Behind Enemy Lines: 5 Questions With Colorado Expert

With the Oregon State football team (5-2, 2-2 Pac-12) set to host Colorado (1-5, 1-2) at Reser Stadium on Saturday, BeaversEdge chats with CU Sports Report writer Nikki Edwards, who covers the Buffs!

1. Colorado looked like a different team against Cal... how was Mike Sanford Jr. able to flip the overall energy of the program so quickly?

Nikki Edwards: "Interim head coach Mike Sanford is, physically, an energetic guy. He celebrated hard with the players and ran up and down the sideline last Saturday. Overall, he provides a motivating presence.

After the dismissal of Karl Dorrell, Sanford emphasized the importance of putting the players first. He sat down with every player on the team that following Monday to listen to their needs and what they wanted to see moving forward. The work during the bye week began from there prioritizing the players so they could play to their potential.

- He created new opportunities for players to be more involved, recognized and appreciated.

- Naming second-year freshman Ben Finneseth a captain on Sunday

- Creating new positions for ILBs true freshman Aubrey Smith and Robert Barnes

- Allowing players that had ten or less snaps on game day to participate in the “Ralphie Bowl” on Sunday Night

- Putting emphasis on special teams

- Reinstituted the Victory Club, honor players who graded out over 80% in a game and played a significant amount of snaps.

Tweet: https://twitter.com/Coach_Sanford2/status/1582856528297488384?s=20&t=tBiH2NVsUHF31Qiz32Q4vA

His efforts toward the players boosted the program’s morale and the “energy” frequently mentioned by Sanford during the bye came to fruition at Folsom Field."

2. J.T. Shrout is getting the start at quarterback against the Beavers... what does he bring to the table?

Nikki Edwards: "Some stats:

Shrout as a starter (Air Force, Minnesota): 9-of-32, 75 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

Shrout in relief (Cal, TCU): 21-of-35, 226 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT

Shrout’s starting opportunities presented some unideal scenarios playing Air Force in the rain and away at Minnesota. Lots of drops in the rain and Minnesota had the No. 1 total defense in FBS during week 3 allowing 142.5 total yards per game.

We haven’t seen Shrout in a full game since Air Force. In previous games, he was hasty out of the pocket, but since his last starts, he developed a sense of calmness Sanford mentioned this week.

“I think there's been a calm to him recently,” Sanford said. “I think that's part of growth. There's growth that comes with starting, maybe not playing as well as he wanted, but I think that his demeanor was much better going into this game [Cal].”

Shrout played efficiently during crunch time against Cal throwing 8-12 for 69 yards. He didn’t play with hesitation, but wasn’t hasty either. He gave a balanced and productive performance. Saturday presents better circumstances for Shrout as he had some time to take a step back and develop his game. Now he’s both the relief and starter."

(His 23rd birthday is on Saturday!)

3. Do you believe the Buffs will be able to sustain vastly-improved play under Sanford Jr. or is Colorado likely to regress more to the mean of what we've seen so far?