This weekend the Buffs are back home in Boulder for a match with the Kansas State Wildcats. After a 0-2 conference start (which should’ve been 1-1 if we didn’t let the Jayhawks get away from us), the Buffs are in a situation where they need to improve upon their previous showing. Let us recap last weekend.
I took the trip down to Lawrence with 150 other Buffs. It was a fun trip and Lawrence showed us a great time. We had a tailgate right in the middle of the Kansas pre-gamers, and were fired up for highly possible win. The first quarter we came out firing on all cylinders; the offense was moving the ball well, the defense was making stops, and Hawkins threw a nice TD pass to Cody Crawford to put us up. Then, things started going downhill. The defense was still doing fine, considering they were barely off the field, but the offense stalled. Once Hawkins was sacked for a safety, it seemed like everyone was pretty much done for the day.
Through the final 3 quarters of the game, the offense managed just 181 yards. The defense fought for a bit, but looked like they were worn down midway into the 3rd. With the exception of a decent scoring drive, the offense was gone in all but the first quarter. And despite having no attempts, our kicking game probably would’ve been rough considering the high winds (and the fact that our backup kicker was kicking more on the sidelines than our starter, a little embarrassing). In the end we suffered a bad loss that could’ve easily been a win. But now we look to our other Kansas foes, K-State.
In order to beat the Wildcats we need to fix several things. First off, we have to move the ball. Helfrich and Hawkins need to call smarter plays, and mix things up to give what talent we have some room to work with. Cody must (this is a big must) improve on his efficiency; it has gone down every single game since Eastern Washington, reaching a low of 67.55 last week. I do believe he can play well; he just needs to be more consistent. Our running game also needs to improve, starting with the line. I know they have had a rough year and are pretty beat up, but I also know they are capable of doing better. Darrell Scott needs to get healthy, and when he finally does, his breakout game is bound to come sooner or later; I think we all really look forward to this day.
On defense, we need to get more pressure on the QB. Josh Freeman is very good; he’s just shadowed by the rest of the Big 12 QB’s. Not only is he good, he’s big. Last week he ran for 95 yards and 4 TD’s, not to mention 234 yards in the air. We were able to stop the dual threat of West Virginia and Pat White; we are going need that spark again this week. The secondary needs to focus on coverage. Against Kansas, the amount of open receivers was ridiculous. But this also relates back to pressure from the D-line, we can only cover for so long before someone gets open.
Special teams needs a big day to give the offense a little push, and the most improvement needs to come from Aric Goodman, who hasn’t made a field goal since the overtime win against the Mountaineers. Our kick and punt returns have been fine, with the exception of a few mental mistakes.
Overall, our team needs to show improvement across the board. And most of all we need to make fewer mistakes knowing that even small ones lead to huge breaks for opposing teams. If we continue to play how we have been, it will be another long day. But if we can move the ball, and keep our defense fresh, we have a strong chance against the Wildcats. I think we will see a fired up Buff team show up on Saturday, and a good start to the second half of the season. Go Buffs!

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