AGP, I note from the highlights:
1. QB had and took a lot of time on those long passes. Will not have that option on Saturday.
2. The RBs and WRs look small, a bit shifty, but not particularly fast. Same with QB who looks in the spread to have some decent legs, but nothing that will kill you.
3. Lots and lots of missed tackles and isolation throws vs DBs. They will significantly challenge us downfield.
Not a bad analogy. I'll comment on some of the things said here.
The QB is Liufau who is anything but intimidated by anyone on your team. You probably don't know this cat very well but he stood up to Anthony Barr as a true freshman after the guy tried to take his head off. He's been well respected by everyone in the Pac 12 since then. He's a senior now and has seen talent the likes of Stanford, Oregon, USC, UCLA, and Washington along with others. Michigan is very good but some of those teams were in the college football playoffs and have had multiple draft picks and all pro players in the NFL already. This isn't a guy who scares easily or at all really.
Your other reads on him were actually pretty good. He has decent legs, but isn't going to blow you away with runs. He is big and will run over you, but not around you. Coming off a major foot injury, I don't actually look for him to run a ton in this one. He is very streaky as a passer. He is either on or off. When he is on, CU is very good. When he is off, well, you get the picture. His penchant previously was to throw the pick 6 when the game was on the line. CU is known to be in the games late into the 4th only to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory with a bonehead mistake. We're hoping that changes this year.
Secondly, we're not UCF. UCF is more like a faster CSU. I mean, they were 0-12 in the friggin' American for a reason last year including losses to Furman and Tulane. Ouch! I'm sure they'll rebound this year but they are not as talented as CU, nor as big.
Yes, our RBs and WRs are small and a bit shifty. Our RBs are pedestrian IMO. They will need great games for CU to have a shot IMO. Our best RB, Adkins, hasn't played yet this year. We'll need him. Lindsay is actually a very solid RB, but he's not going to take one to the house. Lee is the only other RB on the roster that has a chance of doing anything but he's more of a receiving threat who needs space to do things. Lost our best big play threat, Carr, in the off season which was unfortunate.
Our WR crew is good at the starting 3 but there is not much depth after that. We lost a stud to an ACL injury unfortunately so like RB, we're down a top player. Shay Fields has plenty of speed but is not super dynamic but a very steady WR who will get his yards. Devin Ross in the slot is very fast and strong, but is only 5'9" (in cleats). He is tough to bring down though and runs like a RB. His problem has been his hands in the past but has only 1 drop this year. He can definitely be a problem in 1 on 1 situations. The 3rd WR Bobo is our "big" WR. He also has the best hands on the team. He is also the best blocker. He is not a long ball WR but tends to get big catches because he runs good routes and catches with a large radius.
Biggest trouble will be the OL. I just don't know if we can block your DL/front 7. This is probably where the game turns for CU. We don't have the talent in the trenches to compete with a top 10 team like Michigan. This is the next evolution in our program. We need better linemen and they are on the way.
On defense, you guys are way underestimating us. The defense is actually legit. We have our own Peppers in a guy named Chidobe Awuzie. Get to know the name because you'll hear it called a lot. He will be drafted early in next year's draft. He has the speed of a CB but hits like a LB. Plays all over and might be the Pac 12's best defender. Tedric Thompson at safety is another guy who will be All Pac 12 and has a shot at the league. Rangy safety who plays well in space and tackles well. We have a mammoth NT names Josh Tupou who is just getting his legs back after being suspended last year. He has made the biggest difference from this year's team to last year's. He is another sure fire NFL draft pick and would have gone high last year if not suspended. Very lucky to get him back this year. His fellow defensive linemen in the 3-4 are big and mobile. Our CBs are tall and fast and a bit underrated. Oliver is a track star and can run with the best of them. Witherspoon is a ball hawk. Neither are big tacklers so this game will be interesting to see if Michigan challenges on the edges with underneath throws and runs to the outside. CU likes to man up on the outside with the speed we have there and let Chidobe and Thompson clean up the tackling. With Leavitt as the head coach, it is a well coached defense and CU's only real shot at winning. They have to keep the score low for CU to have a chance at winning. It's not out of the question with that group though. I don't see them rolling over.
Special teams outside of DL play is the other part that has improved a great deal this year for CU. We have more touchbacks in 2 games than we had all of last year. Gonzales has a huge leg and kicks off well. His field goals have been great thus far as well. Punting is greatly improved with our sophomore punter who struggled early as a true frosh last year. We're covering better this year as well.
All in all, this is a much more solid CU team than we've had in a long time... probably since the 2010 squad that beat Georgia and was 1 decent head coach away from a fine season. We're definitely nothing like UCF. Also, I wouldn't take too much out of those Idaho State highlights. CU's 1st team offense scored a TD on all but 1 possession and was up 49-0 before the half. Could have been 100-0 if not for some generous substitution and play calling. It was the most vanilla I've seen CU in some time. Really haven't shown much of the new offense because of the poor opponents we've played. I imagine both CU and MU will be unleashing a lot of different looks come Saturday.
