Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: Deficient 'D' Eyes Improvement
September 13, 2009 | Football, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER - Anyone who saw this coming - this being Colorado's defense pounded and passed senseless in all but two quarters of the first two games - shouldn't be wasting time here.
Anyone that visionary is in much higher demand elsewhere, grappling with issues greater than those confronting CU defensive coordinator Ron Collins.
But make no mistake, Collins and his defensive staff do have issues - very large ones, too. The side of the ball that figured to be a safety net and lend depth and experience (mainly from the linebackers and secondary) to a generally young Buffs team has turned into a turnstile instead.
Plenty of season remains for CU to leave the NCAA's low-rent statistical district, but as of Sunday the Buffs ranked No. 111 out of 120 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in total defense, yielding 500 yards a game.
CU is No. 112 in rush defense (236.5 yards a game), No. 98 in pass defense (263.5 yards a game) and No. 107 in scoring defense (38.5 points a game).
Colorado State punched up 376 yards on CU in the opener, but 265 of that total and 20 of the Rams' 23 points were registered in the first half. Those halftime adjustments didn't happen at Toledo, which amassed 624 yards and 54 points (CU had 38) Friday night in the Glass Bowl.
In Big 12 Conference rankings in the four major defensive categories, the Buffs are last in all but pass defense, where they're No. 11.
Chief among CU's defensive goals entering the 2009 season was stopping the run, but that hasn't gone so well. In two games, three opposing players have rushed for 100-plus yards - including a quarterback (Toledo's Aaron Opelt) who finished with minus-44 rushing yards in 2008 but scampered for a career-high 109 Friday night.
Opelt parlayed a pair of QB draws for 88 of his 109 yards, surprising the Buffs on each: "He was obviously a lot faster than we anticipated," Collins said. "But we didn't see him run in the first game (a 52-31 loss to Purdue), so we didn't know. I would just say he did an awesome job."
The other pair of rushers emboldened by CU's defense: Colorado State's Leonard Mason (107 yards) and Toledo's DaJuane Collins (160). In contrast, Mason rushed for 66 in CSU's one-point win Saturday against Weber State, while Collins managed only 27 in Toledo's opening loss at Purdue.
Particularly damaging for the Buffs has been the number of "explosion plays" allowed in the first two games. They've given up four runs of 26-plus yards and seven passes of 35-plus yards, with players being out of position blamed for most of the damage.
Maybe to blame for some of those, CU apparently has been hampered by complications and complexities of its own doing.
Said Collins, the defensive coordinator, on Sunday: "We've just got to get back and simplify and get our guys focused on being able to play hard and fast without having to think on the field.
"We've got to go back to the basics and emphasize techniques and coverages that we know, and get better. We tried to do too much in the (Toledo) game and it showed. We had too many people trying to run in and out on the field; that was an issue."
Asked if this week might bring any personnel changes before Saturday's home game against Wyoming (1:30 p.m., FCS), Collins answered, "Yes . . . all those jobs are open. It's open competition every day (in practice), it's always open."
Increased pressure on the quarterback remains crucial for the Buffs. They registered a pair of quarterback sacks in the opener and one against Toledo when Opelt was trapped on a scramble just short of the line of scrimmage.
"We knew it was going to be hard going into that game . . . Purdue didn't get to him either," Collins said. "(Opelt) gets rid of the ball really quick.
"We've just got to back and get our best four guys up front, get those guys better on the pass rush and still do our pressure package - whatever that package is for the week.
"We've got to get guys outnumbered on the offense at some point."
For Collins, the most heartening facet found in the first two games was effort: "The guys played hard all the way through . . . they gave great effort," he said.
"There was no quit in them. So we look at that and say, as long as our players keep doing that, we'll continue to get better. We've still got a lot of guys on the field with no or little game experience.
"It's all new to some of them. But I honestly believe we'll get better each week. I know there was a big drop off in the first game to the second game, but the effort was there. We've just got to do a better job coaching and getting them in the right places."
At the conclusion of Sunday's nearly 90-minute workout, coach Dan Hawkins continued to emphasize attention to detail as a means for the whole team to improve.
"Things like getting in and watching film, doing rehab, getting out to practice early . . . doing the small things in practice that most people overlook - the right footwork, technique, things like that," defensive back Jalil Brown said.
"It's been a two tough weeks; all we can do is go upwards from here."
BUFF BITS: Quarterback Cody Hawkins, who took a hard hit to the head while scoring CU's final touchdown Friday night, watched Sunday's practice but said he expects to be able to play this week. After watching tape of the hit, he laughingly said he had no second thoughts about not trying to slide and protect himself: "Heck no . . . I get too few moments for glory to do that." . . . . Wyoming's roster features 26 players from Colorado, about a dozen fewer than Colorado State . . . . The Buffs have a regularly scheduled day off Monday, then resume practice for the Cowboys on Tuesday.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
