Win over KSU - Another impressive win is in the bag for Interim Head Coach Brian Cabral. CU racked up 476 yards of offense, Speedy nearly cracked 200, Scotty grabbed the TD record, Cody had another near-perfect day, and the defense did just enough to win as the Buffs soared to a 44-36 win in the last Big-12 game ever to be played in Folsom Field. The Buffs essentially spotted KSU 14 points through some awful special teams play early in the game, but the team never let their heads sag and scored 27 unanswered points to take control of the game. Senior day went off without a hitch, and the fans even gave a great cheer when Cody was introduced. A great way to send off a great set of Buffs.
(The family Hawkins on senior day; Cody would eventually win the well-deserved Buffalo Heart award. From: The BDC)
I was a little concerned that KSU backup QB Carson Coffman was able to come in and spell the injured starter by throwing for 270 yards in limited action, but KSU was behind for most of the game, and they threw on almost every down of the second half. While Coffman's effectiveness may have been unnerving, KSU's star RB Daniel Thomas' ineptitude running the football made me very happy. He only grabbed 58 yards (season low) and had a very costly fumble. It's the second straight running back that we've held to a season-low in yardage. The Buffs defense added another 6 sacks, and generally looked strong except on 3rd/4th and long, where they gave up a few back-breakers. Considering how strong they were on 1st and 2nd downs, there should be no problem shoring that area up for Friday's game against the hated corn.
(The Buffs D has gotten back to hitting. From: The BDC)
Speedy fills up the stat sheet - Speedy did everything Saturday. 267 total yards; 195 rushing (with two scores), 49 receiving, and even 23 passing on a sweet HB option pass to Toney Clemons early in the second quarter. Stewart is quickly becoming the Buffs workhorse as he grabbed 37 touches out of the 70 offensive plays that the Buffs called. While he did fumble 3 times, they were all quickly recovered by CU with no harm done. Speedy is quickly proving that, if he holds onto the ball, he can be one of the best backs in the country.
(Speedy's been a beast the last 2 games. From: The BDC)
Coaching buzz - The big news over the weekend was that former Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti withdrew his name from the search. I absolutely expected this as I've said many times that Bellotti never seemed all that interested or drawn in by the job. As a candidate I was never all that enthused anyway since, while he made great leaps in building the U of O program, they got better after he left, and he made most of those strides with Phil Knight's (Nike) blank checks being cashed all over the place.
On the brighter side of coaching; word is we are actively talking to Les Miles. Yes, that Les Miles. If Les is interested, this could be the greatest coaching coups in quite a while. If he's seriously interested, we need to get this party started, and start honestly talking with him. If not, let's move on to more viable candidates. He should know our financial ceiling, and if that's problem for him, he can't string us along for shits sake; hopefully Les is an honest broker, cause, while Bienemy was the top of my list last week, Les is my A-#1 choice if he'd come..
Cabral - Speaking of the coaching search, Brian Cabral has got to be on our shortlist at the end of all of this. Whatever his dark Hawaiian voodoo is, it's working wonders fast. It's obvious that he's focused the team on playing strong, fundamental football with a lot of passion and energy. The team seems to be playing free and easy, and as a result is playing extremely efficient football. In the two games that he's coached Speedy has 76 touches out of 139 total offensive plays, Cody hasn't thrown a pick, and the defense has racked up 14 sacks and 3 fumble recoveries. Those are areas that had been lacking under Hawk. We've also avoided randomly chasing points by needlessly going for it on 4th down or going for 2 when it's not essential. We're playing basic football; sometimes coaches make the game too complicated, and it seems that Coach Cabral is trying his best to avoid that. I really like the way the team is playing under Coach Cabral, and, in turn, we owe it to him to seriously consider him for the job. I'm still not sold that handing someone the reins after a successful interim stint wouldn't be a possibly disastrous knee jerk reaction, but the man deserves a good look.
(At the very least, he should be our DC next year. From: the BDC)
Hate week - I thought this would be the case, but CU opened as a 24 point underdog to the hated corn. LOL, they must have pre-set that line 4 weeks ago when Hawk was still entrenched in Dal Ward. Word to the betting community; this isn't the same CU team. While we're on the subject, Nebraska isn't the same as they were a few weeks back, either. Did you see the game Saturday night? Their offense blows ass. This isn't the same offense that was lighting up the nation earlier, and the team seems ready for a season-crushing home loss. If South Dakota State, Iowa State, even 2010 shitty Texas can make this team blink, then CU can bitch-slap them to close out the modern rivalry.
In his post KSU-game comments to KOA, Coach Cabral closed by saying "we're going to war" this week against the corn. Damn fucking straight! This is for blood, this is for multiple years of bragging rights; this is for Sal, and Coach Mac, and Coach Barnett, and Scooter Bienemy. Chis Brown, Darian Hagan, Brandon Drumm and Brian Calhoun are looking over proudly at this CU team as we go to war against the hated corn this week. I'll even be there to make sure those fucking people know we hate them one last time. The game even means something for each team as a 6th win makes CU bowl eligible, and Nebraska needs a win to clinch the Big XII North. This shit is fucking on.
Taylor Martinez kinda, sorta quit; but not really - For a few hours Sunday afternoon, it appeared that Nebraska QB Taylor Martinez quit the team after getting raked over the coals by hayseed-coach Bo Pelini on national TV for texting in the locker room. It's now apparent that Martinez didn't quit, but missed/skipped practice Sunday, and that led to the rumors that exploded all over the interwebs yesterday afternoon. Here's my question, if Martinez skipped practice, is Bo going to let him play Friday? That certainly wouldn't fit his M.O. as a tough-headed firebrand of a head coach. Anyways, love to see the Huskers implode like this, maybe we can touch match to powder and ruin them for the future by handing them an embarrassing loss Friday.
(Pelini's a fucking hick. Get that shit under control freak!)
Basketball clusterfuck - The men's basketball team fell to a troubling 1-2 start after losing to the USF Dons in overtime 83-81 Saturday night. The loss was sealed after the refs penalized the Buffs for a phantom timeout. After USF scored the game tying basket, the refs conferred and awarded the Dons a technical foul because they claimed someone on Colorado had called for a TO the Buffs didn't have. The Buffs still deny either verbally or physically signaling for a TO. USF hit the resulting free throws, and the Buffs missed their desperate attempt at the final buzzer. My Northern California corespondent tells me there was still one TO showing on the scoreboard when the phantom timeout was called, meaning that even if CU had signaled for a TO, they would've had reason to think they had one. (He also referred to the USF gym as amateur-ish, and mentioned the whole operation was crap.) Regardless, it's a tough and damaging loss for a team that needs all the wins it can get in non-conference to make the Tourney. At this rate, the Buffs had better damn near sweep the rest of non-con play if they hope to make it to the dance.
Happy Monday!
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