BuffZone.com writer Pat Rooney discusses three topics on Buffs athletics.

Opening foibles

In another era of college football, there was an adage that teams with potent running attacks “got off the bus running the ball.”

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders got off the bus paying lip service to the run game. In a pregame interview with NBC as the Buffaloes arrived at Memorial Stadium, Sanders’ first response to the question of what his team needed to achieve that evening was, “We want to come out and run the ball.”

Maybe it was a lame attempt at a strategic sleight-of-hand, but it wasn’t a new theme. The Buffs overhauled the running back room to improve the run game. The Buffs overhauled the offensive line to improve the run game. They changed offensive coordinators to Pat Shurmur, who talked during the preseason of needing more balance on offense. Sanders himself has touted the improved run game set to be on display in 2024.

Not only was none of it true, but there seems to be no more effort being put into making a run game happen than last year. Take Exhibit A, the opening drive at Nebraska.

On first down, the Buffs tried to slip a wide receiver screen to Travis Hunter, who was part of a trips (three receiver) formation bunched to the short side. But throwing that pass into the short side made things easy for gargantuan 6-foot-6 Nebraska defensive lineman Ty Robinson, who didn’t have to cover much ground to bat down the attempt (Note to Shurmur: the hash marks are wider in college football than they are in the NFL). On second down the Buffs tried a similar play to the wide side, but LaJohntay Wester dropped the ball. Shedeur Sanders was sacked on third down.

Coaches will tell you those plays are designed to get play-makers the ball in space. That’s true. They’ll also say those types of plays — safe, low-risk throws — often serve as de facto run plays. That’s also true. But they’re NOT running plays for a reason. Much more can go wrong when you put the ball in the air instead of handing it off. For instance, passes can be batted down or dropped. Quarterbacks can get sacked.

Even if you net only three or four yards on a pair of handoffs instead, there are plenty of benefits. It’s a more manageable third down, where shorter catch-and-run plays and the legs of Shedeur are more viable options. An offensive line already under pressure to produce comes out of the chutes trying to be aggressor instead of blocking for finesse plays. Not running the ball until a childishly predictable fourth-and-1 attempt at the end of the second drive isn’t at all making an effort to get the running game going.

Mulligan

The struggles of the offensive line only magnified a rare bad game from Shedeur Sanders. Probably his worst with the Buffs.

Sanders’ first career pick-six — a 7-yard interception return by Tommi Hill that gave the Cornhuskers a 14-0 lead — saw Sanders stare down one side of the field before delivering a ball doomed to hang in the air far too long. Shedeur often gets criticized nationally for holding on to the ball too long. That’s one I’ve never been on board with — it’s hard to get rid of the ball quickly when you’re often running for your life before you even set up — but that absolutely was the case on his third sack. On the first play following the interception, Shedeur escaped initial pressure and rolled right. Travis Hunter was open short and Sanders had plenty time to either throw the ball to his best receiver or throw it away. Instead, he took a damaging five-yard loss on first down.

By no means was Shedeur Sanders the leading culprit in a 28-10 loss. But he picked a bad time to have a rare bad game.

Huh?

Two postgame quotes raised eyebrows, one apiece from a different Sanders.

From coach Deion: “Rarely do you have a great running offense and a great passing offense. One is going to have to be the lesser of the two.”

From quarterback Shedeur: “You’ve got to understand what your team is good at. Why would we keep running the ball if, OK, we’re out there and we get in a situation where it’s a must-get and we don’t get it?”

In terms of Coach Prime’s quote, absolutely no one expected the Buffs to boast a great run game. It just needs to exist and be part of the toolbox instead of remaining an empty void in the game plan. Even a rusted out hammer can pound a nail into place or, in this case, grind out a few tough yards.

And in regard to Shedeur’s assessment, if the Buffs already know they can’t run the ball, then it probably has been a miserable display trying to get one going at practice all these weeks. And if that’s the case, Buffs fans should brace for a long season.