this year which weren't really the defenses fault. That's 35 points that you can take off of the defensive roll. Subtract that idiotic safety that Tyler took Saturday night and the defense has really only given up 41 points in two games. Any Big XII offense should be able to score 20-ish points in a game, even on the road.

Hell, late in the second quarter the defense gave their offensive teammates the ball on the Tiger 13 yard line only to have the O lose 9 yards and the special teams have their field goal attempt blocked. That series was indicative of both the defensive efforts to keep the Buffs in the game, and the offensive and special teams futility in support.

Penalties, Turnovers, and Special Teams Disasters: The same trio of bad football calling cards was evident Saturday: The offense committed 8 penalties, threw a pick, gave up a moronic safety and gave it up on downs 3 times. The special teams gave up a big return to start the game, had a punt blocked, allowed punts inside the 5 yd line twice, missed one field goal, had another blocked, and gave up a crushing first down on a fake punt. About the only bright-side for either unit was Toney Clemmons emerging with a few nice returns, and Speedy proving yet again that he can function as a lone back. What was particularly discouraging was that after the impressive lack of offensive penalties in the Georgia game, the offense regressed. Not only were there 8 penalties for 66 yards, but one lead directly to a safety, 2 killed a potential game saving drive to start the 2nd half, and 3 more in the 4th quarter conspired to help keep CU off the board in garbage time. They were big penalties, drive killing penalties, which directly contributed not only to the loss, but the shutout as well.

Goodman is a whole other issue. We all know that Goodman can't cut it as a kicker on a BCS school. He's under .500 for his career and has only one make in four attempts this year. Even though Castor has his first attempt blocked, I was excited to see Goodman miss the field. It was about damn time that his ass found the bench; the team needed to cut their losses with his scholarship 2 years ago. Apparently, Hawk hadn't learned anything as he insisted after the game that Goodman would be back. Does Goodman have compromising pictures of Hawk? Why else would he get this many chances? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. By this point in his career Aric Goodman is a known quantity; this isn't a streak of bad luck or a mechanical flaw, this is who he is. To keep sending him out there and expecting a change is proof positive that Hawk has lost his mind.

(Here's a picture of some puppies to help get you through this depressing bag)

WHY THE HIGH-HOLY FUCK DID CODY SEE THE FIELD?!!: I have no rational thoughts on this situation. My id takes over my thought processes and I begin to twitch violently. Regardless of the situation, Cody's entrance into a game is an embodiment of everythig that is wrong with the Dan Hawkins regime. For the mental health of all involved, his ass needs to stay on the sideline.

(More puppies...)

Hawk here for rest of the season and possibly even more: I got a text Saturday night asking for a list of possible replacements for Hawk. While it's premature to think about this (we don't know how prime coaching candidates will finish their seasons), I did include a short list in a comment thread a while back and I think that it still applies today. In the end, I do not believe that Hawk will be fired any time soon regardless of how the team fares over the next few weeks; it would just be too disruptive to fire him mid season. The week before Nebraska is still about the earliest we could see a change. My primary concern is that the team stumbles to 7-5 with a win in Kansas, and the administration forces Bohn to keep him to keep costs down. Hawk needs to go; the Mizzou loss Saturday night is indicative of the direction of the program much more than the Georgia win.

DirecTV decides to show me worst games possible: One of my weekly joys is watching the RedZone channel that is included with my Sunday Ticket package. While the NFL isn't necessarily my favorite cup 'o tea, the RZ channel is a blast to watch. Unfortunately this Sunday they decided to spend the majority of the morning slate of games focused on the Tampa Bay/Cincinnati and Jacksonville/Buffalo games. While they were the closest contests at the moment, they were terrible football games to watch involving teams I care nothing about. While other games were blowouts, they at least had fantasy implications. Whoever was running the RZ channel should've recognized that no one wants to watch Tampa, the 'Nati, J-ville, or Buffalo play.

Twins swept; there is a God: In schadenfreude news: the Twins got swept by the Yankees over the weekend. This is typical of the Twins M.O.; they are a team that plays hard no matter what time of the year it is, so they have nothing left to give once October rolls around. While that attitude may be endearing to fans, and win them an extra 5 games during the season, come playoff time, talented teams who generally coast for most of the season (Yankees, etc.) will take their lunch money. Some people cheer on their division rivals once their favorite team is eliminated, but that's just not me. The hatred I carry for Twins baseball just cannot be stymied once October rolls around, division affiliation be damned. I want to see them lose, regardless of the situation. I will never understand people who go from cheering against a team one moment, to cheering for a team the next.

Happy Monday!