Boulder – After each game and practice, Colorado coach Dan Hawkins puts pen to pad and writes down all the things he believes need fixing in his football program.
It’s a long list.
“I’ll probably, after every weekend, have somewhere around 80 things I’d like to see fixed,” Hawkins said.
Colorado’s 0-5 start this season has been a shocker to everyone. As the Buffs head into Saturday’s game against Baylor, they stand two losses from tying the 1980 team for the worst start in school history. The Buffs’ nine-game losing streak (dating to last year) is the longest since the school-record 10-game skid in 1963-64.
Some will blame a talent drain, and that has been an overall issue in recent years as more and more higher-ranked recruits have not signed with CU. But this team still has two Butkus Award candidates (linebackers Jordon Dizon and Thaddaeus Washington), a Rimington Award candidate (Mark Fenton), two Outland Award candidates (Fenton and Brian Daniels) and a Lou Groza Award candidate (Mason Crosby). The bulk of the players (45 lettermen, including 12 starters) who led CU to a Big 12 title game berth last season are back.
But these Buffs have been slow to get the details. Learning has taken longer than expected, and the mistakes made have cost them wins. Coaches have accepted the blame for that.
“Nobody wants excuses, and I don’t either,” Hawkins said.
If Colorado is to turn losses into victories this season, there are the four areas that must improve.
Offensive line
According to Hawkins, the offensive line (along with the quarterback) is perhaps the most critical area in affecting the efficiency of an offense. At Colorado, the guys up front have just started to come together in recent weeks. From early-season, coach-spotted trouble spots – such as missed assignments to blocking the wrong person to not making the correct line calls – things are getting better.
“The efficiency of the O-line, which affects the running game and the passing game, has improved,” Hawkins said. “You’re starting to see the O-line get on the same page and be a little smoother in terms of what they do with schemes.”
As a result, Colorado has run the ball better, going from 133 yards against Arizona State to 173 against Georgia to 183 against Missouri. Quarterback sacks are still an issue (17, including four at Missouri), but the line’s steady cohesion has allowed the Buffs’ offense to operate more efficiently.
“We’re getting a better understanding of the defenses that we’re approaching and kind of the way the coaches work and how they want the offense to work and how different plays work together,” center Bryce MacMartin said. “I think we’re finally starting to build that chemistry that’s going to take us to that next level.”
Special teams
Field position matters, particularly to a fledgling offense with a first-time starting quarterback. Hawkins has made a career of putting extra emphasis on the importance of special teams and it hasn’t come through as he’d hoped so far.
“It’s that whole idea of when you play special teams, it’s as important as any other down, probably more important because of the yardage exchanged,” Hawkins said.
But returns have failed CU. Colorado ranks last in the Big 12 in kickoff-return (18.1) and punt-return (4.2) average. It has started 21 drives inside its 20-yard line, just six short of the 27 times it started inside its 20 all of last season. As with other positions, coaches say small mistakes are hurting the big picture.
Punter Matthew DiLallo likely has a productive career ahead of him. But the redshirt freshman punter has had some forgettable moments, which have included shanked punts and missed snaps, that have set opponents up with short fields. His 43.6-yard average is decent, but he’s struggled to come up with a field-position changing big kick in many critical situations.
Meanwhile, Crosby started the season by missing three of his first six field goals. And though the shortest attempt was from 57 yards, it is his past accuracy from long range that in part made him a preseason All-American.
“Missing three was more than I wanted to do all year,” Crosby said. “My kicking is not where I want it yet.”
He is 7-of-11 in field goals this season, with one kick having been blocked due to the combination of a low kick and poor blocking.
“For the most part, they’re just not going in,” he said. “You’ve just got to keep kicking and trust it.”
Awareness
If it is third-and-7, the expectation is the receiver will run a route past the first-down marker to ensure he has the yards before the catch. If the play calls for an offensive lineman to block his defender to the outside, it needs to be executed.
Reasonable? Sure.
It just hasn’t always been done.
“There’s some of those things that you have to get right back down to base level of where it’s at and kind of go, ‘OK, let’s build from here,”‘ Hawkins said.
Hawkins has lamented at times on the players’ play-to-play focus. That lack of attention to detail has cost CU yards on offense or the ability to stop teams on defense.
“Still, here and there, guys are not finishing, that’s the type thing that kills drives,” MacMartin said. “We’ve got to make sure that we’re executing and finishing and making sure everybody is doing their job on every play. That’s the thing, just being consistent. The coaches are emphasizing finishing and making sure that everyone’s playing to the whistle.”
Quarterback play
Bernard Jackson’s willingness and dedication to learning the intricacies of the position, in addition to the offense, have been admirable, Hawkins said.
“Nobody has worked harder at trying to increase his knowledge and awareness of what’s going on than that guy,” Hawkins said. “I give him full credit for that. He is busting his fanny learning.”
His week-to-week productivity shows that. But the junior has to be better for Colorado to start winning. Jackson, who took over as starter in CU’s game against Colorado State in Week 2, has thrown for 486 yards and is the team’s second-leading rusher (218 yards). He has averaged 11.3 yards per completion.
Offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich would like to see Jackson’s completion percentage (51.2 percent) improve. He has been better about not taking sacks, and the next area of emphasis is throwing a consistent deep ball, which started to happen at Missouri.
“I always talk about to our quarterbacks, ‘When the ball hits your hands. When the ball hits your hands there has to be zero doubt of what you’re thinking,”‘ Helfrich said. “Every week we’re going to have a new game plan in terms of there’s going to be some different words, some different routes or whatever that kind of fit a general package. I’m sure being a quarterback he’s still thinking in terms of his high school offense, then in terms of the previous offense, then in terms of our offense.
“It’s just a matter of seeing through that precipitation to get to that clear picture.”
Staff writer Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
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GAME BREAKDOWN
Players to watch
Colorado (0-5, 0-1 Big 12): In a week when Colorado needs all of the secondary depth it can muster, losing senior safety J.J. Billingsley to a torn meniscus hurts. Junior Lionel Harris replaces Billingsley as starter.
Baylor (2-3, 1-0): Quarterback Shawn Bell is an unknown to most, but the senior has been solid throwing. He has at least one touchdown pass in seven consecutive games (dating to last season), and has thrown for at least 200 yards in seven straight.
Key stat
Baylor has not won a conference road opener since a 47-7 win over Houston in 1995. BU is 0-10 in Big 12 conference road openers.
Key for Baylor
Balance. The Bears are good through the air, but atrocious on the ground, averaging 27.4 yards per game rushing. If BU can get its running game to be at least decent, that will open up more in the passing game and not allow CU to indiscriminately rush the quarterback.
Key for Colorado
Points. Once again, the object of the game is to score more than the opposition. Colorado has found points hard to come by, never scoring more than 13 in a game this season.
CHRIS DEMPSEY
