Another competitive effort on defense, another broken-down performance on offense and yet another loss to start the Dan Hawkins' tenure.
Losing to Arizona State is no sin.
How the team is experiencing those defeats is the distressing element to many as the offense, while loaded with question marks to begin the season, was certainly not expected to be run over flat every Saturday.
We're talking Chuck Fairbanks bad right now as a team.
And the offense is as meek as they come, nationally.
Averaging under 10 points is almost unbelievable. Hawkins' reputation on offense wasn't built on scoreboard debacles like the ones in 2006. His reputation as a winning coach wasn't a result of three-week stretches like he has had as coach of the Buffaloes.
However, sooner or later, the heat is going to land on the shoulders of the coach, even this year. Hawkins is not likely to disappoint athletic director Mike Bohn or the school administration and the coach himself remains confident, at least publicly, knowing his blueprints for success are not the one-season miracle plan.
Maybe former coach Gary Barnett doesn't start 0-3 but know what? It doesn't matter. Barnett is no longer in charge of the football team. The late-season slide in 2005 was a major negative as were the off-the-field shenanigans during his time as coach, fair or not, and thus is the reason why he doesn't have the chance to be 2-1 or 3-0.
Hawkins will be granted a lot of leeway but the school, the fans, and the players would all like to see the required improvement to earn some wins along the way before this season closes, something to build on for the future.
To this point the offensive line has been a major disappointment, the quarterbacks inefficient and ineffective and the end zone appears to be as off limits as a strip club on a recruiting visit.
No matter how hard the defense plays, this team is going nowhere fast until Hawkins and Company get the offense out of the shop and rolling. This clunker of a unit has to start scoring points or Colorado could conceivably have its' worst record since Bill McCartney's early outfits.
Hawkins might, as school sports information director Dave Plati says, have some McCartney in him, which he will need to fend off the wolves if his team goes 3-8 or 2-9. Right now, that might seem far-fetched but really, who are the Buffaloes going to beat averaging under 8 points?
Maybe the offense really starts clicking, opens up the throttle and starts lighting up the scoreboard for 14-17 per game. Yes, then with the defense playing well, another victory or two might come CU's way but this might very well be a season to fall on the sword.
There is no white towel to throw in. The games have to be played. Unless the line starts living up to its' potential and unless a quarterback asserts himself, the running backs and receivers will be rendered useless and the defense and special teams will be responsible for scoring the Buffaloes' points.
That's not the way of past CU bowl teams.
Sunday Notes
Barnett talking
Former Buffalo head coach Gary Barnett got caught with his pants down in an Associated Press article written by Pat Graham, saying "It's hard for me to believe that the players that I no longer coach are 0-3."
What did he say?
Did it sound a little like "Hey, all I'm saying is that team wouldn't be 0-3 if I were still running the show, I can guarantee you that!"
Is that Barnett clocking Dan Hawkins, Mike Bohn or merely pumping himself up?
You decide. Black & Gold Breakdown has its' opinion.
Hawkins comes clean
Hawkins has been trying to keep the peace while the Buffs' offense plays raggedy yet also admits they keep score for a reason. In a Neill Woelk column in The Daily Camera, the head coach says "I know, it's big-boy football, and this was a loss."
Nothing more needs to be said for a moment.
Let it sink in.
No matter the excuses, a loss is a loss and they need to hurt, be accepted and lessons learned.
That said, Hawkins is a big-picture kind of fella, not a former NFL-coach Jim Mora, who was well known for having nuclear meltdowns after his team's bumbling, losing ways.
In the end, Hawkins was not hired to take the Buffs to the summit in one year. He knew, Bohn knew, everyone but the fans knew it wasn't going to be a Hollywood miracle in year one.
If character is revealed in adversity, Hawkins is showing some real integrity and class.
