On one hand, Colorado head football coach Deion Sanders was impressed with the resiliency displayed by his team in last Saturday\u2019s 43-35 double-overtime victory against Colorado State.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, he doesn\u2019t want them needing to use that resilience very often.<\/p>\n
\u201cWonderful win,\u201d Sanders said this week. \u201cWe didn\u2019t attain it the way we desired, but a win is a win. You\u2019re going to have those type of games, those type of contests throughout the season. The best thing to do is to be resilient when you\u2019re not playing your best; to be resilient when your opponents are playing their butts off; and you\u2019re able to come back and win the football game in the manner that we did. So we\u2019re thankful, we\u2019re appreciative. But now it\u2019s on to the next chapter.\u201d<\/p>\n
CU was a 23.5-point favorite against the Rams last week, but the next chapter will be much more difficult. The 19th-ranked Buffs (3-0) will visit No. 10 Oregon (3-0) on Saturday (1:30 p.m., ABC) to kick off the Pac-12 portion of the schedule.<\/p>\n
The Ducks are a 21.5-point favorite, and as good as the Buffs have been to this point, Sanders knows they have to be better to continue their winning streak.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to get to that point where we have to be resilient,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to get out to a great start. We have not played a complete game. We have not played a game where the offense, defense, as well as special teams has all shown up in the same manner.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the offense is playing well, the defense is hot garbage. If the defense is playing well, the offense is horrible. And special teams are not special. So we\u2019ve got to put it all together to be able to defeat a team like Oregon in that manner. We\u2019ve got to put it together.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are a few key points of emphasis for the Buffs heading into Pac-12 play.<\/p>\n
Run the ball:<\/strong> Offensively, the Buffs have been led by dynamic junior Shedeur Sanders, who has been one of the nation\u2019s best quarterbacks so far this season. Shedeur has thrown 10 touchdown passes and only one interception and he\u2019s already led the Buffs to two fourth-quarter comeback wins.<\/p>\n What the Buffs haven\u2019t done to this point, however, is run the ball well.<\/p>\n Freshman Dylan Edwards leads the Buffs with 136 yards and he\u2019s averaged 5.4 yards per carry. As a team, however, CU is averaging just 2.0 yards per carry and has relied on Shedeur\u2019s arm when needing plays in the clutch.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not running the ball,\u201d Coach Prime said after the CSU game. \u201cWe can\u2019t do something we can\u2019t forcefully do. I mean, we\u2019re not successful at running. \u2026 That\u2019s just the straight attitude that we\u2019re gonna run the ball and you\u2019re not gonna stop it because that\u2019s a darn attitude. We\u2019ve got to develop that attitude sooner or later, and preferably more sooner than later.\u201d<\/p>\n CU might get a boost from Alton McCaskill this week. The Houston transfer, who was the AAC freshman of the year in 2021, was finally healthy enough to take his non-contact jersey off this week.<\/p>\n Protect the quarterback:<\/strong> Shedeur Sanders has put up some big numbers through three games despite getting hit a lot.<\/p>\n Old Dominion is the only team in the country that\u2019s given up more sacks than CU\u2019s 16. Shedeur has been sacked 15 times and there have been numerous other times where he has been hit as he\u2019s throwing the ball or pressured. The Buffs are hoping to limit those hits and sacks going forward.<\/p>\n Start faster:<\/strong> CU\u2019s offense was impressive in a season-opening win at TCU, but it\u2019s been slow out of the gates the past two weeks.<\/p>\n In Week 2 against Nebraska, the Buffs ended up winning 36-14, but punted on their first four possessions and took advantage of two Cornhuskers turnovers to get some points on the board on the next two possessions.<\/p>\n Against CSU, the Buffs had turnovers on their first two possessions and the offense found the end zone just once in the first 59 minutes. Shedeur\u2019s late-game heroics rescued them for an overtime win.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just started slow, honestly, that\u2019s all it was,\u201d Shedeur said. \u201cAnd we just can\u2019t afford to keep doing it week by week. So we just got to look it up, look at the film, figure out what we keep doing wrong and what\u2019s the solution and just be proactive with the call.\u201d<\/p>\n Consistency on defense:<\/strong> CU is tied for the national lead with 10 takeaways and many of them have come at timely moments. But the Buffs have also given up a lot of points (30.3 per game) and yards (460.3 per game).<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re giving up too many yards, but I think those yards are attributed to the explosive plays and I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve done a very good job of playing sudden changes in the game,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cWhen things are going pretty good, you can take one series and it looks like, wow. And then something negative happens in the game, don\u2019t play quite as good. You\u2019ve got to be able to put the fire out when bad things happen and that\u2019s just part of football.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I do like is, they play extremely hard and they never lose their composure.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s been a trademark of the entire team to this point, which is a big reason why they are 3-0. But, they\u2019ve gotten to 3-0 despite some plenty of room for improvement.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone just needs to do their jobs at all times,\u201d safety Shilo Sanders said. \u201cI mean, it\u2019s football, and the name of the game is seeing who could make the least amount of mistakes. Whenever we just play a game where everyone does their job on defense and offense, then we\u2019re going to be the dominant team that we need to be and I think that\u2019s probably gonna happen this weekend for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"