Monday Grab Bag: Breaking News! Buffs to hire Long-thought-to-be-dead Vince Lombardi at 3pm News Conference!

Over the Thanksgiving Break the Buffs went on the road and got horse-whipped by a team wearing red; the primary culprit was a piss-poor defense, however turnovers also helped lead to the crushing loss.  I'm not talking about the football team, I'm of course talking about the basketball team's shit-tacular effort in Boston yesterday morning.  That story, and more, as I dive into this week's grab bag....

Nebraska Loss - As the song goes "there is no place like Nebraska."  Thank God, cause I don't know if I could stand another joint like that one.  I have some pictures from my final trip to Lincoln (oooo, travel pictures!), but suffice to say any good times to be had were squashed by the team's let-down performance Friday Afternoon.  The Buffs wound up losing by 28 points, which can easily be attributed to 3 costly turnovers and a questionable onside kick which led directly to Husker scores.  All-in-all, CU never got going, and the Husker offense just pounded the Buff D into the ground.  When your offense only has the ball for 9 minutes in the first half, there's eventually going to be some defensive issues, and, while the unit played admirably, they looked tired and over matched all game long.  This loss kills any Cabral-for-coach plans, and ends the Buffs season and Big XII career on a low note.

Quickly on my trip: it wasn't all that bad.  The Husker fans were actually kind of nice this time.  Everywhere I went people would shout "Fuck the Big XII" and "Fuck Texas."  No animosity was thrown my way, and I even got some free beverages out of the thing.  Sure, Husker ugliness is usually reserved for when they lose, but the friends we met up with actually directed us to a pretty decent time.  Now if only it wasn't in Lincoln....

Pictures! - I admittedly suck at taking pictures, but it is what it is.  I've selected 5 pictures from the 5 I took during the trip; enjoy!

This is the view from my hotel room.  Awww, but I paid for ocean view!

A happy pregame tailgate moment

The precipitous drop from my seats. It was a full 4 or 5 stories straight down.  I'm surprised no one has died during a windy game before. 

The sun was in my eyes for most of the game, so this is the best crowd shot I could take prior to halftime.  THAS A LOTTA RED!

After the sun went down, Cody started throwing tipped interceptions, and all was lost.

The stadium had some lame fireworks display post game for the end of the Big XII era, or some such crap, but it wasn't worth my time to capture.  You may be asking yourself "Where's the picture of the traditional border crossing bathroom break?"  Well, for one, it was reaaaallllly cold when we crossed, and two, do you really want a picture of me pissing on a sign?  Other than that, when we got back to the hotel the others went swimming and I went to sleep because I'm old and lame; and so thus ends the pictography.

Coaching Rumblings - If you are following the search as closely as I am, you may have been slightly concerned when the inter-tubes lit up with the bogus news that Ole Miss Coach Houston Nutt was going to be announced as the new Buffs head coach at a 3pm news conference today.  The rumor was started by some random website who couldn't even get Coach Mac's name right.  A whole bunch of people freaked out, assuming the worst.  It was bullshit, and all is back to normal.  It's not going to move that fast; we'll know when the guy is selected, and it won't be some random SEC blog breaking the news to us.  Hell, half the viable candidates haven't even been interviewed yet.  If it aint from a Colorado based source, I'm not putting to much stock in the information.

On that front, Bohn took the opportunity the Vikings/Redskins game provided to interview two of the leading "family" candidates.  Eric Bienemy and John Embree both got looks over the weekend, and certainly Bienemy is on the short list.  I've also heard Air Force Coach Troy Calhoun's name a lot, although I haven't talked to many fans who would want him as their top choice.

Basketball team loses to the smaht kids from Hahvahd - Sigh.... for the first time ever the Harvard Crimson have defeated a Big XII basketball team, and of course it was the CU Buffaloes.  The Buffs continued to stumble out of the gate, losing their 3rd road game in as many tries.  I listened to exactly 3 minutes of the first half before realizing what was going to happen and falling back asleep.  The same poor team defense that was present last season continues to plague the team this year, the difference is that the stellar offensive efficiency seen under the Bzdelik Hyper-Princeton offense is missing.  CU shot only 34.5% from the floor and had only 5 assists on 19 made baskets.  CU even managed to be out-rebounded by the small conference Harvard team.  Alec Burks was non existent in the first half, and the team struggled all second half to remain within 20 of the Ivy League Crimson.  In all reality any hopes of the NCAA Tournament have been flushed, and the team can only hope to make the NIT now.  The season's been a massive disappointment so far, and it's become clear that the dramatic change from Princeton-style to traditional offense is having a profound affect on this team.

