Boulder – It’s probably too bad former Colorado wide receiver Cliff Branch doesn’t have any eligibility left.
When the Buffaloes open the 2006 season against Colorado State on Sept. 9, they might resemble the Oakland Raiders of the 1970s. Like Raiders owner Al Davis, new Buffs coach Dan Hawkins is a big believer in the vertical passing game, set up by a power running attack.
The Hawkins-coached offense doesn’t attack opponents so much as it attacks the end zone. That’s why Boise State averaged 37.3 points a game this season and was second nationally in scoring a year ago, at 48.9 points per game.
“When you look at offense, I think you have to run the football,” CU’s new coach said. “We’ve been one of the top scoring teams in the country, but we’ve also had 1,000-yard rushers. This year we didn’t, but we were one of the top rushing teams in the country. You’ve got to run the ball, and you’d better have a physical style of running the football.
“Now the part where we’re maybe a little bit different is I’m all about throwing the ball vertical. And I’m not afraid to take some chances and do some funky stuff.”
That description matches what Will Hoenike, sports anchor for KIVI-TV in Boise, says he has seen the past several years.
“He’s just really good at exploiting weaknesses,” Hoenike said. “What makes it fun is he doesn’t limit himself with the conventional stuff. He’ll run a lot of spread stuff with four or five wide receivers or he’ll run two backs and two tight ends, and then he’ll hand the ball off to a wide receiver up the middle.”
Scoring a lot of points usually will win a lot of games, and Hawkins has a 93-21-1 record in 10 years as a head coach. His final game at the helm for Boise State is Dec. 28 against Boston College in the MPC Computers Bowl. And while his offense has garnered the headlines, Hawkins said any success in football starts on the other side of the ball.
“I think there’s some fundamental things that all great football teams do,” he said at his introductory news conference. “One, it starts on defense. You better be able to stop the run. You better not let people run the football on you. You’ve got to take away the big play. You’ve got to be able to create turnovers.”
After stopping the run, and being able to run, Hawkins’ philosophy leans toward all-out aggression.
“You know we’ve been accused a little bit sometimes of running it up on people, and I always laugh about that because it’s like, ‘OK, the game is 60 minutes long, so does that mean we slow it down? Is that what you want as a fan? We’re up 35-7 in the third quarter, so we just take a knee every time?’
“We’re going to play our guts out from the opening kickoff until that official picks that ball up and puts it up in the air. And we’re not going to worry about the score. We’re going to go. We’re going to go as hard as we can go and as fast as we can go.
“That typifies my philosophy. We’re going to get our guys on the attack.”
Staff writer Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
