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Early Mistakes, Trojans’ ‘D’ Doom Buffs
Nov 24th
By: B.G. Brooks, CUBuffs.com Contributing Editor
BOULDER – Southern California continued its mastery over Colorado on Saturday night, beating the Buffs 47-29 for its eighth consecutive win in the series and snuffing CU’s faint hope of reaching the postseason.
Their disappointing Senior Night at frigid Folsom Field dropped the Buffs to 4-7 overall (1-7 Pac-12) and sends them to Utah next Saturday to end their season. With an upset of the No. 23 Trojans, the Buffs would have moved within one win of bowl eligibility with the trip to Salt Lake City awaiting.
Now, Mike MacIntyre’s first CU team simply will try to end the season on an upbeat note. “To me this should be a fun week for us,” MacIntyre said, citing no classes because of Thanksgiving break, the focus on football, and the camaraderie he believes his players have established with each other and with his coaching staff.
“These young men, we have bonded with them and they have bonded with us,” MacIntyre said. “I’ve liked their effort, what they’ve done . . . they’ve been through a lot. It’s not always happened on the scoreboard for us, but we have made progress.”
“I think this year we’ve made incredible strides,” added sophomore receiver Nelson Spruce. “We’re on the verge of being able to compete in every game . . . I think we built a lot this year with this staff.”
CU’s seniors, said MacIntyre, “have helped this program move forward” and enabled him to chart progress in his first year. “But we need to start seeing more progress on the scoreboard . . . I’d definitely like to see that ‘W’ Saturday – just like Utah would.”
But in mid-20-degree temperatures Saturday night – the second-coldest game ever for USC – the Trojans showed the Buffs how much more work is ahead. CU, which has been outscored 277-76 by USC in their eight meetings, lost its 14th consecutive game to a ranked opponent. The Buffs’ last win against a Top 25 team was in 2009 against No. 17 Kansas (34-30).
USC (9-3, 6-2 – including 6-1 under interim coach Ed Orgeron) took advantage of a pair of late first-half turnovers by CU freshman quarterback Sefo Liufau to go ahead 23-0 at intermission. The Buffs converted a Trojans fumble into a score before the second half was a minute old, but never could generate enough offense to catch USC.
“I’m proud of how our guys kept fighting, kept battling,” MacIntyre said, “but we just couldn’t get anything going offensively in the first half.”
Playing only three quarters, Trojans quarterback Cody Kessler completed 19-of-28 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns. But USC did most of its damage with sophomore tailback Javorius Allen, who rushed for 145 yards and three touchdowns before given the rest of the night off midway through the fourth quarter.
Liufau finished 17-of-33 passing for 188 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception. His scoring passes went to Paul Richardson (5 yards) and Spruce (38). Richardson finished with eight receptions – all in the second half – for 88 yards and the score. Michael Adkins II led the Buffs in rushing with 63 yards on 13 carries (one TD).
MacIntyre said USC double-covered Richardson frequently in the first half, then went to more “quarters” coverage in the second half. “We were able to get him the ball a little more,” MacIntyre said. “And we moved him around a little more.”
USC outgained CU 449-312 in total offense, with just over half of the Buffs’ output coming in the fourth quarter. Through three quarters, CU had 150 yards of total offense against a USC defense that ranks second in the Pac-12.
“Their front seven was by far the best we’ve played,” Liufau said. “They got pressure on us and their defensive backs covered really well . . . they were always in the right spots.”
USC left top receiver Marqise Lee at home to nurse a shin injury, but the Trojans really didn’t need him. The Buffs had no success against the Trojans defense in the first half, and CU’s offense was far too generous to USC. The Trojans capitalized on the pair of Liufau turnovers – one fumble, one interception – to go ahead 23-0 at halftime and put the Buffs in an all-too-familiar hole.
“It was a combination of things,” Liufau said of CU’s lack of first-half productivity. “We didn’t get anything clicking at the beginning.”
