Posts tagged Ka Deem
Arizona QB runs over Buffs
Oct 27th
BOULDER – Colorado’s hopes of exiting October with a statement win in the Pac-12 Conference were flattened Saturday night by Arizona’s potent ground game. The Wildcats – specifically their quarterback – ran and ran some more, and the Buffs had no place to hide.
Behind a career-high 192 yards rushing by QB B.J. Denker and another 119 by tailback Ka’Deem Carey, low by his standards, the Wildcats waltzed to a 44-20 win at Folsom Field.
Denker ran for 192 yards against CU
Arizona (5-2, 2-2) amassed 670 yards in total offense – the third most in school history – with 405 of it on the ground. CU (3-4, 0-4) dropped a game below .500 and left its homefield still looking for its first conference win of the Mike MacIntyre Era.
“We just have to keep fighting and keep moving forward,” a disconcerted MacIntyre said. “It’s disheartening for the kids. They’re battling and just (short) a few plays here and there.”
The Buffs open November with a pair of difficult road games – at UCLA next weekend (5:30 p.m. MDT, Pac-12 Networks), followed by a trip to Seattle to play Washington on Nov. 9.
Denker, a senior who debuted as Arizona’s starter last season against CU, also completed 21 of 32 passes for 265 yards and a touchdown, giving him 457 yards in total offense – the sixth-highest output in school history. His 192 yards rushing is believed to be a school record for a QB.
“We couldn’t tackle the quarterback . . . we must have missed him seven times. Probably 200 yards of offense off of missed tackles on the quarterback,” MacIntyre said. He also said Denker “threw the ball better than I’ve ever seen him throw in every game I’ve watched him play . . . he came through, he did a great job.”
Arizona coach Rich Rodriquez said Denker’s performance “was big . . . they were loading the box to stop Ka’Deem and were going to have to take the ball up high. Obviously, B.J. running was a key.”
“I think we just weren’t keyed in to some of our responsibilities,” said CU defensive end Chidera Uzo-Diribe of Denker’s performance. “It was a big thing to make sure we don’t get him running, but obviously we allowed him to run.”
Carey, a junior who rushed for a conference record 366 yards last November in a 56-31 rout of the Buffs, scored four touchdowns Saturday night, giving him nine against CU in their last two meetings. He entered the night as the nation’s leading rusher, but his 119 yards were 42 below his average (161.0).
“We stopped Carey pretty good,” MacIntyre said. “He ran over us a few times, but he’s going to do that against everybody.”
Carey had a long run of 30 yards, but Denker’s long jaunt of 54 was a career-best, and Carey’s backup – Daniel Jenkins – had a 56-yarder en route to a nine-carry, 87-yard performance.
Slowing Carey was of little solace to MacIntyre, who said he was “very concerned” about his defense. “We played as hard as we can play. We just have to keep coaching them . . . there’s some good offenses in this league.”
CU freshman quarterback Sefo Liufau, making his first Pac-12 start, finished 17-for-32 for 212 yards and a 75-yard touchdown to Paul Richardson, who made seven catches for 132 yards. The Buffs managed 349 yards in total offense, 137 of them on the ground.
MacIntyre said Liufau “missed a couple of guys he could have hit (but) I thought he did some good things. He has to keep improving.”
Buffs placekicker Will Oliver kicked a pair of field goals, including a career-best 53-yarder. Oliver said his long kick “was the worst kick of the three . . . it’s always good to break PRs, but I missed the 52 (yarder), so it kind of takes away from it. It still feels good; I’m glad they trust me.”
But on this night, with the Wildcats running free and largely unchallenged, the Buffs needed sixes rather than threes against an opponent their coach believed they could not only compete against but defeat.
“We should have won the game,” MacIntyre said.
Indeed, the Buffs played the Wildcats toe-to-toe through the game’s first 271/2 minutes, even taking a 13-10 lead on Liufau’s 75-yard TD pass to Richardson and a pair of Oliver field goals that were set up by Arizona turnovers.
CU linebacker Woodson Greer recovered an Arizona fumble that led to Oliver’s 53-yard field goal – a career long – and tied the score at 10-10 with 14:50 left in the second quarter. Just under 5 minutes later, after Oliver was wide left on a 52-yard attempt, Denker was intercepted by Buffs safety Jered Bell, who returned the pick 26 yards to the Wildcats 49.
Seven plays later, CU had to settle for another Oliver field goal – this one a 48-yarder that pushed the Buffs in front for the first time, 13-10, with 5:07 left before halftime.
But the first half ended with CU failing to finish what had been a promising start and setting a disastrous tone for the second half.
Allowing the Wildcats two touchdowns in the first half’s final 2:28, the Buffs found themselves trailing 24-13 at intermission. Arizona got the first of those two scores on a 7-yard run by Carey, capping a nine-play, 75-yard march. Then, after Arizona’s defense forced a CU three-and-out, Carey ran 30 yards and Denker connected with slot receiver Nate Phillips, who got a step on Bell, for a 44-yard TD pass.
