Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jake Mauff at Jacob.Mauff@Colorado.edu.
Colorado’s offense struggled in the red zone against Stanford. Water is wet. The year is 2015. These are obvious statements.
“We were really doing good until last week [in the red zone],” head coach Mike MacIntyre said. “They stuffed us there. . . they did a heck of a job.”
All the jargon in the world can’t excuse what’s been happening lately with the Buffs driving to opposing sides of the field. The Colorado offense is fairly balanced. Its multi-headed beast at running back has more runners than carries available in a game. Mix that in with careful quarterback runs and the opposing defense will expect the Buffs to run the ball. Colorado uses this to open up the passing game for junior quarterback Sefo Liufau.
Once the team enters the red zone, it seems as if Colorado loses this balance. The closer the ball is to the goal line, the more reliant the team is on the passing game.
Opposing defenses realize how Liufau plays. He has trouble with blitzes. Defensive play callers dial up pressures in these situations. Liufau struggles and forces throws, often out of bounds. There are also sacks, or at least quarterback hits, when the offense changes to pass-first plays.
The Buffs committed a cardinal sin during the third quarter of the Stanford game. After junior defensive back Tedric Thompson intercepted Stanford, Colorado got the ball on the three-yard line. They ran the ball on the first play, losing two yards in the process.
Hoping to avoid further yard losses, Colorado went to pass. The pass to Nelson Spruce was incomplete. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. The Buffs did the same thing over and over again, passing on the next play and generating an incomplete pass.
The Buffs were facing fourth down and five. This is after getting the ball back at the three-yard line. Obviously, the offense went for it. Obviously, they passed it. Obviously, the pass was incomplete. On four plays, the Buffs couldn’t get three yards.
Hindsight is 20-20, but it’s tough to justify three passes that close to the goal line that didn’t put points on the board. Liufau averaged 6.1 yards-per-carry on his rushes. A well-designed quarterback rush should have gotten the job done.
Moreover, sophomore tailback Phillip Lindsay only saw five touches on offense. He has been used as a short-yard-bruiser before this season. He should be fresh in comparison to the rest of the offense and defense.
Sophomore running back Donovan Lee is a former wide receiver. He could be used to rush the ball or he could be a pass-catching option for the offense. As mentioned before, passing in this situation would be questionable. It could be accepted if there was some sort of trick or unexpected play. Lee could provide such a play.
It’s the same olds tory: mistakes like this always hurt a team, and it certainly doesn’t help when the team has to play close to perfect to make a bowl game.
