Colorado University Athletics
Lewis, Buffs Offense Turn Attention To TCU Preparation
August 22, 2023 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Game day is no longer a far-away concept for the Colorado Buffaloes.
Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders' squad is now less than two weeks away from the Sept. 2 season opener at 17th-ranked TCU, a 10 a.m. affair that will see a national Fox television audience witness the opening of a new era for the Buffs.
For CU's coaching staff, it means the next 10 days will be spent installing the game plan, cleaning up every detail possible and doing their best to ensure that Colorado will be prepared to make its 2023 debut on the big stage.
"Each phase of the year has its unique, special things," Buffs offensive coordinator Sean Lewis said after Tuesday's practice. "We build a team and every single day matters — but there's 12 Saturdays that count and now we're turning the page to the ones that truly count. We're 11 days out from playing a really good opponent and we think we've got a really good team and it should be a great matchup."
Lewis has spent the last eight months installing an offense Buffs fans hope will make the most of the speed and talent CU has amassed at the skill positions.
The key, Lewis said, will be making sure that offense runs at an efficient — and effective — level for extended periods of time.
"Go fast, be efficient, stay on schedule," Lewis said. "We want to create space for our speed. We want to work and find ways to create a numerical advantage. And then, if all those things are going to be even, we want to create leverage so that we can outflank and take away the edge of the defense."
Lewis knows TCU coaches won't have a great idea — at least not early — of what the Buffs' attack will entail. Not only is Colorado's coaching staff entirely new, roughly 80 percent of CU's roster is new to the program this year. Horned Frogs coaches have said that watching film of CU's past games is a fruitless endeavor; they have spent more time watching Lewis' Kent State teams, hoping to get at least a hint of what the Buffs will throw their way.
But that element of surprise works both ways. Lewis knows the Horned Frogs have likely tweaked their defensive scheme as well, and will no doubt have some new wrinkles in store for the Buffs.
"The biggest thing is the kids following the rules conceptually," Lewis said of his offensive scheme. "Early on, they're going to have some new things that we haven't seen on tape that are gonna be unique for us. We have to be able to apply our rules in those situations and then stay on schedule and be efficient so that we're not playing behind the chains."
Indeed, Lewis knows that CU's first and second down efforts will be critical. Colorado does not want to engage in a game in which the Buffs are facing third-and-long on a regular basis, a situation that would make life much more difficult for quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
To that end, the Buffs have been dedicating a significant portion of their recent practices to situational team work, trying to prepare for every possibility.
"Coach does a great job of setting us up for situational football," Lewis said. "We get a bunch of normal down and distance opportunities. This past week, like in the scrimmage, we had 43 third-down opportunities, and we were 50% on that, which would have put us ninth in the country based off last year's numbers. So we're always tracking that, we're always aware of that. And we really pride ourselves on our kids growing their situational awareness and their self-awareness … How we can stay on schedule, how we can stay on task, and just treat practice like a game each and every single day."
CU's roster remake made sure the Buffs are well-stocked in the offensive skill positions. Quarterback Sanders has an elite corps of receivers at his disposal and the Buffs also have a high-quality, diverse running backs room that can offer power, speed and quickness.
Those backs will be critical to keeping Colorado's offense moving forward. While the general perception is that Lewis' offense is heavily geared toward throwing the ball, his teams at Kent were among the nation's most productive on the ground.
"You need to be balanced in your approach," Lewis said. "If you don't have the ability to have a strong right hook with a counter as well, whether it be run or pass whatever your strength is, then you get too one-dimensional. It's very hard if you're just going to throw the ball in to drop eight (defensive coverage). It doesn't matter how many guys you can release, they're not going to have that numerical advantage. You have to be able to have a physicality, a presence to run the ball."
The task of establishing that presence is greatly dependent on the offensive line. Two of Lewis' starters from last year's team at Kent followed him to Boulder, and overall, he likes what he's seen up front so far.
"I love their approach," he said. "I love the way they're going, but you really don't know what you have until you've tested it … But I love the way they are seeing the game through the same set of eyes. The five guys that we've settled on, they do a great job communicating … We can only go as fast as those guys are up and ready to play and they're doing a great job with that."
