Colorado Preview
September 29, 2009 12:59 PM | General
September 29, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Bill Stewart can’t figure out which Colorado defense to expect on Thursday night at Milan Puskar Stadium.
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| Linebacker Reed Williams had an interception during last year's game at Colorado.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
Will it be the one that shut out Wyoming 24-0, holding the Cowboys to only 13 first downs and 230 yards of offense? Or, will it be the one that was torched by Toledo, giving up 54 points and 624 total yards in a 54-38 loss to the Rockets on Sept. 11?
“Defensively, they are a little bit younger than they were last year although their linebackers have the age in the group,” said Stewart. “They played very, very hard against Wyoming and shut them out. We’re very much concerned about the Buffalos and hopefully we can have a good game on Thursday night and help represent the Big East.”
Youth and inexperience have been the two primary culprits for Colorado. The Buffalo defense has given up 1,230 yards and an average of 6.2 yards per play, but a whopping 61 percent of that offense has come on only 19 plays.
Blown coverages and missed assignments have accounted for 19 plays (12 pass and seven run) that have gone for 20 yards or longer. Against Wyoming, Colorado was much improved giving up just five plays of 10 yards or longer.
An area where Colorado (1-2) has not had any problems is scoring. The Buffalos have put up 38 and 24 points in their last two games behind the play of junior quarterback Cody Hawkins.
Hawkins is presently fourth in career passing at Colorado, trailing just Joe Klatt, Kordell Stewart and Koy Detmer with 5,338 career yards. Hawkins has completed 493 of 879 pass attempts with 41 touchdowns in 2 ½ years as a starter.
“This guy has winner written all over him,” said Stewart. “They were misfiring a little bit – everybody knows that. They’ve had some breakdowns, who hasn’t? Cody is a tremendous competitor. He understands exactly what his dad’s offense is about. He was reared in that offense way back in the Boise State days and we’ve got to keep him from making plays.”
In 2009, Hawkins has completed 71 of 135 passes for 753 yards and five touchdowns. He threw for 175 yards in Colorado’s last game against Wyoming. Hawkins’ longest completion this year was 41 yards to Andre Simmons.
The Buffalos have three receivers showing more than 13 receptions, with Scotty McKnight leading the way with 20 grabs for 227 yards and two touchdowns. Jason Espinosa and tight end Riar Greer both show 13 catches for averages of 10.5 and 9.2 yards per catch respectively.
Colorado has three exceptional running backs in Rodney Stewart, Darrell Scott and Demetrius Sumler. Stewart shows 165 yards and an average of 4.3 yards per carry. It was Stewart who burned West Virginia in last year’s game in Boulder by running for 166 yards on 28 carries. It was one of only nine times in the last 54 games that the Mountaineer defense has allowed a 100-yard rusher.
Hawkins fired a pair of first-half touchdown passes and 22 of 33 for 179 yards in a game the Buffs won in overtime 17-14.
West Virginia’s offense managed 311 yards rushing behind 148 yards and a pair of touchdowns by quarterback Pat White, but WVU had trouble converting short yardage plays and stumbled in overtime when kicker Pat McAfee missed a 23-yard chip shot.
“I watched that thing (Monday morning) and I got sick,” said Stewart. “I wished I wouldn’t have done it. I saw it last year and I saw it this summer. I’ve been in a bad mood ever since.”
This year, West Virginia (2-1) has revived its passing attack, throwing for 879 yards in its first three games so far against Liberty, East Carolina and Auburn.
“They definitely have juice at every spot,” said Colorado coach Dan Hawkins. “All of their guys can run. Last year was a close game and we were fortunate to win that game and hopefully we can do the same thing this year.”
Senior Jarrett Brown has thrown for 798 yards in three games – exceeding the three-game totals of Jeff Hostetler in 1983 and Marc Bulger in 1998. Brown has also completed 68.5 percent of his passes with five touchdowns.
“He is a little different than Pat and I think they are both very difficult in their own way, that’s for sure,” said Hawkins. “I think you have to run a little more with him throwing it down the field a little more. He can run for a big guy, too. You have to really tackle him – you can’t arm tackle him. He’ll run over you.”
However, Brown has thrown five interceptions and has fumbled twice in three games. In its last two games, West Virginia has turned the football over 10 times, including six that led to a 41-30 loss at Auburn on Sept. 19.
In that game, the Mountaineers took a 30-27 lead into the fourth quarter before self destructing. West Virginia threw interceptions on four straight possessions, turning a manageable deficit into an unmanageable one.
Noel Devine ran for 128 yards and scored three touchdowns while Jock Sanders caught a career-high 12 passes for 115 yards.
Devine is now ninth on the WVU career rushing chart with 2,236 yards. He needs 221 yards to pass Robert Alexander for eighth place.
Linebacker J.T. Thomas, who missed a good portion of last year’s Colorado game with a concussion, leads the Mountaineer defense with 22 tackles and 4 ½ tackles for losses. Corner Brandon Hogan shows 20 stops and two tackles for losses. Defensive end Julian Miller has 2 ½ sacks and four tackles for losses.
The defense should be bolstered by the return of middle linebacker Reed Williams, who missed the Auburn game with a sprained foot. Williams recorded an interception in last year’s game against Colorado.
Stewart said Monday that defensive tackle Scooter Berry is still questionable with a shoulder injury suffered in the East Carolina win.
“His shoulder is coming along. I don’t know how many snaps he will get but I can assure you big 16 (Brown) and 47 (Williams) will be in the lineup,” Stewart said.
West Virginia has won 15 of its last 17 night games at Milan Puskar Stadium, including a 6-0 record at home during Thursday night ESPN games.
“It’s one of those great places in college football that you want to go to,” Hawkins said. “The fans are very passionate and they get after it there, and it will be a night game with a lot of excitement and they will be chomping at the big to get back on schedule.”
Colorado, meanwhile, has struggled on the road under Hawkins. The Buffalos have lost seven in a row on the road dating back to 2007, have won only two road games in 3 ½ years and have an overall 2-14 road record since 2006.
Since 2007, the Buffalo defense has given up an average of 45 points per game on the road including 58 last year at Missouri and 54 earlier this year at Toledo.
“Colorado is a very dangerous team,” said Stewart. “They didn’t start off well but they kind of settled back to the basics, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.”
Game time is 7:30 p.m. with Colorado graduate Chris Fowler handling the call for ESPN. Craig James, Jesse Palmer and Erin Andrews are also on the broadcast.
Thursday’s game is one of at least five games that will air on either ESPN or ESPN2. It was announced yesterday that the Syracuse game has been picked up for television – either ABC regional or the Big East Network – while West Virginia’s game at Rutgers on Dec. 5 will be televised by ABC.
