With just one game to go and Coach Mac gone, I wanted to take a look into how the Buffs have moved the ball so far this season and compared to their opponents.
Saying the offense has been inconsistent this season would be an understatement. Overall the Buffs managed to pick up 45.8% of their possible yards, but that's come at a bit of a bipolar clip. In half their games the Buffs managed to gain at least 50% of the total potential yards. This though gets tempered by the USC, Utah, Washington and Wazzu games where the offense couldn't get more than 35% of their potential yards. This has been the crux of the Buffs problems down the stretch. After the UCLA game, CU has only scored touchdowns on 19% of their drives vs the 35% clip they had been on prior. The defense has continued to be consistent all season, despite being on the field a lot more. They've surrendered 44% of the potential yards on the season, which has been pretty consistent. Five games have seen opponents gain over 54% of their potential yards, with the rest under 50%. The issue again down the stretch had been that CU was giving up more touchdowns, but a lot of that was second half scores after the game already felt out of reach thanks to a dwindling offense.
One of the biggest problems for the Buffs has been their performance on long drives, drives that are 70 or more yards to go. They've scored Touchdowns on those drives just one fifth of the time they had them (141 drives so far). Tats just not going to cut it with how many touch backs occur these days and with how often teams start deep in their own zone. It hasn't helped that since the ASU game onwards, the defense surrendered touchdowns on 25% of those drives. And this is all despite the Buffs having better starting field position this season than almost all of their opponents, averaging a start at the 29.
This season has been a bit of a lost one it feels like for a team that started 5-0. I truly believe as I have said before the offensive playcalling and scheme have been the true downfall. The defense has struggled a bit at points, but really has been much better than they had been in years past. If the offense could finish drives this season is a whole other story.
Showing posts with label Colorado Buffaloes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Colorado Buffaloes. Show all posts
Friday, November 23, 2018
Saturday, October 27, 2018
Its time for the Buffs to move on from Darrin Chiaverini as a Coordinator
The Buffs offense is horribly stagnant, and its lasted for years too long. I had personally thought Brian Lindgren was the issue but even with his departure the offense continues to underwhelm for the talent that it has. The offense started hot but over the last four games has hit huge bumps that its struggled to overcome, with today's performance being possibly the worst yet.
Against Oregon State today the Buffs punted 6 times, twice the average the Beavers force and that's being generous since the rest of their PAC 12 opponents had punted only a combined 6 times. The offense scored 27 points today on 15 drives. There has been almost no innovation in play calling, as the same formation is used over and over again for the same play with no wrinkles. Travon McMillian outside of his big run averaged just 3 yards a carry, largely because Oregon State was able to key in and crash down on run plays over and over again. Read Option plays were working, but there were only a smattering to help ease the pressure.
This offense has to get Viska back this week to have a shot, but even then it needs Chiaverini to make some adaptations throughout the game and to bring some creativity back to the offense.
Against Oregon State today the Buffs punted 6 times, twice the average the Beavers force and that's being generous since the rest of their PAC 12 opponents had punted only a combined 6 times. The offense scored 27 points today on 15 drives. There has been almost no innovation in play calling, as the same formation is used over and over again for the same play with no wrinkles. Travon McMillian outside of his big run averaged just 3 yards a carry, largely because Oregon State was able to key in and crash down on run plays over and over again. Read Option plays were working, but there were only a smattering to help ease the pressure.
This offense has to get Viska back this week to have a shot, but even then it needs Chiaverini to make some adaptations throughout the game and to bring some creativity back to the offense.
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Colorado Buffaloes 2018 Potential Yards
Back again is this feature looking into potential yards for the Buffs offense and Defense. I'll keep this updated throughout the year with some thoughts on the games.
Utah: One drive over 50% of potential yards just shows how low this offense has gone. The defense held well but faced short fields on a lot of drives. This was the game that broke the camels back for Coach Mac. I'm grateful to him for pulling this program from the gutter, but I think he just couldn't get it over the hump.
Utah: One drive over 50% of potential yards just shows how low this offense has gone. The defense held well but faced short fields on a lot of drives. This was the game that broke the camels back for Coach Mac. I'm grateful to him for pulling this program from the gutter, but I think he just couldn't get it over the hump.
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
CU Buffaloes Potential Yards Gained
One of the metrics I think that is under-studied is just how well teams eat p the field and flip field position. Some folks have done some work in it, but I'm going to really look at it this season to try and suss out some ideas about teams.
I'll post here the results for my alma mater, the Colorado Buffaloes. This week starts with a not so great game against the Colorado State Rams. The Buffs got it done, but there's a lot of red to orange on there.
UPDATE: Added the Texas State game, where the first half has a lot of bad colors for the Buffs, while second half gets a bit better
UPDATE: A really rough set of drives for the Buffs defense against FCS UNC
UPDATE: The Buffs actually moved the ball pretty well against the Huskies. It was inopportune turnovers that killed them.
UPDATE: Mistakes killed the Buffs in LA this weekend. They moved the ball pretty effectively all game, but not finishing drives in the endzone did them in.
UPDATE: The defense only had one drive where the Wildcats gained less than 70% of the potential yards needed. Too many big plays and not being able to get a stop at the end doomed CU. The offense was solid for the most part at least, hopefully next week the Buffs get back on it.
UPDATE: The Buffs defense bent but didn't break in the first half, allowing the offense time to gather itself for the second half surge. Far too many wasted drives though made this supposed blowout a toss up.
UPDATE: THe offense had one drive go for over 50% of the needed yards. That will not win any games at any level.
UPDATE: Lots of green for the offense this week, only 4 drives failed to gain 50% of the yardage needed. The defense did its job for the most part, forcing 5 failed drives and adding a interception score.
UPDATE: This one hurts. The defense let the ASU run game just swap them, and the offense in the second half gained at least 50% of the yardage on 2 of 8 drives, and on half of them failed to generate more than 15%.
I'll post here the results for my alma mater, the Colorado Buffaloes. This week starts with a not so great game against the Colorado State Rams. The Buffs got it done, but there's a lot of red to orange on there.
UPDATE: Added the Texas State game, where the first half has a lot of bad colors for the Buffs, while second half gets a bit better
UPDATE: A really rough set of drives for the Buffs defense against FCS UNC
UPDATE: The Buffs actually moved the ball pretty well against the Huskies. It was inopportune turnovers that killed them.
UPDATE: Mistakes killed the Buffs in LA this weekend. They moved the ball pretty effectively all game, but not finishing drives in the endzone did them in.
UPDATE: The defense only had one drive where the Wildcats gained less than 70% of the potential yards needed. Too many big plays and not being able to get a stop at the end doomed CU. The offense was solid for the most part at least, hopefully next week the Buffs get back on it.
UPDATE: The Buffs defense bent but didn't break in the first half, allowing the offense time to gather itself for the second half surge. Far too many wasted drives though made this supposed blowout a toss up.
UPDATE: THe offense had one drive go for over 50% of the needed yards. That will not win any games at any level.
UPDATE: Lots of green for the offense this week, only 4 drives failed to gain 50% of the yardage needed. The defense did its job for the most part, forcing 5 failed drives and adding a interception score.
UPDATE: This one hurts. The defense let the ASU run game just swap them, and the offense in the second half gained at least 50% of the yardage on 2 of 8 drives, and on half of them failed to generate more than 15%.
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