Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: Simple Does It For 'D'
September 19, 2009 | Football, B.G. Brooks
That bunch, with Christensen calling the shots, riddled Colorado for 58 and 55 points in their two most recent meetings.
But his new Cowboys offense wasn't nearly that prolific Saturday, managing zero points in a 24-0 Buffaloes win that was nothing short of a night-and-day swing from eight days earlier.
No matter the pedigree of the offense CU faced, the shutout was a tonic taken at a most opportune time.
This was the same Buffs defense that was hammered, hacked and gashed for 624 yards and 54 points at Toledo. And at times, CU didn't even look that proficient.
But Saturday's shutout was different, the product of defensive coordinator Ron Collins going to the shredder with a handful of pages from the game plans he used in Games 1-2.
Collins simply turned to simplicity, reducing what he wanted his troops to do to be effective.
"And it helped tremendously," Collins said. "You could just tell that on the field. The guys played hard, fast and had a lot of fun. They executed the game plan and did a great job."
So we're guessing he sticks with his pared-down version next game and thereafter?
"Definitely - if we can play like that week in and week out," Collins said. "Hey, I realize we've still got a long ways to go to and we've got to keep improving.
"But that's the deal; they've got to go out there and play fast and hard and not have anything complicated on their plate - not be thinking. And I thought they did that (Saturday)."
In keeping it simple, CU mostly played man-to-man coverage with its cornerbacks and mostly stayed with a four-man front. The frequency of personnel groups moving on and off the field, as in the Toledo game, was cut back.
Based on comments coming out of the Buffs' camp during the week, Christensen said he and his staff "figured (man-to-man coverage) was going to happen.
"We tried to do something to get them out of it on every down and get guys open . . . (but) you've got to execute, you've got to put together plays back-to-back."
The Buffs didn't allow that, limiting the Cowboys to only three plays of 20 or more yards after allowing 16 of that yardage or more in the first two games. From midfield in, Wyoming ran 24 plays that netted 39 yards -- but 37 of those came on one pass play. The Cowboys gained one yard or fewer on 19 of those two dozen plays.
The reason? Senior linebacker and tri-captain Marcus Burton said he and his defensive mates "were able to fly around and not worry about making mistakes . . . that's what (going simpler) eliminated.
"It made that process of 'What do I need to do?' into 'I know what I need to do - just make plays.'
"Reacting instead of thinking is exactly what we did . . . not that we were perfect, but we did a better job of executing our game plan."
Cornerback Jimmy Smith echoed Burton: "We simplified everything . . . there were no complications and everyone knew what his job was."
Even though the Buffs have 12 days off before they play again (Oct. 1 at West Virginia, 5:30 p.m. MDT, ESPN), Burton said celebrating the Wyoming win would be shortlived.
"I was telling the guys after the game, beating Wyoming is great," Burton said. "But this is a game we should be celebrating - we should expect to win it. Now, we've got to get ready to go to West Virginia; they're going to come out on fire."
The Buffs defeated the Mountaineers 17-14 in overtime last season in Boulder.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
