Colorado University Athletics
COLORADO?S MISSION: CAGE COMBUSTIBLE BENSON
BOULDER ? The University of Colorado defense is no stranger to facing some of the nation’s top running backs. And this Saturday, when CU bashes horns with No. 8/9 Texas (1:38 MDT, ABC), the Buffs know they must rise to the occasion when encountering their most daunting defensive task to date.
Led by the country’s No. 2-rakned rushing offense, the Longhorns (6-1, 3-1 Big 12) march into Boulder averaging 449.4 yards per game, 301.7 of which have been chewed up on the ground. Paced by Heisman Trophy candidate Cedric Benson ? the nation’s second leading rusher (165.1 ypg) ? Texas features one of the Big 12’s most dangerous backfields. Along with sophomore quarterback Vince Young, who has totaled a team second best 81 carries for 489 yards, Benson and the ?Horns have averaged 6.8 yards per rush attempt in 2004.
“As we get ready for Texas, the problems that Texas brings are really on offense, especially in the run game,” CU head coach Gary Barnett said of Benson, who along with North Texas’ Jamario Thomas and Oklahoma State’s Vernand Morency ? both former CU opponents this year ? make up the country’s Top 3 rushers. “They are just so effective and so efficient at quarterback and with Benson, that we have got to find a way to control the running game. We have to force them to throw the football. Only one team has been able to do that and that’s been Oklahoma.”
Ranking 105th nationally in passing (147.7 ypg), Texas is a team that usually lines up in a shotgun formation with designed running plays for Young or Benson. A threat in the option game as much as they are on the draw, UT has strayed from the big-play passing game they boasted for so many years to become a team that punishes opponents with a combination of finesse and power via the ground.
“Texas is running the spread offense, so everybody’s in the shotgun,” Barnett continued. “They’re going to look a lot like Missouri but they’re probably going to run the ball a little more effectively than Missouri. They spread you out and then just let Benson find the seams, or Vincent Young find the seams. (Young is) just a great looking athlete. He can run and he’s really strong.”
“(Benson) is a big physical back,” added sophomore safety Dominique Brooks, who is tied for second in CU tackles, having tallied a team-high 38 solo. “He has been (running) for awhile, and he is just good at what he does. He is a strong runner and keeps his legs going after contact. He is just a good back. I think they (Benson and Morency) are similar. Morency might be a little faster, but they are similar because they both run hard.”
With Benson being the only back in college football to rush for at least 1,000 yards in each of the past four seasons ? as he’s also the NCAA’s active leader in career rushing touchdowns with 55 ? CU’s security squad knows it has its work cut out in the days ahead. Looking to draw off their experiences against Thomas and Morency, the Buffs hope they can devise a plan to contain Benson, thus forcing Young to throw the pigskin.
“Ultimately, it’s our main focus is to keep Benson under wraps, but we have to worry about Young, too, because he is such a great athlete that can make so many different things happen,” stated senior captain and defensive tackle Matt McChesney, who currently leads the Buffs in QB pressures and has five stops for loss. “If we can slow their run down, then hopefully that will make them have to pass more, which is something they really aren’t used to doing.
“They are going to come in here fired up, but I only have two home games left. So let’s go, bring it on. I am ready to play.”
Added Barnett on his team’s attitude coming off a tough, but enlightening, defeat at Texas A&M: “We’ve got to have a great team effort in this game and we have to be more consistent across the board. Hopefully playing at home will be an advantage for us. I don’t think our guys are hung up over that A&M loss. They took it really hard after the game but they also watched the film and realized how well they played and how good they can be.”