Buffs Begin Prep For Potent UCF Offense
September 24, 2024 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Thanks to the steady approach on Florida of Tropical Storm Helene, Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders' Colorado Buffaloes will leave a day early for their Saturday game in Orlando against UCF.
The Buffs (3-1 overall, 1-0 Big 12) were originally scheduled to leave Thursday on what will be their longest road trip of the regular season. But with Helene threatening to bring heavy rain and storms to the area by Thursday, the Buffs elected to leave a day early to make sure their arrival isn't delayed.
"We don't want to take the chance that the storm hits Thursday and now we can't get in until Friday evening," Coach Prime said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. "We're trying to get ahead of the curve and be smart with it. Our guys like consistency, so being settled and having a consistent plan in place works in our favor. We've already secured practice facilities. We already sent the (equipment) truck on the road. We're right where we want to be. We're just going to make it as consistent as possible for our young men."
But the expected wet weather and change of travel plans won't change the Buffs' preparations for a UCF team (3-0, 1-0) that is leading the nation in rushing yardage (375.7 yards per game) and is 14th in scoring (45.7 points per game).
"It's going to be a great game," Coach Prime said. "I look forward to the contest. They run the ball extremely well. They get to the ball on defense. It's pretty much a veteran team when you're looking at several seniors on each side of the ball and they don't make a lot of mistakes."
The Buffs are coming off a thrilling 38-31 overtime victory over Baylor that included a touchdown on the last play of regulation and a goal-line stop on defense in overtime. The Knights had last week off, with their most recent outing a come-from-behind 35-34 win over TCU two weekends ago.
Coach Prime is quite familiar with UCF coach Gus Malzahn, who recruited Sanders' son Shedeur when he was the head coach at Auburn.
"Coach Malzahn, I love him, I appreciate him," Coach Prime said. "He's one of my favorite coaches in college football, the way he gave us love and showed us love and compassion … I love what he's brought to college football. A lot of similarities. He does it his way, and I love the way he does it."
What Malzahn certainly brings is a powerful run game that does not depend on just one player to carry the load.
Senior running back RJ Harvey, a powerful 5-foot-9, 220-pounder is no doubt the bell cow of the rushing attack. He has already rushed for 448 yards and eight touchdowns on 59 attempts this year, including a 180-yard, two-touchdown effort in the win over TCU.
But the Knights also boast a true dual-threat quarterback in KJ Jefferson, who has rushed for 135 yards and a touchdown while also throwing for 563 yards and five scores with just one interception.
The 6-foot-3, 247-pound Jefferson fits the mold of a former Malzahn quarterback, Cam Newton. Malzahn was the offensive coordinator at Auburn when Newton won the Heisman Trophy in 2010.
"Dual-threat guy," Malzahn said at Big 12 Media Days. "Physically, he's the closest thing to Cam (Newton) that I've had. He's like a running back. He throws a great deep ball. We're a run, play-action team with emphasis on throwing the ball downfield."
The Buffs have been up and down against the run, giving up an average of 150 yards per game this season, just 82nd in the nation.
"We have to load the box up and pray," Coach Prime said with a smile. "Stop the run. I feel good about our scheme. I feel good about what I saw at practice today and I feel good about what we've been accomplishing versus the run defensively."
The Buffs will be getting some help back in the defensive trenches this week with the expected return of defensive tackle Chidozie Nwankwo, who started CU's first two games before suffering an injury against Nebraska.
Nwankwo had two third-down stops in CU's opening win over North Dakota State and also has one of Colorado's four sacks thus far.
"That's a tremendous plus because of his attitude, his leadership and the way he works," Coach Prime said.
Offensively, the Buffs are still trying to find the right combination up front. CU gave up eight sacks against Baylor — seven in the second half — and the Buffs juggled the lineup up front, moving in new players and moving players from one position to another to try to find a satisfactory combination.
The Buffs did have decent production from their run game. Had it not been for 52 yards in losses on sacks, they would have finished with a respectable 148 yards on the ground.
Still, Coach Prime sees plenty of room for improvement in the run game, which should also be bolstered by the return of Dallan Hayden, who missed the last two games with an injury.
"We could do so much better," Coach Prime said. "We just got to hold our blocks. We have to stay low. We got to be a lot more physical, and not just the coaches, the players. You gotta have a commitment. When you hear that run call, you gotta say, 'Alright, it's not gonna be me. I'm going to whoop my man.' They gotta purposely do what we ask them to do."
Improving the run game will help in myriad ways. One, it will forced UCF to respect the run and not overload the secondary against Colorado's passing attack. Two, it will improve the effectiveness of the play action pass game and give Shedeur Sanders just a little more time in the pocket.
"Everyone knows all you have to do is just give him two, three seconds and we're good," Coach Prime said. "I think everyone in the nation knows that. You give him about two seconds, he's good."
QB Sanders is currently fifth in the nation in passing yards (335 per game) and is fourth in completions per game (27.5), with 11 touchdown passes (tied for 7th in the nation).
"Shedeur has played great except for one pass (a pick six against Nebraska)," Coach Prime said. "The thing about him, with the ball in his hands, we got a chance. Everybody knows that, right? Everybody on the team feels that way. Nobody sits down and that last drive (against Baylor) that we have the ball, everybody on the sideline is up. They know we got a shot. So I'm pleased with him."
But Coach Prime also knows the Buffs can't continue to tempt fate, fall behind and then expect to come back — especially in the dramatic fashion that unfolded against Baylor.
"We're appreciative that the game turned out like it did, but we had to work to come back to get that opportunity," Coach Prime said. "We had several plays that we hit that were called back that we're not proud of. We allowed some opportunities to happen defensively that we're not proud of. We feel like we shouldn't have been in that situation to make that happen. We're thankful that we did, but we feel like we're the idiots that put ourselves in that situation to make it happen, and we don't want to do that again. We feel like we're better than that."
ANOTHER HORNUNG AWARD FOR HUNTER: Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter — last year's Paul Hornung Award winner — is making a weekly appearance on the award's weekly awards.
Hunter has been named to the award honor roll every week this season and this week was again named the Hornung Award Player of the Week — the third time in four weeks he has been honored.
Hunter recorded his fifth straight 100-yard receiving game against Baylor (7-132) while also recording three tackles and the game-clinching forced fumble. He has already played more than 520 snaps this season.
SPECIAL TEAMS WORK: Another area the Buffs are focusing on this week is special teams, particularly the coverage units. Colorado gave up a 100-yard kick return for a touchdown last week as well as two long punt returns that set up two Baylor scores.
"You address that by doing your job," he said. "We kick the ball in the end zone, it doesn't happen. We make that tackle on that punt return, that doesn't happen. So you either make those plays or get somebody to make those plays, as simple as that."
The Buffs will be looking at a new kickoff specialist as regular Jace Feely was injured last week. Cristiano Palazzo handled one kickoff last week but the coaching staff isn't sure who will take over duties this week.
