Buffs Secondary Hoping to Turn the Corner Against TCU

Through five games, Colorado’s defense just hasn’t held up at the point of attack. The run defense hasn’t been good enough, and everything else is falling apart because of it. When teams are picking up five or six yards on first down, there’s not a lot the secondary can do. You’re stuck defending the whole playbook, and eventually somebody is going to get open.

This has made life tough for the coverage group. They’re being asked to hold up for way too long, and that’s showing up in the box score. Specifically, CU’s struggles in the secondary are going to be a problem again this week if the Buffs can’t stop the run. TCU has no issue airing out the football, and CU’s pass coverage unit is going to be put to the ultimate test.

Let’s take a deeper dive into how each part of the secondary has fared this year before we talk about how they can improve headed into Fort Worth:

The Cornerbacks

The corners haven’t been awful, but the situation CU’s front seven has put them in is making their job harder than it needs to be. 

DJ McKinney is still the top guy. He’s not being targeted much, just under three times per game, but when he is, teams have hit for 182 yards on 12 completions. He’s also had three penalties, and his coverage grade has taken a noticeable dip from last year.

Preston Hodge is also still the starting nickel and he’s getting tested a bit more. Teams are 12 for 22 throwing at him with 176 yards allowed. He’s also sitting on three penalties and his coverage grade has dropped too. 

Makari Vickers started early in the year, but gave up a couple big plays and saw his playing time drop against BYU. Teon Parks has flashed a little, but he has the lowest grade on the team and has missed multiple weeks due to injury. RJ Johnson might be the best option they have across from McKinney. He’s also been hurt but when healthy, he’s only given up 37 yards and is grading out well. He needs to be worked back into the mix soon.

This group as a whole is really feeling the absence of Travis Hunter opposite of DJ McKinney. While finding a replacement for one of the best college cornerbacks of all time is impossible, the Buffs desperately need to get healthy and figure out who their boundary corner is across from McKinney.

The Safeties

The safeties haven’t been the problem. Tawfiq Byard has been everywhere and one of the best players on the defense so far. He’s been consistent in coverage and great against the run. Byard was billed as a plug-and-play replacement for Cam’ron Silmon-Craig, and that assessment hasn’t been far off.

Ben Finneseth is a walk-on, turned scholarship guy and has a great story. He hasn’t been tested much but when he’s been out there, he’s held up. He’s only allowed one catch all year, and actually has the best coverage grade on the entire defense. Ben is a locker room guy, a leader, and so much more for the Buffs.

Lastly, Carter Stoutemire has had some ups and downs in coverage but has been solid coming downhill. He knows where to be and isn’t making a ton of mistakes. We saw improvement from Stoutemire in the BYU game, and he looks to be getting better and better each week.

TL;DR – The safeties aren’t as much of a problem as the corners, but there’s certainly still room for improvement.

Where can they improve?

It all starts up front for the Buffs.

The Buffs need to stop the run going forward. Until they do, the secondary is going to be left out to dry and forced to hold up in impossible spots. Getting RJ Johnson healthy and back in the rotation will help, but scheme and personnel have to change too.

They can’t live in nickel every down. At some point, Colorado will need to put more size on the field and make opponents work a little harder on early downs. That doesn’t mean ditching sub-packages, but they need to be better at knowing when to use them. It’s understandable that with the wider hashmarks in the college game, defensive coordinator Robert Livingston feels he needs another defensive back on the field. But when you have tried everything with no success, it may be time to play some run defense and get out of nickel.

The offense has to do its part too. The Houston game showed what happens when drives stall and the defense gets worn out. The defense couldn’t get off the field and was never able to stay off of the field for long. Going forward it’s going to take a full team effort to fix this.

And against TCU, there won’t be much room for error. The Horned Frogs have the 12th best passing offense in passing yards per game, averaging 320.8 during each of their four contests. TCU quarterback Josh Hoover has also been torching defenses, ranking 15th in passing yards with 1,242 yards despite playing one or two less games than the QBs above him. 

This TCU team is going to try to throw the football all over this Colorado team, and if the secondary can’t make adjustments and step up their game, the Buffs are in big trouble.