Well, I’m not going to lie it gets a little tough to craft an upbeat, we-will-beat-em-this-week, pre-game article when you’ve dropped 6 straight games into the L column. And it doesn’t get any better when you’re facing a ranked opponent. But that’s exactly the boat we find ourselves in as the winless Buffs gear up to face the undefeated Arizona State Sun Devils ranked 22nd in the AP Poll and 23rd in the USA Today/Coaches Poll this Saturday (5:10PM kickoff, broadcast on TBS).
Let’s talk about what we DO have going for us…We will be bringing a tough D to the table. The Buff’s defense is currently 6th in the nation against the run and 4th in the nation in sacks. We also have a healthy team again this week which means we won’t be starting anyone that hasn’t already seen some action in the last two weeks. Of course, considering the last two weeks, that could be considered good or bad. Other than that, we have our work cut out for us this weekend.
Coach Hawkins has given all indications that he will start Bernard Jackson again which is probably good. Jackson will offer a little more playmaking capability against the Sun Devil’s hard charging defense. I expect to see ASU load the box on a fair number of plays and try to rattle Jackson and slow down our running game in the process. Ideally, Jackson can escape the pressure and either make a play with his quicks or find an open receiver down the field. If we can burn their D a few times early they’ll be forced to slow down and allow us to run a more stable offense. The key on offense will be protecting Jackson and establishing a ground, air or balanced attack early both for our confidence and to force the Sun Devil defense to respect us. Our offense has improved each week so far this season; hopefully we continue that trend against this fairly stingy defense.
On the other side of the ball for the Buffs the objective is simple: keep the ball on the ground. Usually when you face a good passing game you try and lock down coverage down field and force them to run the ball more. Unfortunately, it seems the Buffs could drop 11 back into pass coverage and still get picked apart. Instead, I think our best plan on defense is to pressure QB Rudy Carpenter early and often. Carpenter has proven to be a pretty steady and mature QB but if we can force him to get the ball off quickly, throw off balance or on the run we can slow him down. The Devils love the passing game and why wouldn’t they, Carpenter comes to Boulder ranked 4th in the nation in passing efficiency. The bright side for the Buff’s defense is if they can find a way to force ASU to stay on the ground our killer run D should have no problem against a couple of relatively unused ASU backs. Look for ASU to remain pass happy. If the Buffs can pressure Carpenter and keep him from completing the short outs to his outstanding TE Zach Miller, the CU defense may just manage to keep this thing close.

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