“It was a lack of execution, the coaches had a good plan for us,” added Spruce, who made four catches for 52 yards – including his 38-yard TD.
Although they able to generate only 36 yards in total offense in the first quarter, CU had stayed close, trailing only 9-0 at quarter’s end. USC drove 71 yards in 10 plays on its first possession and went ahead 7-0 on Allen’s 12-yard run and Andre Heidari’s extra point kick.
With 1:04 left in the quarter, USC’s advantage went to 9-0 when Soma Vainuku blocked Darragh O’Neill’s punt out of the end zone for a safety. Still, the Buffs have seen much worse than a nine-point deficit after one quarter.
But midway through the second quarter, things did get worse.
Pulled down from the backside by defensive end Leonard Williams, Liufau lost the ball and USC end George Uko gathered it in at the CU 20-yard line. Five plays later, Allen scored his second TD, this one on a 1-yard run. The Trojans went up 16-0, but still more problems for Liufau and the Buffs awaited.
On CU’s next series, USC free safety Dion Bailey pulled in a Liufau pass that appeared headed for the Buffs bench. At their own 34, the Trojans had 2:34 – but no timeouts – to make a push for the end zone. They didn’t need the timeouts; Kessler took them the distance in eight plays, hitting receiver Nelson Agholor with a 20-yard scoring pass.
The Buffs were looking at a 23-0 deficit – and Richardson was still looking for his first catch – when the second half opened. USC outgained CU 206-73 in the first half, including 169-43 on the ground. Liufau completed only four of 15 first-half passes for 43 yards, and his two turnovers were costly.
CU needed a break – and got it – to start the second half. On USC’s first possession, Allen was stripped of the ball by CU safety Jered Bell, who scooped and scored with a 31-yard run. With Will Oliver’s PAT, the Buffs trailed 23-7.
If CU had a comeback in mind, a defensive stop was needed. It didn’t happen; USC went 75 yards on the ensuing possession, getting a 46-yard run from Allen and scoring on a 10-yard pass from Kessler to tight end Randall Telfer. The Buffs were again looking at a 23-point deficit (30-7) with 11:29 left in the third quarter.
Less than 5 minutes later, Allen took revenge on Bell, juking him with an outside fake and cutting inside on the way to a 23-yard TD. USC went up 37-7 and Allen went over 100 yards rushing (123) with his third TD of the night.
Less than a minute into the fourth quarter, Liufau and Spruce teamed for their 38-yard score, with Spruce taking the ball off the back of a USC defender at the 1-yard line and stepping into the end zone. Oliver’s extra point made it 37-14, but Heidari’s 39-yard field goal extended the Trojans’ margin to 40-14 with 10:14 to play.
A 30-yard Liufau completion to Richardson set up a 3-yard TD run by Adkins that got the Buffs to within 40-21. That was followed by a Liufau-to-Richardson 5-yard scoring pass and Liufau’s two-point conversion pass to D.D. Goodson that drew the Buffs to within 40-29.
CU attempted an on-sides kick, but USC recovered with 3:16 left and when Vainuku scored on a 52-yard run a minute later and Heidari booted the extra point, the night’s scoring and CU’s home season were done.
Now comes the final week week of practice and the season finale at Utah. “Coach said we could fall apart or end the season on the right note and go into next year,” Spruce said.
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It wasn’t pretty but CU men got a good win
Nov 19th
by B.G. Brooks
CUBuffs.com contributing editor
BOULDER – Colorado’s young Buffs are growing up, which means an occasional pain or two. For now, it’s nothing they can’t tolerate but it won’t stay that way much longer.
Ebbing and flowing Monday night at the Coors Events Center, CU alternately buried and revived Arkansas State before finally putting down the talented Red Wolves 93-70.
“Obviously, we’re happy with a 23-point win,” Buffs coach Tad Boyle said. “That was the good news. But I think again, like most games we’ve played this year, there’s a lot of things we can take from this one and learn from and get better from. And I think the thing that stands out for me tonight was defensive intensity.
