Keeler: CU Buffs will never run the ball well if Coach Prime portals in new OL every year

BOULDER Watching a Deion Sanders gang try to run the ball is akin to watching a Ford Mustang try to plow snow The engine screams like a banshee while the wheels spin furiously to nowhere I don t think we re in a car just running aimlessly the wrong way the CU Buffs third-year coach declared during his weekly news conference Tuesday I don t feel that way I feel like we could be better And we are better We just had a hiccup here and a hiccup there that disarmed us in its totality The Houston Cougars just hiccupped CU for rushing yards and three touchdowns last Friday The Buffs meanwhile ran for on tries having to give up early in the fourth quarter when the Cougars forged a - lead Coach Prime vowed his Buffs - would run the ball with more consistency and authority in Year Those were two admittedly low bars to clear especially after quarterback Shedeur Sanders and all-world receiver Travis Hunter ran the show in and A sparse days out from a redemption matchup against Wyoming - on Saturday night at Folsom Field Coach Prime s been proven right Sort of CU ranks th out of FBS programs in rush yards per challenge which is the Big s version of a golf clap To be fair if that pace holds the Buffs are on subject for a sizeable improvement on the ground over yards per contest and But to be frank when paired with a passing championship that s got an NFL play-caller offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur and no-NFL-ready arms Kaidon Salter Ryan Staub Julian Lewis it s well Let s put it this way Thank Heaven for punter Damon Greaves who heads into the weekend ranked second in the Big in punts It s better just not better enough Not better enough to lean on as a base while Coach Prime cycles through quarterbacks In one sense Sanders is the perfect coach for the Instant Gratification Generation He s watched his kids as well as their friends and teammates grow up on their phones Everything s instant News Games Music Apps Dating Fame If you ain t downloading you ain t trying Related Articles Keeler Broncos Country the joker s on you Only Sean Payton s use of TE Evan Engram isn t funny anymore Renck vs Keeler Time to be concerned about regression for Broncos Courtland Sutton Keeler CU Buffs QB Julian Lewis might salvage But Ju Ju and Pat Shurmur would be accident Grading The Week Broncos Burnham Yard plan Gorgeous PSL costs around NFL Ugly Keeler Broncos won t just be playing in Super Bowls Thanks to Burnham Yard we ll be hosting them But selected verities remain eternal College football teams can grab three receivers or three free-agent running backs from the transfer portal plug them into a system after only limited time on campus and watch the sparks fly Consistently good offensive lines though can t be microwaved They have to bake slowly building relationships over time continuity and execution over repetition In anticipation of finding more balance Sanders and his personnel staff put together Coach Prime s biggest offensive line ever and almost entirely via transfers While the talent upgrade is apparent consistency waxes and wanes To wit On its opening first-down runs at Houston CU managed to grind out net rush yards or only per carry I m not a client man I m not a individual man on anything Sanders announced I m a fixer man I want to fix the problems I m not a guy that wants to linger and just have that kind of stuff going on The battle is moving to meet Coach Prime s methods not the other way around But until Sanders is willing to cut down the turnover with his offensive line it s hard to picture the Buffs ever running the ball with the type of certainty or finding the balance that their coach espouses The top five rushing teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision so far this season have at least two things in common a strong offensive line and continuity along announced line Navy s starting five features zero blockers who weren t on the Middies roster a year ago BYU s line has one import who wasn t there in Same with Indiana Washington and Missouri have one apiece The Buffs are emerging in four Among s top rushing teams you ll find a similar refrain Army had zero entirely new faces from UCF also had none Liberty featured one Jacksonville State had two New Mexico under then-first-year coach Bronco Mendenhall used five imported starters Over the last two seasons the top five rushing teams in the FBS averaged primary starters along their offensive lines who weren t on that unit a year earlier CU s averaging fresh faces per season Left tackle Jordan Seaton is a five-star talent stand-up guy and future NFL draft pick But if he s your only holdover year after year it s going to be ambitious for the Buffs to habitually impose their will at the line of scrimmage First of all I don t know coaches that seek identity I think coaches seek wins Sanders mentioned You can call it what you want but it looks the way it looks I don t care what kind of car we pull up in As long as we pull out of here with a W I m good Fewer Mustangs More snowplows 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