Of course, selling his story is going to get increasingly more difficult in a couple more weeks. A win here or there will stave off the fanatics for a while. This season will likely be more about establishing a culture, familiarizing the players with a new system, determining who can play and who can't and recruiting, recruiting, recruiting.
Charles no longer MIA
An offensive bright spot in the loss to ASU was the re-emergence of Hugh Charles. The diminutive running back busted out, running for 109 yards on 20 carries, showing glimpses of his finer moments a season ago and getting one of the known and better talents on the unit back producing.
His effort was the finest individual performance for the offense this season and a necessity if the Buffs are going to establish some consistency in it's attempt to get the ball into an end zone or two before the season ends.
Charles effectiveness will turn down the heat on opposing pass rushes, allowing quarterback Bernard Jackson to actually take a breath before being hounded or pounded into the turf when he drops back to pass.
Charles was an outsider to start the season, due to injuries and surprising ineffectiveness, as detailed by Daily Camera reporter Kyle Ringo in an interview last week on The Black & Gold Breakdown. Maybe Saturday was a step forward for Charles. Now the offense has something, anything, to build on for next week.
The Two-Plays Explanation
Hawkins continues to analyze the theory of his team's offensive ineptitude and the preach the promise of better days. He was quoted on the subject in an article by Ringo "We're going to have a day here when we do win, and you guys will say, 'What's the difference?,' Hawkins said. ""And I will say, 'Two plays.'"
O.K., I swear I've heard this now for three weeks. At what point do men, intelligent enough to gain admission to nit-picky CU, guys who have been practicing in the spring and fall and whom have played three games, start making enough plays to break the 10-point barrier on offense?
I mean schools less acclaimed academically are scoring more than 10 points in a game, right?
Maybe that CU education is overrated.
Something tells me it is much more than two plays not being made.
I mean, this is football, not the stuff of Nobel Prize-winning research.
Favorite son pondering
Quick, who is many Buff fans' favorite son?
Or whipping boy?
In the media?
That's him, you nailed it. Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post.
Not because of his lack of talent as he is a provocative read but because he is seen by many as unfair and heavily biased against the university.
Of course, he is still employed and has been for years so he must accomplish his and the paper's objectives.
His latest indulgence?
Thinking that Hawkins' son, a freshman quarterback, is the best at his position on the team and should, get this, be starting, soon.
Of course, the head coach is hearing none of that, refuting Kiszla with a sharp "no."
He knows that throwing his son out there is like throwing chum into shark-infested waters. He'd be eaten alive. And not only would he have to hear about that in the media and from fans, he'd have to witness it and worst of all, go home to his wife, and the quarterback's mother.
Bernard Jackson might be lacking right now, not all his fault, but he has been in the program, even if not taking reps at quarterback and that experience has to account for something. Additionally, he is mobile, more so than the younger Hawkins.
For now, Jackson is the best option.
Next season, who knows.
Kiszla, a smart mind, maybe jumped the gun on this one.
It should have been no more than a fleeting thought.
The number 7 ain't so lucky, is it?
The Buffs have now lost seven-straight games, the final four of last season and first three of this season. How far as this program fallen? Look ahead and pick likely wins on the schedule, a given that good-to-great programs do every year.
CU used to be one of those programs.
These days there isn't one contest the Buffs can say, "yeah, we should win that one."
Not one.
Not with an offense with an aversion to the end zone. Has anyone told them that the end zone is the dance floor, the key to BMOC status, girls, and riches? It's not English class or jail. It's not to be feared.
Georgia looms next and the consecutive-loss streak looks to grow. The time is now for CU to accelerate the learning curve and play to its' potential on both sides of the football, not just one.
Koetter complimenting
Yes, ASU coach Dirk Koetter once worked with Hawkins and yes coaches stick together like peanut butter and jelly but Koetter is not going to specifically and emphatically say the things he did about his friend if he doesn't mean it.
In an article written by Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post, Koetter says "Dan Hawkins is a heck of a football coach. Colorado made a very wise choice when they hired him, and he's just got to keep doing the things that he's doing."
