Sunday Rips, quarterbacks and receivers

O.K., we know Oklahoma is still OU and Colorado's offense has been driving blindly all season but come on, was it really as poor as it looked last night?

The numbers don't always tell the entire story but you add the numbers to what my eyes saw and the answer is "yes," it was that bad.

Then today, Kyle Ringo's story in the Daily Camera, shined the light on a major issue.

"(Coach Dan) Hawkins and offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich both said the team's passing problems can't be solely can't solely be placed on (quarterback Bernard) Jackson's shoulders," Ringo writes. "Receivers must do a better job of getting open."

Why is it this group is not getting open? Were they not deemed Big-12 caliber players when recruited? Why have they been such a small factor in the offense this season?

Or is it the coaches deciding to deflect more heat from Jackson, who simply struggles to read defenses, period?

Whatever the difficulty, it is shocking that it is unresolved eight weeks into the season. I'm starting to believe that Jackson will not be the starter next season, that Cody Hawkins or juco verbal Nick Nelson is going to be the man.

Jackson cannot be expected to be a star with receivers who hardly resemble Michael Westbrook, Mike Pritchard, Charles Johnson or Rae Carruth but to struggle this long into the season presents serious questions.

To be fair, not many quarterbacks last night were going to look pretty without the benefit of a running game, the biggest disappointment, offensively. Of course, you could say if Jackson made the Sooners pay with his arm, the running game could have been more productive.

Jackson's comments in Ringo's article were also telling, and disturbing.

"I don't know what it is really," he said. "It's not my position to say what the problems are."

O.K., enough, Bernard. Translation, anyone? How about him saying "I don't know what it is really?" Meaning, well, who does, and if not him, then maybe that says it all, as in he doesn't see what he needs to see! Next, not his position to say? Meaning, it's not his fault, it's the receivers.

Receiver Dusty Sprague, um, disagrees.

"As a receiver, you always think you're open," Sprague said. "It takes 11 guys to throw the ball."

So Sprague sees it as the offensive line and quarterback's misdeeds?

This team is frustrated. Do you see it?

There needs to be a higher-grade of receiver next season and Jackson, it says here, is unlikely to hold off Cody Hawkins unless he gets better pass catchers and proves that was the problem this season.