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September 12 Sheet
Washington State at
Colorado (Under 51) - 12:30pm Pacific
The Cougars are now coached by Bill
Doba, their former defensive coordinator. Doba is defensive
minded and slightly more conservative than former coach Mike
Price. WSU is not running as many four and five WR sets as they
have in years past. Washington State has a solid but not
spectacular first year starting QB in Matt Kegal. He is
attempting to replace the school's all-time leading passer in
Jason Gesser. Two of the top three receivers from last year
departed. The Cougars feature two talented, bruising runners in
seniors Jermaine Green and Jonathan Smith. What all of this means
is a much more conservative game plan utilizing the strong running
backs and controlling the clock with short passes. Last season,
WSU beat Idaho 49-14, this year they won 25-0, big difference. 55
points were scored in last weeks Notre Dame loss, but 20 of those
were direct results of turnovers and 3 more were scored in
overtime.
Following the shutout (not an easy
task) of Idaho in week one, the WSU defense was solid vs Notre
Dame allowing only 9 points until a 4th quarter fumble put a tired
Cougar defense right back on the field and set up an Irish
touchdown. The Cougar defense notched 7 sacks and held Notre Dame
to just 4-of-16 on 3rd down conversions. Sophomore punter Kyle
Basler (Pac-10 honorable mention as a freshman) is a good one that
often pins opponents inside their own 20.
Colorado only returns three starters
from last season on offense. They have a good looking young QB
in sophomore Joel Klatt who has led them to two victories but he
is still very inexperienced. He completed 21-of-30 passes vs UCLA
last week but only averaged 7.5 yards per completion with a long
of just 18. The offensive line has four new starters and is shaky
at best. They have already given up 10 sacks through just two
games. This is another offense that would love to control the
clock with runs and short passes. CU had a 10 1/2 minute time of
possession edge on UCLA last week despite averaging just 3.1 yards
per play.
In the preseason, talk was that this
would be CU's best defensive unit since 1996. After giving up
500+ yards and 35 points in week one to instate rival Colorado
State, the unit regrouped and showed what they are capable of last
week. The CSU game was the first of the season and was played in
a rainstorm. Last weeks performance vs UCLA is much more
indicative of how good this defense really is. They did catch a
bad break losing senior DE Maques Harris to a leg injury for the
season but they only allowed 38 yards rushing on 30 attempts vs
the Bruins. The front seven will still be strong. The
secondary gets a boost this week with the return of senior strong
safety Clyde Surrell who is back after serving a two game
suspension. UCLA scored 14 points last week but probably should
not even have scored that much. Both of UCLA's touchdown drives
started in CU territory. One needed a 3rd & 30 conversion and the
other was a 42 yard TD pass. Both were defensive breakdowns that
CU does not expect to repeat.
Right now, the defense is clearly the
strength of this Colorado football team. Washington State is a
bit more balanced, but with new defensive minded coach I will say
defense is their strength right now as well. WSU is coming off
heartbreaking road loss at Notre Dame (hometown of coach Doba) and
will be playing their second consecutive road game. Cougars will
have some level of flatness. With CU playing at home, the
Buffaloes should be able to control the tempo of the game and keep
WSU's offense off the field. Both teams feature first year
starting QB's. Both teams want to be successful running the ball
and controlling the clock. Both defenses are solid. Take the
under.
Under 51 1 UNIT
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