Colorado Is Consistently Fooled By the Oldest Trick In the Book
You've probably noticed that Colorado is constantly committing false start penalties. The tally is up to 14 over the last three weeks. It's a bafflingly high number.
Or it would be baffling had the Buffaloes not explained that the reason this keeps happening is that they keep falling for what may well be the oldest trick in the book.
The defense yells "move" and, sure enough, that's what the Buffaloes do.
"Everyone does it," Colorado coach Mel Tucker said after practice on Monday. "We've done that on defense in the past. There's no excuse."
There really isn't. This is the equivalent of a baserunner yelling "I got it" during a pop fly. You'd expect this to work occasionally. Like, once or twice a year, tops. The Buffaloes, on the other hand, are getting duped by this highly basic maneuver on a regular basis.
They even practice for it.
"We simulate that in practice," Tucker said. "It really comes down to individual focus."
It's a deeply frustrating situation for the Buffaloes, who are very, very close to being a pretty good team. As Tucker explained after going over the USC film, it's not like Colorado is just getting out-manned in these games. It's not as though the other teams are pushing the Buffaloes around or making plays CU can't make.
"We're extremely close," Tucker said. "Take care of the football. Take it away. Score points in the red zone. Get off the field on third down. We have to do simple better."
