How Daniel Arias and Robert Barnes are trying to right the ship for CU

The Buffs are jumping head-first into the rhythm of the football season. While disappointment looms after Colorado dropped the season opener to TCU, it’s time to make adjustments on the fly and get ready for Air Force this Saturday.

Following Tuesday’s practice LB Robert Barnes and WR Daniel Arias both talked about how the team is bouncing back from the Week 1 loss, as well as what the mindset is going into the Week 2 trip to Colorado Springs where CU will take on Air Force and the vaunted triple-option.

Robert Barnes had the experience of playing against the triple-option when he was at Oklahoma in 2018. Unranked Army walked into Norman, OK and gave the fifth-ranked team in the country serious issues that evening, and even took the game into overtime. Kyler Murray and Ceedee Lamb would ultimately be the difference as they connected for a game-winning touchdown in overtime. But the Black Knights definitely made 87,000 Sooner fans squirm for a few hours.

“You have to be you have to be patient. You can’t get lulled to sleep,” Barnes said of the challenges posed to a defense facing the triple-option.

“Especially our DBs. They’ll run (on) you 30 times and then try to throw it on the 31st play. You have to be selfless in this game. You have to do your job over and over again.”

While Air Force opened up their season against Northern Iowa (FCS) — not exactly the toughest opponent — the Falcons managed to rush for 582 yards and five touchdowns in a 48-17 win. Air Force had 15 rushers with an attempt in the game and had five different individuals finished with 77 rushing yards or more.

Barnes feels good about the defense heading into Saturday’s game, saying that he felt the Buffs played well in the first half against TCU, but then began to fall flat.

“It was a weird vibe at halftime,” Barnes said. “As a defense, you feel like you’re winning, but you’re not. And then you go back out there and the crowd wasn’t as hype as it was in the first half. As a team, we’ve got to figure out how to find that. We can’t depend on extrinsic forces to get us in that mode.”

There’s no doubt that the Buffs have issues that need to be ironed out after TCU, we’ll see what kind of adjustments can be made moving forward, Barnes says his defense is locked in heading into Air Force though.

“You have to be focused, you have to be locked in,” Barnes said. “I think that we all have a bad taste in our mouth from TCU. We’re all eager and ready to get back on that field and create a new standard not just for the defense but this team as a whole.”

Daniel Arias showed up ready to play against TCU, gathering in four receptions for 66 yards and helping manufacture the two most explosive plays for CU offense all game. The fifth-year senior turned 24 on Friday and was one of the lone bright spots on offense for the Buffs in their season opener.

“It was fun. I really wish I would have scored,” said Arias when asked how it felt playing on his birthday. “It would have made the night a lot of fun.”

Arias proved to be a reliable target for both Brendon Lewis and J.T. Shrout against TCU, catching a 25-yard pass from Lewis on the first drive and a 35-yard bomb from Shrout.

“I didn’t really hear the crowd when the ball was in the air,” Arias said. “When I caught the ball it’s like everything unmuted and I heard all the people and all the fans. So that was a really cool experience. You work for those moments.”

It was clear that the fans wanted to see a more explosive passing attack than what they got on Friday night, but Arias feels that the best days are ahead for CU’s passing game.

“There’s a lot of potential with this offense,” Arias said. “We have a really good offense, it’s just executing and making plays.”

Arias mentioned that CU had a lot of players in their first game, especially in the wide receiver room, and that inexperience showed.

“I try to tell my teammates and my receiver room let’s just play. You’re going to make mistakes, if you make mistakes go full speed. That’s what I try to emphasize to the other guys.”

Arias noticed that he was receiving a lot of attention from TCU’s defensive backs and coaches as he faced bracket coverage and was being followed by their best corner, Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson.

Although TCU eventually pulled away from the Buffs, Arias said that he was keeping the receivers together and bringing a positive vibe throughout the game.

“If you’re negative and you’re hanging your head down, that’s not something you want for your team,” Arias said. “So I just kept laughing and smiling with my teammates, just let them know that hey, we’re good, let’s just keep playing, let’s keep going, let’s keep having fun. It’s contagious.”

In a matchup where possessions will be limited, the Buffs can’t afford to have an inefficient passing game this Saturday, let alone many incompletions that stop the clock allowing Air Force to run more plays and burn more clock

While the question of, “who is the quarterback?” hangs over the Buffs, they will be walking into a hostile environment where every yard and second of possession is earned.

The Falcons are currently listed as 17.5-point favorites on DraftKings, we’ll see if CU can play spoilers and split the two-game series after falling to Air Force in overtime in 2019.