TCU joining Big East - About that MWC move Boise St... it's not looking so good.  TCU has just announced planes to jump to the Big East of all places for the 2012 football season.  The move will be for all sports.  As of then the "new" Mountain West will be Boise St plus the left overs of the old MWC and the WAC; all the marquee names have jumped ship.  Imagine if the Utahs, TCU, and BSU had joined forces with Nevada, Fresno St, Hawaii, and Air Force.  That'd be a hell of an 8 team conference, probably even worthy of a BCS bid.  Instead, the powers all went their separate ways, leaving Boise holding the bag of shit at the end.  Let's all give Boise St the ole' sad trombone for effort!

Peyton Hillis - On the brighter side of life, I'd like to take a moment to trumpet the accomplishments of my man Peyton Hillis.  The bruising runningback we're apparently calling "the dumptruck," was plucked off the Josh McDaniels scrap heap (one man's trash is another's treasure) and is now diamonds in the hands of the Cleveland Browns (and my fantasy team).  Dude had another 3 touchdowns Sunday, and is reminding everyone of Mike Alstott.  Best fantasy pick-up ever!

 

(Your running back is now DIAMONDS!)

Josh McDaniels - Speaking of Josh McDaniels; it's probably not the best time to be giving your owner a convenient excuse to shit-can your ass.  As the Broncos continue to be consistently inconsistent, the revelation comes out that a member of McD's staff went and taped a 49ers practice in London.  After 15 loses in 20 games, you can't let something like that happen.  While I'll buy that Josh had nothing to do with it, and that his apologies were genuine, it's not a good time to be giving your detractors ammunition.  With Hawk gone, the Colorado sports constituency needs fresh blood, and it looks like J-Mac's going to give it to them.

Happy Monday!

Monday Grab Bag: A whole lot of puppy pictures

I have seen CU play Baylor in football 4 times (3 times here and once in Waco). In those 4 games CU is 1-3. Sigh...

(Just think of the puppies and the pain of losing to Baylor slips away...)

Before I get started with the bag, I have to make an apology to Buff Nation; unbeknownst to essentially everyone else, I traded a Buff loss to the Football Gods for a UT win over the Huskers. I still think it was a good trade; Nebraska loses their shot at a national title, we were headed for a rough season anyway, and there's no way that Hawk recovers from this to save his job. Additionally, there's this guy:

"We're going to the Texas game because losing to Texas last year almost killed me physically, and emotionally. And so we're going to go and see the vengence that we so deserve. And so we basically are not paying any of our bills this month, and we are going to use all of our money to buy 3 different flights ..."

I wanted him to suffer the pain of having wasted his money, his time, and possibly his house on a crushing home defeat to an average Texas team. If you're unhappy with that deal, the best I can say is I'm sorry; I did what I thought was best in the long term interests of Buff fans everywhere.

On with the bag...

CU loses to Baylor... Hawk solidifies future unemployment status - All joking aside, while Baylor is better than they have been in past years, there is no reason that we should be losing to them at home. Hawk's tenure as CU head football coach, for all intents and purposes, ended Saturday night. Once again, CU found itself down 10 points at home in the 2nd half, however, unlike the previous 2 games, a comeback wasn't in the works. The season isn't over (though I'm really starting to like my 4-8 pre-season pick), but unless the team reels off 5 or 6 wins the rest of the way, I don't think there is any chance that Hawk is retained going into next year, regardless of the political and economic realities of the University as a whole.

Playcalling weirdness - I was as confused as anyone else that we went for 2 after the first touchdown. While I was less surprised the second time around, I remained perplexed over the idiocy of going for 2 twice (!) in the first half. This after we tried to go for 2 three times in the Georgia game (converting 1, and having play-reviews kill the opportunity for 2 others). I guess my question is; does Hawk even care anymore, or is he just trying to dick over as many CU fans as possible on his way out the door...