Those two late TDs were the Wildcats’ lone hints of offense after they had marched 88 yards on their opening possession and taken a 7-0 lead on Carey’s 1-yard dive – the 14th play of the drive.
CU tied the score on the long Liufau-Richardson scoring pass, then Jake Smith’s 37-yard field goal sent Arizona up 10-7 with 4:34 left in the first quarter. From then until their surge to end the half, the Wildcats were relatively tame – but the Buffs couldn’t take advantage.
Arizona ended the first half with a season-high 361 yards in total offense (210 rushing, 151 passing). Meanwhile, CU mustered 189 and converted only four of 11 third-down attempts. After rushing for just nine yards in the first quarter, the Buffs finished the half with 42. Carey’s first half work: 97 yards on 17 carries and two TDs. Denker added 44 yards on seven rushes but was just discovering his stride.
Needing a defensive stop to open the second half, the Buffs got a partial stop. Three plays – two of them runs by Denker that netted 65 yards – put the Wildcats inside the Buffs’ 10 with first-and-goal. But CU held Arizona to a field goal – a 26-yarder by Smith – then responded with its own 75-yard drive (nine plays) and pulled to within seven (27-20) on Michael Adkins II’s 1-yard plunge and Oliver’s PAT.
Back came the Wildcats . . . Carey scored his third TD of the night – another 1-yard dive – and Smith kicked Arizona ahead again by two touchdowns (34-20) with 7:55 left in the third quarter.
Back came the Buffs . . . just not far enough. Liufau, with the help of a personal foul (facemask) on Arizona cornerback Jonathan McKnight that nullified an interception, drove CU to the Arizona 4-yard line but no further. Liufau’s fourth-down pass to the end zone fell incomplete.
“The coaches have the best interest and know what’s best for the team,” Liufau said of the fourth-down gamble. “You never question the coach; you know, if they want to go for a field goal, onside kick, whatever the call may be. I think it was a great decision.”
After it was made, just over 3 minutes later, the fourth quarter began with the Buffs still trailing by 14 points.
And the end was beginning . . . CU attempted a fake punt at its own 15-yard line, with punter Darragh O’Neill trying to skirt left end but being hammered after a 3-yard gain to the 18. Carey needed two runs to cover that distance, scoring his fourth TD on a 6-yard run up the middle.
MacIntyre defended the fake punt call “because if you saw us playing defense, we couldn’t stop them and I thought it was a good place to try . . . he (O’Neill) was supposed to read it. We’ve had five on this year and we’ve punted all five. We thought we had a chance, he thought he had a chance and we didn’t get it.”
After Smith’s extra point the Wildcats were cruising, 41-20, with 14:30 remaining. He added a 28-yard field goal to make it 44-20 with 9:10 to play, and Arizona needed no more points to put this one away.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
[includeme src=”http://c1n.tv/boulder/media/bouldersponsors.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”670″ height=”300″]
Brooks: Day’s Need Was ‘D’ But Buffs Didn’t Deliver
Nov 12th
Release: 11/10/2012 Courtesy: B.G. Brooks, Contributing Editor
TUCSON, Ariz. – Colorado changed quarterbacks here Saturday in hopes of generating a little more offense – and the Buffaloes got a little more than in five previous Pac-12 Conference blowouts. Just a little ‘D’ was needed – but the Buffs delivered even less than that.
There are plenty of horrific stats being accumulated in CU’s waning 2012 season, but what happened in Arizona Stadium offers an ugly encapsulation: Arizona’s 574 yards in total offense was only the fourth-highest total by a CU opponent this fall. And the Wildcats’ 56 points were only the third-most allowed by the Buffs. But it was the fifth time a 2012 opponent has put up 50 or more points on them.
CU’s carnage by yards: Fresno State, 665; Oregon, 617; Arizona State, 593; Arizona, 574. The beatings by points: Oregon, 70; Fresno State, 69; Arizona, 56; ASU, 51; USC, 50.
CU’s defense has forgotten how to spell S-T-O-P. And as for stopping the run, well, check with Arizona’s Ka’Deem Carey, who spent as much time in CU’s secondary as the Buffs’ DBs.
Carey on, Ka’Deem – and he did, rushing for a Pac-12 record 366 yards and five touchdowns. He turned in a career-long 71 yarder, a 64-yarder, and accounted for 14 of the Wildcats’ 16 rushing first downs. When the Buffs closed their eyes Saturday night, they might have still seen Carey running past them.
And Arizona’s numbers could have been uglier. Backup quarterback B.J. Denker started instead of Pac-12 total offense leader Matt Scott, who sat this one out with a concussion. Scott accounts for 357.4 yards a game, and his expected absence, according to CU defensive coordinator Greg Brown, had the Buffs focused on dealing with Carey.