“I thought we let up a little bit the first part of that second half, and part of that credit goes to Arkansas State. They’ve got good players; we knew that coming in . . . but we’ve got to have that killer instinct defensively. We let up a little bit and let them back in it. But we gained control of it and I was proud of our guys. There’s a lot of good things to build on.”
Let the construction work continue.
The Buffs (4-1) led by 18 points at halftime, by 20 in the opening seconds of the second half, then by only eight points with 13:30 remaining. Such are the mood swings for a team depending on four true freshman and a redshirt freshman for quality minutes.
CU ultimately took control against Arkansas State (2-2), which had lost 85-64 at Wyoming on Sunday, but it took a Spencer Dinwiddie three-pointer with 10:09 to play to restore a double-digit lead (68-56) and allow the Buffs to rediscover how to hit the accelerator. Dinwiddie, one of four CU players in double figures, had another fine floor game, hitting four of five field goal attempts (two-of-two threes) and three of four free throws for 13 points. He also had a game-high five assists and two steals.
But the Buffs’ high-point man was their growing low-post presence, Josh Scott, the 6-10 sophomore. His 20 points were one short of his career high. “They had a 6-7, although he was 250 pounds, and a 6-10 – but they were single-covering me and they weren’t digging hard,” Scott said. “If you’re going to give me that, I’m probably going to score. That’s pretty much all I can say about that.”
Also in double figures for the Buffs were freshmen George King (11) and Jaron Hopkins (10). Eleven of the 14 CU players in uniform scored, but for the second consecutive game the Buffs were without sophomore forward Xavier Johnson, who also missed Saturday’s game against Jackson State after being “dinged” in a late-week practice, according to Boyle.
Once again, Hopkins opened in Johnson’s place – and once again Hopkins was effective early, scoring five points on two free throws and a three-pointer in an 11-0 run that helped the Buffs open a 12-point (22-10) advantage. King also hit a pair of three-pointers during that surge and made good on a prophesy to roommate Tre’Shaun Fletcher.
“I noticed in warm-ups I wasn’t shooting the ball well, but in this one I focused on blocking everything out . . . . I told my roommate, ‘Fletch,’ I was going to hit a three in this game,” said King, who hit both of his three-point attempts as the Buffs hit nine for the second consecutive game.
But Boyle wasn’t necessarily pleased with that number, especially with the Buffs hitting only one of their first eight trey attempts and getting away from their offensive philosophy. They finished the half 6-of-15 from behind the arc and 9-of-23 for the game. Said Boyle: “I thought we got trigger happy in the first half with threes. We can’t live and die with those . . . we’re an inside-out team.”
Boyle previously had expressed a reluctance to have three freshmen on the court at the same time, but with Johnson out now for two games there is little choice at times. “I’d rather have it in a game like this,” Boyle said. “Hopefully in a couple of weeks I won’t look at them as freshmen. But our freshmen are growing up quick . . . tonight was another step in the right direction for them.”
CU trailed only once, allowing a trey by Melvin Johnson III – a 6-6 senior transfer from Texas-San Antonio – to open the scoring. Nothing out of the ordinary for Johnson; he entered the game having connected on 12-of-22 three-point tries in the Red Wolves’ first three games and was the team’s leading scorer (16.7 ppg).
He finished as Monday night’s leading scorer with 25 and teammate Brandon Reed added 21. But they were the only Red Wolves to score in the first half; their teammates went 0-for-13. Kirk Van Slyke, a 6-10 post, added 15 points, but aside from the Red Wolves’ brief second-half spurt they simply couldn’t keep pace with the Buffs’ mostly young guns.
CU pushed ahead 40-22 with 4:05 left before intermission, and at halftime, the Buffs were still up by 18 – 46-28. There was little reason to think the Red Wolves could catch up in the final 20 minutes, but they gave it a shot – a three-point shot. They hit five of their seven treys after intermission, pulling to within eight points twice before the Buffs decided ‘D’ might be necessary.
