Spaulding Report: Mora and Others on Colorado, Kendricks Makes the Quarter Finals

Coach Mora spoke with the media one more time before heading to Colorado today:

Video courtesy of Edward Lewis at Bruin Sports Report.

Here are some notes from this incredibly short meeting with the press (I guess they were in a hurry to get to Basketball Media Day?):

• Mora praises the skill set of the Buff's quarterback, who played last year as a true freshman.  He says he can get out of the pocket and run which presents a challenge.   He also says Coach MacIntyre has done a "really good job" and has gotten them to play with a lot of confidence, tackle well, and are good at special teams.
• Coach Mora, when asked, agrees that they (CU) will probably drop a lot in coverage.  He says everyone has that in their plan and in each game they've seen a three man rush.  He says "You mix pressure and mix drops" but of course doesn't know what the CU plan is.
• On injuries, Mora says guys are healthy and "we're in good shape".  He doesn't know if Alex Redmond or Conor McDermott will play, saying "we'll see" about both players.  On McDermott, Mora said he has done enough to stay in the starting lineup, but "we'll see" if he is in the starting lineup.

Ryan Kartje discusses the solid pass protection the Buff's give their quarterback Liufau and sees them as a challenge for our defensive front:

The Buffaloes have allowed just 12 sacks this season, one fewer than the Pac-12 leader in the category, Arizona State.

Kartje points out that Liufau has averaged the second most pass attempts in the PAC-12, so allowing only 12 sacks is quite a feat.

On the other hand, Kyle Ringo of BuffZone.com writes about the success Brett Hundley has had against CU:

In each of the past two seasons, Hundley has thrown for two touchdowns and ran for two more against CU. He was remarkably efficient last year in the Rose Bowl completing 19 of 24 passes for 273 yards while also running 11 times for 72 yards.

Ringo notes that last year, CU had zero sacks against Hundley.  This year they hope to change that and know that UCLA is much more vulnerable to pressure being put on the quarterback, Hundley having been sacked 26 times so far:

"We're definitely aware of that," CU senior defensive lineman Juda Parker said. "We're looking to exploit that this week. Our linemen and our linebackers are putting in different schemes, our coaches are putting in different schemes for us and really working on getting after the quarterback. We know he's a real dual threat. The quarterback is hard to take down but we're up to the challenge this week."

Tom Kensler of The Denver Post takes a look at the 41 scholarship players that will be playing for the Buff's on Saturday (as compared to 16 from Colorado and eight from Texas.) Head Coach MacIntyre coached at San Jose State and he and his assistants know California recruiting really well and says:

Population-wise, in California there's a high school around every corner.  There are a lot of good athletes in California. The high school coaching is good. And with the weather being nice, they've been out running, throwing, catching year round. They're in shape. They've developed skills.

Eric Kendricks has a chance of making it two in a row for UCLA when it comes to winning the Lott IMPACT Trophy. It was announced yesterday that Kendircks is in the quarter-finals for the trophy this year.  Anthony Barr was last year's recipient.  There are 20 quarter-finalists, out of which eight will be announced as semi-finalists on November 11th.  Okay, we haven't seen it in a long time:

That's your round-up for Thursday enjoy your evening and...

Go Bruins!