If he was lucky, Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders had enough time to run for his life against Nebraska. If he wasn’t, he took a hit or a sack at an unsustainable rate.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t just a case of a dominant pass rush overpowering CU, this has been a trend through last season and now two games into this year.
To find a solution you have to find the problem first. What led to Sanders getting sacked 52 times in 2023, and six times against Nebraska?
Let’s take a look and see if these problems are fixable.
[Sack 1] Q1 - 14:49 - 3rd & 10 - CU21
The first sack came on the first drive of the game after two incompletions set up third-and-long. Nebraska lined up five defenders on the line of scrimmage to fake the blitz but one stays back and drops into coverage. This doesn’t completely fool the offensive line but it successfully gives the remaining pass rushers a one-on-one.
Defensive lineman Ty Robinson is lined up as a 1-technique (1T) and does a simple inside move against the center (Hank Zilinskas) who fails to move laterally quick enough to stop the rush, creating near-instant pressure. Because the defender lined up over, the right guard (Kahlil Benson) faked his blitz and it slowed down the would-be help.
The running back (Charlie Offerdahl) looked like his job was to help protect first and then get into his route, but he instead bypasses Robinson completely trying to get into his route as fast as possible.
There are four routes on the play. Both inside receivers traveled vertically while the outside receivers ran curl or hitch routes at the sticks.
Sanders had a split second to possibly make the throw but by the end of his drop back the pressure was already in his face and likely would’ve affected the pass even had he gotten it off.
[Sack 2] Q1 - 10:15 - 1st & 10 - NEB37
The next sack came one offensive snap later on the first play of the next drive. Not only was the result the same but so was the process; Nebraska only rushed four but faked the blitz and dropped their strongside defensive end into cover while the SAM linebacker rushed.
The pressure once again came from the inside when defensive lineman Nash Hutmacher lined up as a 1-tech between the center (Zilinskas) and right guard (Tyler Brown) and exploded into a speed rush through the gap. The guard didn’t have the lateral movement to keep up with him and it’s near instant pressure and a sack again.
CU lined up with three receivers split out right to the same side. Two receivers ran shallow routes, but only four rushed allowing defenders in the areas to cover them. The pressure made any pass impossible anyway.
[Sack 3] Q1 - 5:46 - 1st & 10 - CU25
I don’t inherently agree with the “Travis Hunter was wide open” crowd, especially after the previous two sacks were certainly on the line.
Once again, the line fails early. This was a four-man rush with no stunt or fake. The line slides correctly to the right but the right tackle (Benson) identifies the incorrect rusher and instead takes the rushing linebacker instead of the further down lineman who runs to the QB untouched.
The crowd is half right, however, as Sanders escapes the pressure and pocket to create time but doesn’t throw the ball away and still takes a sack. It does appear Hunter gets open but when Sanders first breaks the pocket, Hunter starts to break downfield. It’s likely this is when Sanders saw him and moved to reads further downfield.
This play started as a failure on the offensive line but became an avoidable mistake by Sanders.
[Sack 4] Q2 - 12:24 - 3rd & 8 - CU34
This sack comes on another third down. Nebraska sticks to its game plan and rushes four with a blitz fake. Pressure came from the right side when both the right guard (Brown) and right tackle (Benson) were quickly beaten. The rush defensive end was lined up out wide and his speed rush was able to quickly get around the tackle to force pressure that flushed Sanders out of the pocket.
It was lineman Jimari Butler who got the sack, using a swipe move to get past the guard (Brown). And while the running back (Dallan Hayden) stayed back to help protect, he overstepped his landmark and was only able to get a hand on Butler as he rushed into the backfield. The earlier pressure led Sanders right into Butler, who secured the sack and forced the Buffs’ punt.
[Sack 5] Q2 - 1:44 - 3rd & 14 - CU25
This play didn’t count due to an offside on Nebraska. But, it wasn’t ruled dead, and CU had the chance at a free play but instead took another sack.
The Buffs had to have known they were in hot water on a third and long just before half, but that didn’t stop them from going empty, or five wide with no extra protection from a tight end or back.
Nebraska was clearly comfortable rushing four to get pressure and dropping seven into coverage. It’s the same story this sack but with no blitz fake, just four rushers going through. There was a stunt on the left side of the line, the LB went around the edge and looped back to the quarterback. The left tackle (Justin Mayers) and left guard (Jordan Seaton) needed to see this and trade off defenders, but instead the backer got through without issue.
This was set up by another simple speed rush off the right side where the right tackle (Benson) couldn’t get enough depth in his pass set and the rusher swung right by him, forcing Sanders out of the pocket and taking away his eyes from downfield into the backfield.
[Sack 6] Q3 - 7:25 - 1st & 10 - CU41
The final sack came on first-and-10 as the Buffs were creeping toward enemy territory before having to punt. Nebraska showed a possible blitz with both linebackers but one dropped while the other rushed, which was been the plan most of the game.
Another stunt was run to the right side of the line this time and the tackles once again didn’t see this and didn’t pass off the rusher. That linebacker, Princewill Umanmielen, was responsible for the last sack on a stunt as well. His initial pressure forced Sanders out of the pocket but he didn’t secure the sack, but his momentum looped him around back into Sanders as he tried to buy time.
No other lineman outright lost their match-up on this play but none of them won, either, resulting in a collapsed pocket that Sanders attempted to bail out of.
Conclusion
It seems like Sanders isn’t fully responsible for any single sack but failed to avoid one. Otherwise, all five other sacks were a failure on the line's part and there were some scary tendencies. At no point did Nebraska actually blitz on any of the sacks, meaning the defense wasn’t sacrificing any coverage defenders to get pressure. Pass rushers were able to get pretty easy looks without doing anything fancy or exotic, simple stunts and speed rushers were often more than enough.
Schematically, CU didn’t hold any chip help off the edge, allowing for some of those pressures to come through quicker. A couple of times, the running back was meant to stay and protect but looked more worried about getting into his route. Coaching needs to be clear and instead of block and release assignment, either keep them in to block and get a commitment, or release into the route immediately so that there’s a hot option available.
Some of this is fixable, but the line does not seem much improved when it was a clear issue last year that ultimately cost CU a successful season.
Cover photo by Talus Schreiber/Sko Buffs Sports.
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