Colorado must return to the basics defensively against Cal
The Colorado Buffaloes’ defense has been a mess this year.
Many, including yours truly, thought that with all of the experience in the front seven, along with the struggles the offense faced last year, the defense would be the strength of this team. But the Colorado defense has been plagued by poor gap integrity, tackling and a lack of impact plays.
It wasn’t a surprise to many that defensive coordinator Chris Wilson was fired along with Karl Dorrell after allowing nearly 700 yards of Arizona offense. Now, after getting some time to regroup during the off-week, interim DC Gerald Chatman is focused on the Cal Golden Bears’ attack.
Below are three keys for the Buffs defensively on Saturday:
Force turnovers
California is currently riding a three-game streak of not turning the ball over and that needs to come to a sudden stop on Saturday. During head coach Justin Wilcox’s tenure, California is 13-6 when the Bears don’t turn the ball over. Colorado’s defense needs to make a few big plays, which should also help the offense.
Get back to the fundamentals
Colorado has not had sound enough tackling and gap integrity to control the defensive side of the game. Hopefully, the coaches went back to the basics during the bye week and made these types of adjustments. A complete overhaul of the defensive scheme can’t be made in two weeks, but it will be a process for Colorado to play more consistent.
Forget the past five games
Mike Sanford preached at his introductory press conference that the slate has been wiped clean, going as far as to blank out the first games of the schedule in his first address to the team. This should have taken a load off the battered defense as they can now focus on moving forward, starting with Cal.
Further reading
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