Koetter knows what Hawkins knows. The CU job wasn't as ready-made as some would believe. It was a program that had gotten content and was slipping. It was also a program that couldn't keep up when sleeping giants Oklahoma and Texas woke up in the Big 12 and USC arose, reclaiming old recruiting hotbeds, leaving the Buffs without players who once came to Boulder.
Quotes, courtesy of Dave Plati's media relations department and cubuffs.com
Dan Hawkins: "Morale gets bad when people point fingers."
B & G Breakdown: He's right. Finger pointing is never the solution. However, acceptance, accountability, adjustments and improvement have to be part of the equation and right now, the adjustments and improvement being made and seen are questionable. That said, if all those are being discussed, then encouragement, a Hawkins' specialty, is powerful. Without confidence, not much great is accomplished.
Hawkins on Hugh Charles: "He's showing up."
B & G Breakdown: Charles has to play well if the offense is going to go anywhere this season. He has one of the few players on that side of the ball with the speed and big-play ability so sorely missing and necessary on a unit lacking in playmakers. Whatever it was, injuries or ineffectiveness, as Kyle Ringo discussed here last week in an interview, Charles was a non-factor until ASU. Now he has the coaches attention. Now is the time to build on that success.
Hawkins talking quarterbacks: I like Bernard (Jackson) in there and what he's doing. We've got a true freshman. He's a true freshman. You put Cody (Hawkins) in there and he goes through the same true freshman mistakes that Bernard goes through. Bernard can control it. He's got the legs and he's made more plays this week than he did last week. The (play) package was bigger this week and he probably had a few more errors than he did last week."
B & G Breakdown: The words that were interesting was the comment about the game plan being bigger this week, backing up what Hawkins said last week about not waiting for the quarterback's to catch up, that the coaching staff was going to push the envelope, as Hawkins said. They're doing that right now. It also says something about the confidence they have in Jackson and the confidence Jackson has in himself, to move forward. The positive results aren't there yet but they could be in a few weeks. The scoreboard is the grade.
ASU coach Dirk Koetter: "Tonight was about the Sun Devil defense. When you hold any team on their home field to three points, you're going to win a lot of games. My hat is off to the Sun Devil defense, they dominated tonight; they did a great job."
B & G Breakdown: O.K., coach, you deserve to crow as you whipped CU in their backyard. However, saying you dominated the skinny kid on the block doesn't exactly carry much weight. This isn't a high-scoring offense with NFL types anchored everywhere. There ain't no sizzle going on reminiscent of days past. Yes, ASU might be a strong defense but don't carried away until you lock it up with a team like USC, Oregon or UCLA, boys who can actually make you break a sweat.
Buff linebacker Jordon Dizon on morale: "It's great. After we come out from a loss, Coach Hawkins and his words are so contagious. He comes out and picks us up. My heart is full of love for him and for this game. It doesn't feel like I lost tonight."
B & G Breakdown: So much love, so few wins. Do you think you hear "It doesn't feel like I lost tonight" coming out of Bob Stoops' or Charlie Weis' locker rooms this weekend? I imagine you want to hurt a little and feel like you lost after a defeat. Losing should be a little painful. Yes, I understand the context in which Dizon is speaking, and if Hawkins can keep it light during a stressful time, that can be beneficial. He does, however, have to keep the program moving in the right direction, making fewer mistakes and more plays each week. Last I checked, Winston Churchill and Bill Clinton were known to be great speakers and neither of them ever won a football game. In the end, its' about execution. That isn't a talent issue, that is coaching and accountability from the players.
Dizon on the team goal: "The Big 12 is still up there. It's a longshot but it's up there."
B & G Breakdown: Did I just read that accurately? The Big 12 season, which CU has yet to begin, is a longshot? So Dizon is conceding that this team is not going places? Hey, I agree with him but hearing it from a player before a game is played is somewhat surprising, don't you think?
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