CU held A-State to 28.6 percent from the field (8-of-28) in the first 20 minutes, but 53.3 percent second-half shooting brought the Red Wolves to 41.4 percent for the game (24-of-58).
“I think we locked them up pretty well in first half . . . we chased them off the three-point line,” Scott said. “Coming out of the half, we didn’t find their shooters. They hit some good shots (but) we finally got locked in and got the win by a large margin.”
After Dinwiddie fed Hopkins for an alley-oop slam to open a 20-point lead (48-28) seconds into the second half, CU appeared to be cruising. But over the next 51/2 minutes, the Red Wolves outscored the Buffs 19-7, taking advantage of a familiar CU deficiency – perimeter defense.
A-State used four three-pointers during that span to pull to within 55-47 with just over 14 minutes remaining. But the visitors from Jonesboro, Ark., could get no closer than eight points the rest of the night.
The Buffs surged to a 25-point lead, 90-65, on a Beau Gamble-assisted Ben Mills stuff with 1:45 to play. Sophomore walk-on Brett Brady got the Buffs to 93 with a three-pointer in the final minute and the CEC crowd of 8,204 roared its approval.
Boyle wants the roaring – as well as the attendance – to increase. The Buffs’ six-game home stand begins to wind down Thursday when UC-Santa Barbara visits the CEC (6 p.m.). On Sunday afternoon (2:30 p.m.), Harvard visits, and Boyle said the Buffs need to “get our minds right” for both games.
“The last two weeks this team has gotten better,” he said. “You can feel it offensively and defensively (but) Santa Barbara is a different caliber team, Harvard is a different caliber team. We’ll find out in the next two games how great those strides have been.”
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
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Cloud on the electric utility horizon?
Nov 18th
The City of Boulder this afternoon asked the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to reconsider an Oct. 29 decision that would delay the city’s efforts to acquire Xcel Energy’s equipment and facilities for the purpose of creating a local electric utility.
The application for rehearing makes clear that Boulder concurs with many of the findings the PUC made on Oct. 29. The city remains 100 percent committed, for example, to working with the PUC on issues that are within the Commission’s jurisdiction and making sure that Boulder’s efforts do not negatively impact service or reliability for Xcel’s remaining customers.
However, there are some issues with which the city does not agree. In its filing today, the city asserts that the Commission transcended the questions it was asked to consider and issued an overly broad ruling that overlooked the powers granted to the city by the constitution. More specifically, the city argues that there are practical and legal reasons for the Commission to reconsider its conclusion that it has the authority to decide what assets Boulder can acquire. The city also explains more fully why it would be premature for the Commission to evaluate any transition plans until a condemnation proceeding has been initiated and discovery has been completed by the city.
“Boulder has no objection to, and in fact is eager to work with Commission staff to prepare the various plans necessary to make Boulder’s acquisition of the Public Service (Xcel) system that serves Boulder as cost-effective as possible, and to ensure that the electric system, both inside and outside of Boulder, is at least as safe and reliable as the current Public Service system,” Senior Assistant City Attorney Deb Kalish said in the filing. “However, Boulder has the constitutional and statutory right to determine which assets it will acquire and the timing of any condemnation action that may be filed.”
Heather Bailey, the city’s executive director for Energy Strategy and Electric Utility Development, said Monday that the PUC’s ruling with regard to these questions could have important implications.
“Boulder voters on Nov. 5 reaffirmed their desire to move forward with the creation of a local electric utility, provided that certain conditions can be met,” Bailey said. “Determining the order of the required proceedings – and the scope of authority for each deciding body – is essential to charting out both the timeline and necessary work plan for moving forward. We are hopeful that the PUC will consider the city’s arguments and help us gain clarity around these questions in a way that is consistent with Colorado law. We look forward to working with PUC staff and commissioners to address any concerns they have.”
The complete filing is attached to this press release.
–CITY–