Triple Overtime!
Hello Bear Fans!
I was fortunate enough to be at the Colorado game this past weekend! The excuse was to visit my step-brother and his family in Ft. Collins for my nephew's birthday. However, the real reason was to go to the Baylor game in Boulder. What a thrilling game! You would think that all the games I've been through with the 'Cardiac Cubs,' I would be used to the edge of your seat nervousness... NOT! 3 OTs!! Unbelievable!
Well, there are a few things that I observed this past weekend (good and bad) and here are my thoughts...
BAD:
We are still committing way too many stupid mistakes (penalties). We will be driving the ball good and then shoot ourselves in the foot. How does an OL get a 15-yd facemask penalty!?! Back-to-back penalties. Things like that.
Our Offense is still too sporadic. We are continually making improvements. We are putting good drives together. However, we barely have any kind of running game (that just sounds funny to say, talking about Baylor). Still too many 3-and-outs. It's just still too inconsistent. We have not clicked and played on all of our cylinders yet. We need to stretch the field a little better too before we can get to that point.
Special Teams: They seem to do more harm than good. Too many turnovers when we are receiving the ball.
GOOD:
Once the Offense clicks, we could be dangerous. Bell seems comfortable with the new offense. He can hit the receivers. I think we have made improvements every game.
The Defense! They have kept us in every game so far, even when the offense has not been there. Although our rushing defense could improve*, we probably have one of the best secondaries around. I was a little worried about how we would hold up in the thin air of Colorado, but the guys hung tough!
*{CU's QB did more running than throwing. He was a squirrely runner that gave us fits all day.}
Sepulveda... I've never seen a punter that can 'flip' the field like he does. An early punt was kicked against a small wind and was caught ON THE FLY. It was either the 62 yarder or the other 50+ punt! It did NOT take a Baylor bounce and roll 20 yards. This comes from a guy that had ACL surgery in April... this April! Hello, Ray Guy?
Overall, the thing that most impressed me was that we FINISHED the game. There was NO signs of discouragement all the way through the 3rd OT. None whatsoever! That had been a problem up until this game. Two years ago, heck even last year, we would not have been able to win that game. Secondly, we CAN put multiple drives together for a score. 3 Overtime drives should say that alone, but we were doing it for most of the game before that. Bell's now record of 200+ yards/game should continue through the rest of the season. Yes, I said that right.
The refs did their best to sway CU's way. They knew it was their Homecoming. For example, the Personal Foul that was for a BIG half-the-distance penalty that kept CU's drive going to set up their late 4th Qtr TD should NOT have been called. Also, the team stayed poised when the crowd got back into it late in the game. There was 47,000 CU fans and about 1,000 BU fans. It got REALLY loud. No Offensive motion penalties during THOSE times (that I can remember). All those penalties came when they should not have (again, stupid mistakes).
Another positive was LB Joe Pawelek. We heard his name a lot that day. The kid is a Freshman. He is also the one who intercepted the ball to end the game. This kid is going to be awesome if he continues to improve.
Our seats were RIGHT on the end zone line. 14th row was great, except we could not see a thing on the other end of the field. However, we were on the RIGHT (or should I say 'correct') end of the field. Our first TD reception in the 2nd Qtr was right in our corner. The 1st and 3rd OT was right in front of us also. The TD reception in the 1st one. Then, the INT to end the game in the 3rd! Holy Crap! The fans went nuts, the whole team ran out onto the field, the LOUD crowd got instantly silenced. I wanted to run out and tear down the goalposts myself. People were hugging strangers. Unbelievable. Probably one of the best finishes I've ever witnessed. We got some good pictures with my Dad's camera. I will pass those on once I acquire them myself. One regret: we never got a picture of the scoreboard. They took it down before we were finished celebrating. I guess I can't blame them.
We should have put that game away sooner, but we stayed strong to finish it anyway. It was scary when we got stopped and had to settle for the FG in the 3rd OT. Colorado had the ball 1st and 10 inside the 15 before getting backed up. Their QB didn't force the pass on 3rd down, it was a good interception (in the end-zone too). It took about 2 seconds for everyone to realize what just happened. It's a moment in time that I will never forget. All of a sudden we all realized, "We Just Won!" The team was so pumped up after that. It was cool that the fans were right there to share the celebration. I hope I witnessed one of those moments in time when you can say we turned a corner as a program. Either way, like I said before, I feel fortunate enough to have been a witness to it. What a great thing for our confidence.
As for this week, Texas. I agree with Rob. I'm afraid our 3-game win streak will be ended. I say that because of what I typed above. Too many inconsistencies to get corrected in one week. I believe we have all the ingredients needed to win, but everything would have to come together for us to win this game. If we continue to improve with each game, I would hope to see us clicking on all cylinders late in the season. With that being said, if we start to click and play on all cylinders like we are capable of doing, I could really see us beating Oklahoma in Waco. I will settle for 2nd place in the South and a bowl game. :)
Sic 'em Bears!
