Colorado Snowflakes: Special Teams

Submitted by BJNavarre on
Deserves it's own thread.

LSAClassOf2000

September 17th, 2016 at 7:34 PM ^

This is the one I had but for some reason didn't post. The connection here at the stadium is....well, it reminds one of the wild west days of wi-fi, but then 110,000 people are right now on their phones trying to tell people in distant corners of the world how this one turned out. I won't complain, I guess.

UMForLife

September 17th, 2016 at 7:35 PM ^

Good Call creating this. Special Teams was awesome today except for the kicking game. But Peppers on Special Teams is fun to watch. I hope Peppers returns for TDs a few more times this year (especially in rivalry games).

I can't believe they block punts like crazy. Don't know how many teams would have done that this many times in two games. Probably some kind of a record.

coldnjl

September 18th, 2016 at 8:56 AM ^

I think it is funny to say our special teams was great today, except for maybe half of our special teams...but I get what you are saying. Kenny Allen had an abysmal day. Seemed like he was off: two missed manageable field goals, absolutely garbage punting, and seemed to not have the leg on kick offs that he typically had. 

bluinohio

September 17th, 2016 at 8:47 PM ^

I figured we'd be better this year. As a rule of thumb, just take the opposite of what Brian says . Special teams won't be as good? Check. O Korn will start? Check. Allen is guarantee from inside the 40? Check. Desmond Morgan is the ideal linebacker? Check. Serious lol on that one. You can follow this line back years with his comments and predictions. He's almost always wrong.

Esterhaus

September 17th, 2016 at 7:40 PM ^

 

Special teams is, well, really special. I can't recall the last time our special teams played consistently well as they are now. Enjoy the sunshine Baxter.

Kenny looked a little woozy. I wonder if it's the violence

Yeoman

September 17th, 2016 at 7:41 PM ^

Rugby, too. I have a feeling special teams innovation might have gotten ahead of itself a little bit (or maybe it's just that the defense has caught up for the moment). Some coaches seem to think anybody can learn to punt a ball on the run and I'm sure it looks good in practice but a lot can go wrong under pressure and getting it right 2/3 of the time isn't good enough.

I know Kinney played club rugby in high school, but he was a prop. That's not the same.

creelymonk10

September 17th, 2016 at 7:42 PM ^

Kicking game was terrible. Line drives punt mixed with the pro style punt formation doesn't end well. Would really like an explanation for why they're not running the shield punt formation. It will cost them a TD in the near future.

Yeoman

September 17th, 2016 at 7:53 PM ^

I think maybe Harbaugh's got the drop on the current version of the shield punt. That's two games in a row where we've been able to get four through onto the other team's three and at least one has gotten through clean, and we've had five blocks already.

And if the solution is that the linemen can't release, well, Peppers showed where that leads. If the linemen can't get downfield early the shield loses its advantage.

Yeoman

September 17th, 2016 at 8:42 PM ^

I guess what I'm tentatively suggesting is this:

1. There are pressures that it's hard for the shield to hold up against. I have a feeling this discovery may have come from study of last year's MSU film.

2. That discovery has already been worth five blocks and a TD, or even two if you give part of the credit for the Peppers return today to the fact that the Colorado linemen didn't release.

3. If we ran the shield formation we'd either risk letting other teams do the same to us, or we fix it and show everyone how it can be fixed. I can see why this doesn't seem like a good idea for now.

4. Last year we had an Australian punter with plenty of experience punting a ball on the run, which at least created some possibilities for escaping that kind of pressure (not always enough possibility, as we saw last year). Colorado tried to respond to the pressure today by rolling out with a non-Australian kicker whose rugby experience was as a prop (sort of the equivalent of an OG) and thus didn't have the necessary skill, and the result was a kick to his own lineman's butt and some butt-ugly low kicks, one of which came back for a TD.

freejs

September 17th, 2016 at 8:55 PM ^

and I am definitely concerned. 

He didn't just miss - he missed terribly - no hopers. 

His punts were *awful* - line drives with no hang time. 

He repeatedly failed to put the ball inside the 10/20 - multiple touchbacks. 

He looked like a 40 yard FG would require all of the prayers. 

That's terrifying. 

What the hell was wrong with him today?

He looked so good last year? 

 

 

Moleskyn

September 17th, 2016 at 9:57 PM ^

I think he has even regressed since the first couple weeks this season. From his first couple kicks, I thought I could see a difference in his game - the ball just wasn't flying off his foot like normal. Then the first fg attempt i thought something wrong. He usually gets good loft and hang time. I hope he's not injured. Maybe just needs some rest?

andidklein

September 18th, 2016 at 12:53 PM ^

a poor looking PAT if I remember correctly. That could have been due to a number of things, but in retospect, there could be more going on than we know. Of course we know nothing.

J.

September 17th, 2016 at 11:39 PM ^

I swear, Colorado's punter was terrified by the middle of the second quarter.  He took two delay of game penalties as he was trying to figure out how to get Michigan's punt rush blocked, and it looked like he was trying hard to kick it out of bounds -- he just couldn't.

By the end of the second quarter, the stadium was loud on fourth down.  I think we felt we could will a third block.  Or... maybe a punt return touchdown. ;-)

ehatch

September 18th, 2016 at 8:33 AM ^

Special Teams probably won us the game -- we had at least 14 points and it set up another 7-10.  

Kenny Allen had a horrible day -- I almost hope he was injured or sick.