Monday Grab Bag: 1990 remembered in style

Well, that was one hell of a weekend. It's ended up with me sick at the office on Monday; C'est le vie. On to this weeks bag...

Buffs Beat Georgia: OK, fine, this team is sort of decent. Sure, Georgia is in the Football Gods doghouse (no pun intended), but that was an important win to both the program and the fan base. Folsom Field was in fine form Saturday night, and the team played up to both the situation and the atmosphere. It was a great game to be at from a fans perspective, and it was a great evening to be a Buff. CU is an impressive 3-1 heading into the traditional shellacking in Columbia, MO this weekend. But, for now at least, the team and the fan base can hold their heads high and forget about the Cal disaster.

(It was a great evening as we recognized the '90 team and whupped Georgia's ass (by 2). From: The BDC)

RUN THE FOOTBALL!: I even liked the play-calling Saturday Night(!); CU has turned the corner and has legitimately turned into a running football team, and I like it. Even when down 10 points in the 3rd quarter CU stuck to the run and ended the night with 235 yds and 3 touchdowns for their efforts. At altitude, especially against sea level teams, staying committed to running the football is the path to victory. The push from the O-line gets them into the game and tires out the D-line. Just look at the holes that emerged in the 3rd and 4th quarters; Georgia was exhausted, and CU took full advantage. Also of note: Rodney Stewart regained the #1 tailback role with his performance. He ended up with 149 yards on 19 carries (7.8 per rush!) and a gigantic 65 yard scramble to set up the Buffs comeback. While I was enthused to see B-Lock start the game with 9 straight carries, he just couldn't make it work for him, and only ended up with 2.2 yds per carry. While it probably helped that he was fresher later in the game, Rodney found more running room when it mattered, and was the better overall back on Saturday (even making a spectacular 3rd down catch to keep the chains moving).

(Rodney had it going on Saturday night. From: the BDC)

Defense: They are fun to watch. The defense stepped up when the team needed them to, and boy do I mean that. Right before the game clinching fumble recovery, I turned to my friends and said, this game is over. Georgia has an outstanding kicker (even if he missed an easy-ish field goal right before half), and to have the ball on the CU 27 with under 2 minutes to go should've been game over for CU. Instead, B.J Beatty comes off the edge like a man possessed and disrupts what looked to be a flea-flicker in the making (or else the slowest spin move of all time). Jon Major falls on the ball, and Folsom erupts. That effort combined with the 2 huge sacks by Josh Hartigan showed the Buffs to have a clutch defense.

(BJ Beatty and the rest of the defense were fired up, and played like it, Saturday night. From: the BDC)

I was also excited to see the play of Jimmy Smith. While Jalil Borwn had an off day (CU got real lucky with AJ Green missing chunks of the game with injuries; he was the real deal, and Georgia was a completely different team with him on the field), Jimmy began earning his future NFL paycheck by having a good night, even making a spectacular recovery effort to break up what should've been an easy TD pass. Which brings me to my last defensive point: Georgia QB Aaron Murray had a bad game. On that Jimmy Smith play, if Murray gets the ball out on time Smith has no chance to recover. On the 2 clutch sacks by Hartigan, he had poor pocket presence, and didn't feel the rush till too late. All-in-all he played like a freshman, and CU capitalized in key spots.

Cinching: Did we finally see results from all of that cinching? CU only had 3 penalties, and none of them mattered. One was a defensive hold that didn't really change the situation too much, and two were holds on a kick-return. Not a single penalty was committed by the offense (!). It was apparent that the offense had learned their lesson. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the special teams unit. Outside of the two holds they had a missed field goal, 148 return yards put up against them, and gave the defense a short field on numerous occasions. This a continued weak spot, and it's lucky that they didn't cost CU the game.

Hawks job not safe yet: Some pundits think that Hawks job is safe after yet another signature win at home. In the style of Lee Corso: NOT so fast my friend. Yes, going 3-1 in non-con play is nice, and that win against Georgia was spectacular, but there has been a "signature" home victory in each of Hawks years in Boulder. '06: Texas Tech, '07: Oklahoma, '08: West Virginia, '09: Kansas, and '10: Georgia. One victory does not a year, or a career make. Hawk still needs to find a road win, a program just simply cannot rely on home wins to sustain itself. Yes, the soft home schedule does set up nicely for a 6 or 7 win season, which would be cool, but is 7 or 6 wins really where we want to be? Sure it would be a start, but I still feel Hawk needs to go if we can't crack 8 wins this year; especially if we keep getting embarrassed on the road.

Side note: Why did we go for two after the 3rd touchdown. It was awesome to see the A-11 offensive set go to work, but it was a high risk/little reward situation. If we don't convert we're down 4 and a field goal is useless, with a 2 point deficit, the nature of the game doesn't significantly change, a field goal potentially wins rather than ties. While it didn't end up mattering, it was a weird decision at the time. I rationalized it as a momentum play: Hawk wanted to keep the energy and momentum going. But wouldn't a miss in that situation stunt momentum? Additionally, Hawk called up the A-11 on two other point afters, with each being stunted with reviews of the scores. This was obviously something the team wanted to show off, hell-or-high-water. It is fun to watch....

Rushing the Field: I've heard some rumblings about the students predilection to rush the field after seemingly any home win (at least we didn't rush against Hawaii). I have no problem with the students rushing the field. Sports commentary society takes itself too seriously; it's just kids having fun. Rush the field damnit; I don't care who we just beat.

(Doesn't that look like fun? From: the BDC)

Bears Stink: I commented over the past week that the Bears were an awful soft 3-0 team. With ugly home wins over Detroit and Green Bay, combined with a decent performance against Dallas, the Bears had yet to play "well" in victory. It finally caught up with them last night. Facing a tough road test in East Rutherford, NJ last night, the Bears allowed Jay Cutler to be sacked NINE TIMES in the first half alone, eventually sending him to the bench with a concussion. Woof. The Bears would go on to lose 17-3, and lose half of their bandwagon. I still like the Bears to be a one-and-done playoff team this year, but last night was plain awful.

(Principal Rooney thinks the Bears O-line sucks)

White Sox and Rox end season on outside of postseason: Finally,the portion of the baseball season that I genuinely care about (The one with either the Sox or Rox playing) ended Sunday afternoon. The Sox had long been finished with the competitive portion of their season, but the Rox stumbled to the finish line losing 13 of their last 14 games. It's always a sad end to a baseball season, but especially sad when you could've (should've) been better. While the Rox have a promising future (that Dan O'Dowd youth base is sure paying dividends) my Sox are running up against an age wall. Sunday was possibly the last game in southside pinstripes for heroes AJ Pierzynski and Paul Konerko, and a youth movement is probably (necessarily) on the horizon (especially if Kenny Williams doesn't return as GM).

(Hopefully Cap'n Paulie will be back next year. If not, it's been a great ride. From: the Trib)


Happy Monday!