Sunday breakdown, post-game quotes

When I hear or read stories, when I read post-game quotes, my ears hear white noise and my eyes glaze over at most of what comes my way but every so often, sirens go off, lights flash and something happens.

My attention is gained and my curiosity stimulated.

Boss Hawkins woke me up this weekend when he reiterated, only in different words, how he has seen and been through a mess like this season, before, and how he knows how to change the won-loss record.

"If you have a formula, if you have a plan that's been used many times before and you understand that plan, then you can have a lot of confidence. And I do," he said.

Many think that Hawkins is just willy nilly and hoping the fortunes change. Not true. The man has a plan, is implementing it, is as impatient as the followers of the program and knows it takes time. He knows he needs to make changes and he knows he can't make them all right now, all this season. It will take time to play doctor and make it all feel better.

I will give Bernard Jackson credit, for both his physical talent, which is significant, and his unfailing belief in himself, no matter how poor his offense and team is playing.

"I'm still learning, this is my first year playing in games at CU, so I am still learning. I just need to stay patient and to remember to play within the offense," he said.

What is extremely bothersome, however, is the seeming acceptance of continued mistakes. Here, Jackson discusses red-zone "issues."

"A guy may miss a block here, miss a block there. Myself making a wrong read, so forth and so on," the quarterback lamented.

So forth and so on? Blah, blah, blah? Come on now, 10 games into the season and the same mistakes are still being made and all that can be said is something akin to "hey, it happens, you know?"

In the end, it appears too many players are being of the same mindset. "Oh, well, we played hard, competed and were close. We did all we could do."

Talent is deficient, but 1-9 is something that never should have happened. This team was not set up to be a power this season but wins have been left on the table. Saturday wasn't one of them, but with the problems within this team, don't expect to see more than the no. 1 showing in the win column at season's end.



*quotes courtesy of cubuffs.com