It’s El Matador here to rap at you once again!
Ryan Staub is starting this Friday against Houston for dos reasons.
Primero, Staub throws a better deep ball than Kaidon Salter. Salter’s short and intermediate passing game is good but his deep ball is a work in progress. Because Salter has struggled throwing deep, defenses have adjusted. As a result, CU often faces 6+ defensive players in the box. Also, safeties are quickly running downhill against CU, which further bogs down the running game.
Enter Ryan Staub.
On the 71-yard TD pass to Sincere Brown, Delaware had 7 players in the defensive box. Staub saw this and knew Brown had 1-on-1 coverage outside. After a quick audible and a fly pattern, CU touchdown. Similarly, on the 37-yard pass to Brown later in the 3rd quarter, Delaware had 7 players in the box and Staub played to his strength with another audible. Another long pass and fly pattern and CU was in business again.
Staub’s ability to throw the long ball will open up CU’s running game because teams can’t leave players like Sincere Brown or Omarrion Miller or Joseph Williams 1-on-1 given the deep threat. This will mean more 4- and 5-man boxes for the running game, which should help Simeon Price, DeKalon Taylor, and Micah Welch and the running game.
For the game, Staub’s 15.7 yards per attempt dwarfed starter Kaidon Salter’s 6.4 yards per attempt.
Segundo, Staub is starting is because he’s been in the offensive system for 3 years and understands the system better than Salter or JuJu Lewis. Staub audibled several times on Saturday – including on the two long passes to Brown — and those audibles helped break the doors off the defense.
If you watch Well Off videos (or other videos from the CU Sponsored State Media), watch Staub in the front row of team meetings. He’s almost always taking notes. He’s a studious player, and it paid off on Saturday.
For the record, I still think Salter should play some on Friday. He has played pretty well over 2 weeks. Yes, he’s missed some throws (particularly when he’s scrambling and doesn’t set his feet) but he’s also made plays and has looked dangerous on occasion. CU’s coaches are going to ride the hot hand at QB right now, which I think is the right move, but CU needs to keep Salter engaged. He’s too good to mothball.
From a statistical standpoint, Salter finished the Delaware game 13 of 16 for 102 yards. He also had 9 carries for 25 yards. Staub was 7 of 10 for 157 yards and 2 TDs. Lewis was 2 of 4 for 8 yards.
About the Game…..
The game was closer than the score indicated. Despite CU winning 31-7, the total yardage gained was virtually identical (CU gained 398 yards and Delaware gained 396 yards). CU’s defense was bad, and the offense just wasn’t consistent until Ryan Staub entered the game. Let’s dive in.
Team Notes
- CU’s offensive line is still a work in progress. CU is running a lot of stretch zone and split zone. Stretch zone is a scheme where the offensive line steps sideways first and then upfield in an attempt to outflank the defensive line. Split zone is a zone run with a player — often Jordan Seaton — coming across the formation from the playside to kick out the backside defensive end or linebacker. Micah Welch’s touchdown was on a stretch zone to the left.
- Multiple times against Delaware, Delaware blitzed six players and ended up with a free runner at the QB because the running back and the offensive line didn’t communicate / correctly identify their assignment.
- CU’s top player up front has been Xavier Hill. Although he’s still not playing as well as he did last year at Memphis, Hill is CU’s best offensive lineman right now.
- Larry Johnson III is probably CU’s second best offensive lineman right now. He has the 2nd highest PFF score among CU’s linemen, behind only Hill. Johnson’s 66.3 PFF score is slightly above average. Surprising to some, Jordan Seaton is only CU’s 3rd highest ranked offensive lineman with a 64.1 PFF score. His pass blocking score is phenomenal (81.9) but his run blocking score is below average (53.3). This jives with what I’ve been seeing from Seaton – his run blocking is a big work in progress. It does make you question why CU’s twitter feed throws out tweets like this when there have been better offensive linemen this season:
Ay, Dios mio!
- Psst, Pat Shurmur. Quit running WR screen out of trips. It’s a dead giveaway. And CU’s wide receivers are terrible blockers. Quick note to coach Jason Phillips – it’s probably time for your WRs to start practicing blocking. It’s negligent that they don’t practice it and it shows on the field.
- Zach Adkins really struggles blocking. I’m surprised we haven’t seen Savell Smalls more given Adkins’ limitations in the run game.
