Hawkins: 'We need to play better'

After Saturday loss to Missouri, Buffs still have bowl game hopes

The Buffs’ loss to Missouri Saturday highlighted the strides that the CU football team will need to make before it can really be a complete, improved program, Hawkins said in a press conference Tuesday.

“The bottom line is we need to play better, we need to coach better, we need to do better,” Hawkins said.

The Buffs fell 55-10 at home Nov. 3 to the then ranked No. 9 Missouri Tigers. Mizzou’s 55 points were the most any team has scored against CU at home since the Tigers put up 59 in 1983.

Hawkins cited little problems that the Tigers were able to capitalize on for the victory.

“I think it was really even middle of the second quarter, I think it was still 17-10 but you know little gaps here, there,” Hawkins said. “You play a team like that, you give them too many chances, they’re going to hurt you.”

Little problems included communication issues across the board.

“We had a coverage that was on Saturday night, and out of a certain personnel group, he ran another coverage, said, ‘that’s what I heard,’ and we don’t run the coverage out of that group,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins called these communication issues a part of the “performance anxiety curve,” where young, inexperienced players and players trying to adjust to a new coach have to transfer their knowledge from the practice field to the playing field.

“One of the pass plays we ran, (quarterback Cody Hawkins) was going to throw the ball to a particular receiver, and he sort of adjusted his route and did something else,” Coach Hawkins said. “We’re going, ‘what are you doing there?’ and he said, ‘well, I thought Cody, I thought his body language was telling me to do something else,’ when that was not necessarily exactly the case.”

For Colorado to improve, the team has to be able to communicate well with each other and with the coaches, Hawkins said.

“They just got to be right on the same page,” Hawkins said. “Does it have to be perfect? No, it doesn’t always have to be perfect, but it has to be pretty close.”

Along with CU’s problems on the playing field, Hawkins said Missouri is a national championship-caliber team and is the best team that the Buffs have taken on this season.

Missouri is a strong team not just because of the plays they run, but the talented players they have in quarterback Chase Daniel and the rest of the team, Coach Hawkins said.

“That’s not a scheme thing, that’s just a personnel thing,” Hawkins said.

Even after the blow out on Saturday, the Buffs still stand 5-5. With one more win for bowl game eligibility, Hawkins addressed the subject he had avoided speaking on for a majority of the season.

“If we do have hopes and dreams and aspirations of doing something in a bowl game, then, you know, we have got to do a much better job the next three weeks,” Hawkins said.

With games against two teams with losing records left, Nebraska and Iowa State, the Buffs have the opportunity to power back from the tough loss. To do that, Colorado will have to eliminate those little problems and become a more efficient football team, Hawkins said.

“We just have to rise up and get to that level as fast as we can get there.”

Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Margot Schneider at [email protected]