I was fortunate enough to be at the Colorado game this past weekend! The excuse was to visit my step-brother and his family in Ft. Collins for my nephew's birthday. However, the real reason was to go to the Baylor game in Boulder. What a thrilling game! You would think that all the games I've been through with the 'Cardiac Cubs,' I would be used to the edge of your seat nervousness... NOT! 3 OTs!! Unbelievable!
Well, there are a few things that I observed this past weekend (good and bad) and here are my thoughts...
BAD:
We are still committing way too many stupid mistakes (penalties). We will be driving the ball good and then shoot ourselves in the foot. How does an OL get a 15-yd facemask penalty!?! Back-to-back penalties. Things like that.
Our Offense is still too sporadic. We are continually making improvements. We are putting good drives together. However, we barely have any kind of running game (that just sounds funny to say, talking about Baylor). Still too many 3-and-outs. It's just still too inconsistent. We have not clicked and played on all of our cylinders yet. We need to stretch the field a little better too before we can get to that point.
Special Teams: They seem to do more harm than good. Too many turnovers when we are receiving the ball.
GOOD:
Once the Offense clicks, we could be dangerous. Bell seems comfortable with the new offense. He can hit the receivers. I think we have made improvements every game.
The Defense! They have kept us in every game so far, even when the offense has not been there. Although our rushing defense could improve*, we probably have one of the best secondaries around. I was a little worried about how we would hold up in the thin air of Colorado, but the guys hung tough!
*{CU's QB did more running than throwing. He was a squirrely runner that gave us fits all day.}
Sepulveda... I've never seen a punter that can 'flip' the field like he does. An early punt was kicked against a small wind and was caught ON THE FLY. It was either the 62 yarder or the other 50+ punt! It did NOT take a Baylor bounce and roll 20 yards. This comes from a guy that had ACL surgery in April... this April! Hello, Ray Guy?
Overall, the thing that most impressed me was that we FINISHED the game. There was NO signs of discouragement all the way through the 3rd OT. None whatsoever! That had been a problem up until this game. Two years ago, heck even last year, we would not have been able to win that game. Secondly, we CAN put multiple drives together for a score. 3 Overtime drives should say that alone, but we were doing it for most of the game before that. Bell's now record of 200+ yards/game should continue through the rest of the season. Yes, I said that right.
The refs did their best to sway CU's way. They knew it was their Homecoming. For example, the Personal Foul that was for a BIG half-the-distance penalty that kept CU's drive going to set up their late 4th Qtr TD should NOT have been called. Also, the team stayed poised when the crowd got back into it late in the game. There was 47,000 CU fans and about 1,000 BU fans. It got REALLY loud. No Offensive motion penalties during THOSE times (that I can remember). All those penalties came when they should not have (again, stupid mistakes).
Another positive was LB Joe Pawelek. We heard his name a lot that day. The kid is a Freshman. He is also the one who intercepted the ball to end the game. This kid is going to be awesome if he continues to improve.
Our seats were RIGHT on the end zone line. 14th row was great, except we could not see a thing on the other end of the field. However, we were on the RIGHT (or should I say 'correct') end of the field. Our first TD reception in the 2nd Qtr was right in our corner. The 1st and 3rd OT was right in front of us also. The TD reception in the 1st one. Then, the INT to end the game in the 3rd! Holy Crap! The fans went nuts, the whole team ran out onto the field, the LOUD crowd got instantly silenced. I wanted to run out and tear down the goalposts myself. People were hugging strangers. Unbelievable. Probably one of the best finishes I've ever witnessed. We got some good pictures with my Dad's camera. I will pass those on once I acquire them myself. One regret: we never got a picture of the scoreboard. They took it down before we were finished celebrating. I guess I can't blame them.
We should have put that game away sooner, but we stayed strong to finish it anyway. It was scary when we got stopped and had to settle for the FG in the 3rd OT. Colorado had the ball 1st and 10 inside the 15 before getting backed up. Their QB didn't force the pass on 3rd down, it was a good interception (in the end-zone too). It took about 2 seconds for everyone to realize what just happened. It's a moment in time that I will never forget. All of a sudden we all realized, "We Just Won!" The team was so pumped up after that. It was cool that the fans were right there to share the celebration. I hope I witnessed one of those moments in time when you can say we turned a corner as a program. Either way, like I said before, I feel fortunate enough to have been a witness to it. What a great thing for our confidence.
As for this week, Texas. I agree with Rob. I'm afraid our 3-game win streak will be ended. I say that because of what I typed above. Too many inconsistencies to get corrected in one week. I believe we have all the ingredients needed to win, but everything would have to come together for us to win this game. If we continue to improve with each game, I would hope to see us clicking on all cylinders late in the season. With that being said, if we start to click and play on all cylinders like we are capable of doing, I could really see us beating Oklahoma in Waco. I will settle for 2nd place in the South and a bowl game. :)
Sic 'em Bears!
posted by Bill Gohs at
12:31 PM
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