- BuffsBlog has been beating down the doors telling people that Sincere Brown is the real deal. He showed it Saturday. He and Omarrion Miller have shown throughout fall practice that they are CU’s best wide receivers, although JoJo Williams is also impressive. For CU to make a run in the Big 12, we’ll need Omarrion Miller at full strength.
- CU’s running back room has looked better than expected. Each of Micah Welch, DeKalon Taylor and Simeon Price have looked dangerous running the ball. Price hasn’t met a player he doesn’t think he can jump over, and Taylor’s speed is a real asset. Regarding Price, though, did he really need to make this move to beat the defender? I lol’d.
- CU needs Drelon Miller to find his lost botin (that’s swag for you gringos). He’s struggled this season. I still think the highest and best use for Miller is how the San Francisco 49ers used Deebo Samuel. Line him up at “wideback” where CU can get the ball to him in space, leveraging his explosiveness for short-to-medium range plays and jet sweeps.
- Defensively, CU’s top ranked player is CB DJ McKinney (74.2 PFF score). Behind him is Jeheim Oatis (71.8 PFF score), Tawfiq Thomas (70.6 PFF score), London Merrit (70.6 PFF score and RJ Johnson (66.4 PFF score).
- Jeheim Oatis must really be in the doghouse with coaches. He played extremely limited snaps (8 snaps against Delaware) yet graded out very well again. I thought he was CU’s 2nd best defender against Georgia Tech but even in that game he only played 20 snaps. Quien sabe?
- Jeremiah Brown played more snaps than any other linebacker on Saturday against Delaware. It’s been quite a glow-up for Brown, who has tackled very well this season. His 81.2 tackle grade from PFF is CU’s highest and he’s playing the run at a higher level than any defender on CU’s team with an 80.1 PFF run defense score.
- Great to see Maraki Vickers back on the field on Saturday. Vickers, the Oklahoma transfer, hasn’t played football in nearly 18 months. The former national top 100 high school recruit is getting healthy, and Deion Sanders has mentioned that he’s pushing for a bigger role with the team. CU can use all the help it can get on the defensive side of the ball.
- Those that are struggling defensively include nickleback Preston Hodge (51.9 PFF score), linebacker Reginald Hughes (52.7 PFF score), safety Carter Stoutmire (57.3 PFF score) and Brandon Davis-Swain (57.3 PFF score).
- I’m going to continue to scream this from the mountaintops — the Georgia Tech loss isn’t a bad loss. They put up 680 yards against Gardner Webb with their backup QB and are just a 4.5 point underdog to Clemson, the #12 team in the country, this weekend.
- Last year, the Buffs averaged 8.1 penalties per game for 71 yards. Through 2 games, CU has averaged 4.5 penalties for 42.5 yards. Progress.
- Last, some special teams notes. Last year, the Buffs had 15 touchbacks all season. Thus far, the Buffs have 11 touchbacks through 2 games. Thanks, Boomin’ Buck Buchanan.
- Speaking of Boomin’, Damon Greaves’ 67-yard punt on Saturday was the longest by a CU punter since Alex Kinney had a 70 yard punt in 2017. Greaves also had a 63-yard punt on Saturday. Those are 2 of the longest punts by a Buff in the last 4 years. Greaves averaged over 50 yards on his 5 punts on Saturday.
Well, that about wraps up mi nformación exclusiva y los detalles internos. Remember to look for me at Folsom Field wearing the bright gold charro suit! If you’d like to learn more about CU’s new starting QB Ryan Staub, can I interest you in a click on this post…..
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Really nervous with how the defense played against Delaware. We are not seeing a dominant d-line like we expected to this year. There was a number of snaps where we did not get the pass rush I was expecting both in the Gtech game and Delaware. If anyone has any thoughts on carter stoutmire I would love to hear. He seems to struggle to tackle and be a bit flat footed? I would prefer Byard or slaughter out on the field. Maybe im off my rocker and hes our best option, any thoughts anyone has I would be interested to hear.
The defensive line (outside of Barnes and Walker) has underperformed relative to expectation. I think Oatis needs to play more.
Regarding Stoutmire, I think Carter is better when he’s closer to the line of scrimmage. He’s the size of some linebackers. Playing him as a deep safety probably isn’t playing to his skillset IMO.
Completely agree with the stoutmire comment. Would love to see Byard get some more burn, but I know that’s Benn’s position not stoutmire. Excited for the Houston game.