(I just can't feel sadness looking at that face)

On the final drive, I was upset that we didn't take a more vertical approach to moving the ball down the field. In his post game comments, Hawk talked about 10 yard chunks, but on the final drive, the Buffs had 5 plays go for 6 or fewer yards. All I was looking for was 15 yard passes up-field. You don't have to heave the ball; just don't throw it to the TE in the flat on 8 straight plays! A prevent defense does two things well; It stops the long ball, and keeps short stuff from breaking. The weakness is intermediate passes over the middle of the field. With just under 2 minutes left, passes over the middle for first downs would've been just fine. I was initially flustered over the final play-call, but, in retrospect, a jump-ball to Clemmons is acceptable since he was the best athlete on the field at the time; while I would've liked a more aggressive pass-route combination, I'll give it a pass.

(That's how close CU was to overtime... or a win had we not left two points on the board. From: the BDC)

Injuries - In last weeks preview, I worried about how the injuries to B-lock and Anthony Perkins would effect the game. Specifically Will Jefferson, B-lock's replacement, fumbled on what would've been a scoring drive (and that turnover lead to Baylor taking a lead they would never relinquish), and Jered Bell, while leading the team in tackles, helped contribute to Robert Griffin gashing the Buffs for 137 yards up the middle. Hey, if players are injured, I can't blame their replacements for not being as good as the original starter (see: Mahnke, Patrick), but those injuries probably cost CU the game.

(Have we thought about using Ozell as a RB? From: The BDC)

Baylor racked up 543 yards of offense - I was shocked to see this. The defense didn't seem capable of making adjustments to the read play that Baylor kept running (Yes, Dan, that was a read play. Just because it's not the West Virginia version of the read, doesn't mean it's not a read play), and we couldn't buy a holding call on the edge to save our lives. It certainly didn't help that Jimmy Smith went out with a concussion, but this was by far the worst defensive performance of the season. At no point did I feel the Buffs could stop the Griffin lead offense; case-in-point, their punter never saw the field. After all I've seen this year, I expected better, and I think Perkins absence had a lot to do with it.

(What defensive issues?)

Where was Kirkwood? - Last week Buff Nation was thrown the bone of having Aric Goodman benched for (essentially) a guy off the street. However, when the first kicking opportunity of the game comes up, Hawk decides to go for 2, and when the first field goal opportunity of the game comes along, Hawk sends out Goodman. We spend all week hearing about Kirkwood, and never see him kick (I feel bad for the kid). While Goodman made both of his kicks Saturday, his ass still belongs on the bench. Hawk chalked up the move to the distance of the kick and some other nonsense (Goodman made a 57-yard kick in pregame warm-ups). I guess I just feel if you bench a guy he should stay benched; Goodman has made plenty of kicks in practices and pregames before, how does that one 57-yard kick when it doesn't matter change anything?

Lol, the Bears are awful; Dolphins beat the Packers - I had been feeling that the Bears are an awful team disguised in division leaders clothing (They've played a weak schedule and have gotten lucky a few times); I was proved right on Sunday. While the Seahawks are better than they should be, a division leader shouldn't be dropping games like that at home. With a quarterback coming off a concussion, and with the offensive line looking like swiss cheese on passing plays, the Bears only ran 12 times (!). That is unacceptable.

(Aaaaand the Bears have been exposed. From: The Trib)

My Fins (Yes, I'm a Dolphins fan, get over it), beat the Packers to regain some momentum after 2 humiliating losses and a bye week. I really want to think that the team is good, but their two previous wins are over bad teams, and I'm not sold on the Packers. Looks like an 8-8/9-7 year for the Fins... still, it's a good road win.

Bulls preseason outlook - Finally, something positive to talk about! I caught a little bit of ESPN's NBA preview show last night, and it got me thinking on the Bulls. After an offseason where they failed to land the whales they were aiming for, I find myself liking the Bulls chances in the East. Barring an idiotic move for Melo, the Bulls have one of the most well-rounded lineups in the conference. They offer top flight offensive and defensive options in the paint (Noah and Boozer) they have one of the best young creators in the league (Rose), a legit outside threat (Korver), and I've always liked Luol Deng's versatility. What's more, there is set of defined roles on the team; you can't say that about Miami. The Bulls will not only be a good regular season team, but they will be a tough out in the playoffs; I think an Eastern Finals push is not out of the question. I even like the coach they hired to replace Del Negro (Thibodeau). Things are looking up for the Bullies...

Happy Monday!