Buffs looking at recent bye as beneficial for healing & self-improvement

It's probably fair to say that as last week went on, there never really was anything tangible that left the runway with respect to the Buffs finding a replacement opponent for COVID-impacted Arizona State Sun Devils.

When the Pac-12 CEO Group did officially approve league members to schedule non-conference opponents last Thursday — with a set of stipulations for doing so — CU athletic director Rick George shortly afterwards announced Colorado's intentions to not seek out doing so.

Part of that came due to disparities between how the Buffs handle COVID protocol as compared to other prospective opponents from lower conferences.

A lack or much time to schedule anything until after the Pac-12's formal announcement on Thursday also was a factor.

For Karl Dorrell, things just were not organized enough fast enough.

“I think what hurt us a little bit last week was (that there) was nothing really in place as a conference in terms of how we would work through that protocol until later in the week," Dorrell said. "We just didn’t have any parameters to operate with."

Dorrell isn't looking back at this past weekend regretfully. While the preference of coaches and players alike certainly would have been to play the entirety of the schedule without issue this fall, a weekend off did allow for the Buffs to focus more inwardly on improving as well as healing up some players dealing with ailments.

“It definitely helps us with guys that were a little nicked through the first two games of the season," Dorrell said. "We’re still trying to create depth at a lot of our positions, so it was bonus time and it gives some of those younger players some reps to get them more entrenched with out systems."

"I want to use as many players as we can, so I think there was a benefit on both sides: you get some guys that were nicked up that didn’t have to play and then obviously trying to develop our team with the younger players we have.”

Dorrell did not provide a specific injury report on Monday, but it's at least somewhat likely that when he next speaks with the media on Wednesday, we'll have an indication as to the statuses of WR K.D. Nixon, CB Chris Miller plus centers Colby Pursell and Josh Jynes.

Right now, TE Brady Russell should still be considered likely to miss this upcoming weekend's action, with a firm timetable for his return only being that Dorrell expected him out for at least a few weeks after he was injured at Stanford.

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Quarterback Sam Noyer echoed his head coach's sentiments, seeing the COVID-caused bye week as more beneficial to the Buffs' goals in the long run, especially a week ahead of the biggest game of the season, one that carries significant implications as to how the race for a Pac-12 South Division title will continue to play out.

“I think in our situation, it gave us the opportunity for guys to get healthy, which is really important and I think it gave us extra time to prepare for a great SC team," Noyer said. "Guys took each day as a new opportunity to prepare and get better. I don’t think that guys really took a step back — you can take a step back in these situations but I think our team has handled it really well."

Perhaps the unit that benefits most from the bye week is Colorado's defense.

Offensively speaking, after putting up 48 and 35 points in the first games of the season makes it hard to nitpick, although any coach or player will tell you that despite finding the end zone a lot, unfinished plays were still left on the field vs. both UCLA and Stanford.

But for the defense, bad second halves and fourth quarters have led to back-to-back shaky finishes.

The Buffs are 2-0 to start the year, but falling asleep late in the game against the Trojans seems like a recipe for disaster.

Having been on the field himself for both of those close wins, ILB Nate Landman can attest personally to wanting to be more consistent as a defense and capable of playing with a lead.

"I think as a unit and as a team we need to finish games and not let it come down to the wire," he said. "Those games (vs. UCLA and Stanford) were fun but my nerves are a little bit shot."

Landman said he likes where the Buffs are at in terms of their strength against the run game. This past weekend was used to tighten things up on the coverage front and continue building up as many helping hands to buttress the starters as possible.

“I think we’re a better defense than we were yesterday and that’s kind of out mindset — to get better each and every day," he said. "Going through the bye week, we really went back to basics. (We wanted) to build our depth in some positions that we need to build depth in and really just got to the basics. We got back to playing strong coverage and I think our run defense right now is one of the best in the Pac-12, if not the best."

"We’ve just got to work on some things in our secondary — that’s linebackers and everyone included."