Colorado University Athletics
Buffs-Huskers Tilt Has Potential To Light Up Scoreboard
September 06, 2018 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — While nobody knows for sure what to expect when Colorado and Nebraska renew their rivalry Saturday afternoon in Lincoln (1:30 p.m., ABC), there is one relatively safe assumption:
The scoreboard operator shouldn't be bored.
Colorado's offense is no secret. In last week's season-opening 45-13 win over Colorado State, the Buffs totaled 596 yards (338 passing, 274 rushing) and spread the wealth in doing so. CU chalked up the first game in program history with a 300-yard passer (Steven Montez, 338 yards), a 200-yard receiver (Laviska Shenault Jr., 211 yards) and a 100-yard rusher (Travon McMillian, 103 yards).
And, while this will be the Huskers' first contest of the year, new head coach Scott Frost's offenses have been high-octane wherever he's been, from his days as Oregon's offensive coordinator to his time as Central Florida's head coach.
Thus, the Buffs have spent their week studying UCF film in an attempt to get a bead on what they might see Saturday.
"They have a lot of motion, a lot of different sets, and they play really fast when they do that," CU head coach Mike MacIntyre said. "How you get aligned in those sets and to the motion (is important). Then they do a tremendous amount of zone read type principles, a lot of option-type principles, and they're able to get the ball out of their hands quick to skill guys and they have some skill guys to get it to. ... They do a great job of that."
MacIntyre also said he has seen the influence of former CU wide receivers coach Troy Walters, who worked under MacIntyre for three seasons before joining Frost at UCF, and then following him to Nebraska as Frost's offensive coordinator.
Thursday morning, Walters said he believes CU is at a distinct disadvantage by not having any film of the Huskers.
"They don't know what we're going to do," Walters said. "They're watching UCF film, so personnel-wise they don't know who we're going to play with and scheme-wise we've changed some things up. So they don't know what they're going to see and that's an advantage."
But the Buffs do know they will see a freshman quarterback, Adrian Martinez, a dual-threat player and the first true freshman to open the season as a starter at the position in NU history.
"We watched the spring game and he played really well in that," MacIntyre said. "That gives us our best tell-tale sign of him. We saw him play in high school and he was a heck of a player. ... He's a really good athlete that can do a lot of different things."
While the two teams' offense are similar in the fact that they love to play up-tempo, the Huskers will likely be much more run-oriented, especially from the quarterback spot, where they will take advantage of Martinez's option skills.
"We have to run the football," Walters said. "(With a) freshman quarterback, you can't drop back 40, 50 times with the amount of guys they play, the pressures they're going to bring. We have to establish the run game. In the secondary we have to make plays. They will load the box and give you one-on-one matchups on the outside."
The Huskers do return their leading rusher from last year, senior tailback Devine Ozigbo (129 carries, 493 yards). But they have also loved the performance in practice thus far from junior college transfer Greg Bell, with the two listed as co-starters.
If the Buffs do load the box to stop the run, it will put pressure on cornerbacks Delrick Abrams Jr., Trey Udoffia and Dante Wigley, along with safeties Evan Worthington and Nick Fisher. They will be keeping a close eye on wide receivers Stanley Morgan Jr. (61 catches for 986 yards and 10 touchdowns last year) and J.D. Spielman (55-830, two touchdowns).
One thing that may help CU's defense is that the Buffs defenders practice every day against an up-tempo attack.
"It definitely should help us," MacIntyre said. "We do a lot of fast periods where we're going as fast we can, Â offense vs. defense. I'm hoping that will help us. They'll go really fast there, also. So we have to make sure we're ready for that. I believe we are."
LOADED AT LINEBACKER: Buffs redshirt freshman Carson Wells, who notched his first career start last week against CSU, is again listed at No. 1 on this week's depth chart at outside linebacker.
Wells, a 6-foot-4, 245-pounder, was credited with three tackles against CSU, including a half-sack, as well as one third-down stop and a quarterback pressure.
"I felt pretty good about it," he said. "I had a couple tackles, made some plays, but there's always some things to critique. I had a screen where I read it perfectly and then just missed the tackle. I'm still thinking about that one."
Wells is part of a linebacking corps that has plenty of experience in seniors Rick Gamboa and Drew Lewis, but also plenty of youth, including sophomores Nate Landman, Jacob Callier and junior Nu'umoto Falo.
Saturday, their job will be to keep Nebraska's fast-paced offense in check and not be fooled by the variety of motion and formations the Buffs expect to see.
"You learn to read your keys and not get fooled by the motion," Wells said. "You learn to keep your eyes where they're supposed to be."
And, the Buffs will be playing in front of a crowd expected to exceed 90,000, something Wells said shouldn't affect the defense in the least.
"It's going to be crazy," he said. "I think we can get energy from that. When we're on defense, it's going to be quiet anyway. Hopefully, we'll make some plays and make them go silent."
COACH OF THE YEAR BATTLE: CU'S MacIntyre was the 2016 consensus national coach of the year while Frost had the same honors last season. The last time the two previous national winners met was in 2010, when TCU (Gary Patterson) defeated No. 5 Utah (Kyle Whittingham), 47-7 in Salt Lake City on Nov. 6.
GOOD COMPANY: When Colby Pursell lined up as CU's starting center last week, he became just the third freshman (redshirt or true) to do so in CU's history.
The previous two went on to leave a rather significant impact on the program, as both Bryan Stoltenberg (1992) and Andre Gurode (1998) both went on to earn All-American honors in their time at Colorado.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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