BOULDER — Colorado offensive line coach Gary Bernardi describes the challenge he faces with the patience of a parent who knows his kids aren’t trying to mess up.
“What am I going to do, rip a guy’s (rear) if he gets beat one time and he does it right 13 times?” Bernardi said of a young and injury-thinned unit that gave up eight sacks at Arizona State last week and five the week before against Oregon. “They’re playing hard and they’re doing a lot of good things. You’ve got to make sure to show them all the good things, too.”
Guards Danier Munyer (39 starts) and Kaiwi Crabb (23) graduated, replaced by an unsettled rotation of three players: Gerrad Kough, Jonathan Huckins and Shane Callahan. Left tackle Jeromy Irwin went down with a knee injury in the second game of the season. His replacement, Sam Kronshage, missed last week’s game against Arizona State because of a concussion.
Right tackle Stephane Nembot shifted to the left last week, although Kronshage returns this week. Redshirt freshman John Lisella, a Columbine graduate, started in Nembot’s spot on the right but was replaced by Callahan.
“It’s been a little bit of a chess match at times, but I’d really be frustrated if guys didn’t work hard and if it wasn’t important to them,” Bernardi said.
All of the shuffling has led to quarterback Sefo Liufau taking a beating. He has been sacked 17 times, one less than all of last season.
“Yes, guys are moving around and we’ve had some injuries, but you have to be able to adapt, study film, study hard, work on it in practice so that in games we’re prepared as well as we can be,” Liufau said. “I trust the guys. We played a rocky game (at ASU), not just the O-Line but everybody on offense. We have to learn from our mistakes.”
Pass protection isn’t the only problem. The running game has suffered too. After producing 215 yards against Hawaii, 390 against Massachusetts, 125 against Colorado State and 358 against Nicholls State, the Buffs were held to 77 by Oregon and 49 by Arizona State.
“You’d like to have five guys, (plus) one tackle and one guard that can rotate in, and you’ve got a good continuity,” said head coach Mike MacIntyre. “When you’re having to move guards to tackles and opposite left and right side, it sounds very simple but there’s some logistics. If you’ve always dropped with your right foot back, now you’re dropping with your left foot back. That sounds simple, but a guy (is) running at you at 270 pounds, breaking down your left arm and your right arm, and you get your foot turned the wrong way … That’s been tough, but I feel like we’ll be better than we were last week.”
Nembot said switching from right tackle to left made him have to rethink every play call.
“You have to think, ‘What do I usually do on the right side?’ ” Nembot said. “Also your footwork, the way you’re kicking, is not the same. You are used to kicking with your right foot, now you’ve got to kick with your left foot. It’s not hard, but kind of troubling sometimes. Do you write with your right hand? Now try to write with your left hand and see how it feels.”
Moving from guard to tackle, as Callahan had to do last week, presents challenges as well.
“Guards are big ol’ wide guys and tackles, they’re tall fast guys,” Callahan said. “Tackle, you have a lot more space to work with, so you’ve got to be a little bit more patient. Guard, you can be real aggressive because you’ve got two guys standing right next to you. I kind of had to readjust when I got back out there in space and be more patient, not attack, because those guys (defensive ends) are quick and they’re fast.”
Sacks have other causes, too: A quarterback holding the ball too long, a back missing a block.
“It’s no one man’s fault,” Callahan said. “We’ve all got to figure it out.”
John Meyer: jmeyer@denverpost.com or @johnmeyer