Brown called Scott a “tremendous player . . . sure, you’re looking at who might replace him. But we knew the whole issue was going to be (Carey). There was no secret. That was a big deal all week for us in our preparations. We had a certain goal to keep (Carey) contained and obviously didn’t happen.”
Brown said his unit had seen hours of tape demonstrating Carey’s ability to “break-kick” out of tackles. “That was no surprise,” he said. “Our defenders knew that going in. Coach (Rich) Rodriguez has implemented a great system and (Carey) fits that to a ‘T.’ With all those cutback runs, if you’re not in your gap then he’s going to hurt you. And he obviously hurt us to a huge extent.”
The Buffs couldn’t have slowed Carey with a restraining order, and the fact that they once again missed tackles and blew gap assignments compounded their long day of being run into the ground.
Junior linebacker Derrick Webb was at a loss to explain why he and his teammates continue to struggle against zone-read option offenses: “I couldn’t tell you that,” he said. “Every game plan we get we try to execute it. Coach Brown does a great job finding ways for us to combat the zone-read offense. It’s just a tough deal . . . you can’t do it nine out of ten times; that last time they’ll hit you and hit you hard for a bunch of yards. We’ve got guys playing as hard as they can; we’ve just got to be sound.”
On offense, it appeared they were getting sounder. The Buffs’ 31 points were their second most this season, behind the 35 they scored in the conference-opening win at Washington State nearly two months ago. CU also totaled 437 yards Saturday, second to the 531 at Wazzu and 361 more than the output the previous weekend (76) against Stanford. And those 31 points were a very nice upgrade over the zero scored against the Cardinal.
But in the interest of full Pac-12 disclosure, Saturday’s stats came against an Arizona defense that was allowing 497.3 yards and 35 points a game – ranking the Wildcats lower (No. 12) than the Buffs among the league’s defensive units.
So when the Buffs touched down here Friday, they meant to hit the ground running and passing under new quarterback Nick Hirschman, who was effective until leaving the game in the third quarter with concussion symptoms. Actually, he should have left earlier than he did; CU allowed two sacks, one coming after a groggy Hirschman forgot the play he’d called and wound up spun to the turf, according to Buffs coach Jon Embree.
“That’s how we start the third quarter,” Embree said, noting that a delay of game penalty on CU also was the product of Hirschman being woozy. “Those issues with the clock . . . we didn’t realize Hirschman had gotten dinged early in third.”
Other than that and an interception that eventually led to an Arizona score, Embree said Hirschman “managed the offense and gave us a chance on that side. He handled checks well; he had his moments.”
When Hirschman was sidelined, Connor Wood relieved him and also had his moments, although Embree said if Hirschman’s health permits he likely will start next Saturday against Washington. Of Wood, Embree said, “He was fine when he got in there. It’s just part of the growing pains with those guys . . . I’m pleased overall with how that position played this week. They did a lot better job of managing it, a lot better job of taking check downs. We had some plays downfield but weren’t comfortable . . . so they didn’t force it.”
But the afternoon eventually came back to the CU defense and its inability to slow Carey. Arizona scored on seven consecutive possessions spanning the first and second halves and was forced to punt only twice. Said Embree of his defense: “It was not a good performance.”
Webb pointed to “the same issues all season” surfacing again Saturday – pinpointing the Buffs allowing runners to hit the edge, successfully cut back and reel off large runs. Webb called Carey “a great back . . . he was able to cut it back. A couple of times guys could have been in gaps better (but) he found the gap and went for a long ways.
“The thing about the zone-read offense – it’s all about being sound. You can have ten guys playing their butts off, but all it takes is one gap – and he was able to find that gap. He was able to hit it hard and it’s off to the races.”
Scoff if you want, but Brown believes his unit has made improvement during the course of this wearing, one-win season. But, he conceded, “It’s hard to see . . . it’s really hard on a day like to sit there and talk about that. There are young kids who are getting better. We started five freshmen on defense; they’ve got to get better. But it isn’t just the freshmen; we’ve got to get better across the board. The accountability has to be there for all of us . . .”
Webb contended the Buffs’ ‘D’ still has something left for the season’s final two games – next Saturday vs. Washington, Nov. 23 vs. Utah, with both at Folsom Field. “We put it all out every game and that’s what we’re going to do these last two,” he said. “We’ve got a lot more to give, especially after a game like this. We always want to come back and be strong for the next week.
“Yeah, we have been (gashed). It’s been a tough season for us. As tough as it is, though, it only makes us stronger, as crazy as that may sound. We’ve been through a lot, but it’s all about how you come back and play the next game.”
After 10 mostly futile weeks, the ‘D’ has two more chances to improve. After that comes as long an off-season as CU has experienced. It isn’t what anyone expected, but it’s what is left of the remains.
[includeme src=”http://c1n.tv/boulder/media/bouldersponsors.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”670″ height=”300″]
