Around the Big Sky

Northern Colorado defense lifting the Bears in first season under new staff

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In Northern Colorado’s game at Southern Utah on Oct. 23, the Bears scored on their first possession, capping a nine-play, 75-yard drive with a 4-yard pass from Michigan transfer Dylan McCaffrey to Washington State transfer Kassidy Woods.

The offense would go on to score just 10 points the rest of the game. McCaffrey, a former 4-star recruit, finished 11 of 23 for 74 yards.

But Northern Colorado’s defense allowed just three field goals on 11 Southern Utah drives, and the Bears walked out of Cedar City with their third win, the most they’ve had in a season since 2017.

It wasn’t the first time Northern Colorado’s defense pulled out a win. The first conference win for the Bears (3-6, 2-4) was a 17-10 triumph over Northern Arizona on Sept. 25, a game in which the UNC offense managed just 254 total yards but the Bears won when the defense gave up just three points over the second half and overtime.

“For us as a unit, (the turning point) was the NAU game,” sophomore defensive end David Hoage said. “People thought that we were gonna lose. You know, some people had doubts, but as a defense, we came together and we shut everything down.”

In head coach Ed McCaffrey’s first season, the Bears’ calling card hasn’t been an explosive offense guided by the former Broncos wide receiver and triggered by starting quarterback Dylan, the third-oldest of Ed’s four phenomenal football-playing sons.

Instead, it’s been the defense that’s taken Northern Colorado from the Big Sky Conference basement to something approaching respectability.

As the Bears prepare to host Montana (6-2, 3-2) on Saturday at Nottingham Stadium, they rank dead last in the conference in total offense (279.8 yards per game, nearly 15 yards behind 12th-place Cal Poly and more than 25 yards behind everybody else in the league).

On the other side of the ball, however, they’re ranked seventh in scoring defense and sixth in total defense, which seems average but represents marks the perpetual conference doormat hasn’t hit since 2014, when the Bears finished fifth in both stats in former head coach Earnest Collins Jr.’s fourth season.

Scott Darnell

“That’s what you live for,” defensive coordinator Scott Darnell said. “After the game, we kind of take a breath, but in the moment, you’re in there just trying to figure things out and do what you can to stop the offense.

“But really, those games where we’ve played well like that, it’s a testament to the players on the football team and guys doing what we’re asking them to do.”

Darnell, like McCaffrey, had an uncommon entry to college coaching. He’s had a 23-year career, all as defensive coordinator, at various Colorado high schools. 

That included coaching former Griz defensive lineman Alex Bienemann at Regis Jesuit, as well as two years as Ed McCaffrey’s DC at Valor Christian in 2018 and 2019.

When McCaffrey took the Northern Colorado job, he called Darnell on a Thursday night to offer him the defensive coordinator position on the Bears’ staff.

By Friday morning, Darnell — in consultation with his wife — had decided to take the job.

“We made the decision that morning and started that day,” Darnell said. “And I haven’t looked back since.”

Now, the former high school guru has the Bears’ defense performing better than several units led by coaches with a much stronger college pedigree. He’s done it with a mixture of players already in the program who have taken a step forward and Power 5 transfers who have integrated well.

David Hoage

Hoage had 19 tackles in 12 games as a freshman in 2019. In 2021, he’s put himself in the Big Sky’s defensive player of the year discussion with 19 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks in nine games, including multiple outings with three sacks — and all that after not starting the opener at Colorado.

“He came in, had limited reps and got a sack in the first game of the season,” Darnell said. “The next week I said, ‘Look, we got to move this kid around, get him freed up any way we can to help him get after the quarterback.’

“We’ve played him with his hand down. We’ve played him on the edge, played him inside, even played him over the nose.”

Junior linebacker Jace Bobo is leading the team with 78 tackles, already 24 more than he had in 2019, along with two interceptions.

Redshirt senior safety Jerone Jackson has built on an all-conference honorable mention season in 2019 with 56 tackles, including five for loss.

Then there are the transfers like former Duke linebacker Xander Gagnon, who has 50 tackles and 4.5 TFLs in just six games, and former Cincinnati linebacker R.J. Potts.

Darnell has helped his disparate defenders mesh by trusting them with a lot of responsibility.

“The best thing that (the coaching staff) says is, we can’t go out there and play for you,” Hoage said. “So (they say), ‘We can always call the plays that we think will work, but you guys see something different.’ So they always ask for opinions, you know, and they always execute it as well.”

Northern Colorado’s offense huddles during a game against Montana State on Oct. 2/By Brooks Nuanez

That’s an orthodox move for a first-year coaching staff at a new level. But from Ed McCaffrey to Darnell to offensive coordinator Max McCaffrey, Ed’s oldest son who had no prior coaching experience at any level, it doesn’t get much more unorthodox than the Bears’ coaching staff.

And so far, Darnell’s defensive philosophy has been working.

“I’m a big believer in our kids, and so we put a lot on these guys,” Darnell said. “Week-in and week-out, adjusting the fronts, things like that. Coverage checks. We do a lot during the game. 

“And so you know, defensively we’re happy with how things have gone so far this year, definitely not satisfied. We could be a whole lot better, frankly. But I’m proud of the effort so far.”

About Andrew Houghton

Andrew Houghton grew up in Washington, DC. He graduated from the University of Montana journalism school in December 2015 and spent time working on the sports desk at the Daily Tribune News in Cartersville, Georgia, before moving back to Missoula and becoming a part of Skyline Sports in early 2018.

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