Written by Paul Fritz
The Colorado Buffs came into Saturday already considered heavy underdogs against the 8th ranked Washington State Cougars. But after an uninspiring offensive performance that resulted in three scoreless quarters, fans have to wonder what happened to the team that started the season with five straight wins.
Travon McMillian put CU in a solid position early in the game after his 64-yard run followed by a 3-yard touchdown made it 7-0. Unlikely at this point for the defense to realize that would be the lead they need to protect for the rest of the game. WSU followed up with a 29-yard field goal and then a 28-yard touchdown to Max Borghi who fought through multiple defenders to reach the endzone.
The Cougars had no trouble moving the ball down the field going for a total of 232 yards with no fumbles or interceptions. They even ended the half with a staggering 49 total offensive plays compared to CU’s 23. A couple of their drives ended in turn-over on downs because of the decision to go for 4th down conversions resulting in incomplete passes to the endzone.
Even though the Buffs were outplayed in the first half, they were only down 10-7 and with the appropriate adjustments, had a chance to grind out a win. They also had their best playmaker on the field in Laviska Shenault Jr, who came back from turf toe and looked healthy up to this point.
This hopeful thinking was shattered instantly when a McMillian fumble on just the 2nd play of the half was recovered by WSU on the 32-yard line. WSU capitalized on this opportunity which resulted in a 1-yard touchdown pass from Gardner Minshew to Renard Bell, making it 17-7.
The Cougars defense stepped up their game soon after, rarely allowing the Buffs to move the ball past midfield. Combine this with WSU’s ability to keep their offense on the field, Colorado was out of this game even before the start of the 4th quarter. By the 4th quarter, WSU had a total possession time of 31 minutes versus Colorado’s 13.
By the time Colorado fans fled the stadium to find a solution for burnt eyeballs, the Cougars put the game away entirely with a couple more touchdowns.
On the loss, CU quarterback Steven Montez said, “It’s frustrating when you lose. It’s never fun when you work hard all week and then you come up short on game day, it’s tough. But we’ve got another opportunity next week, another week, Utah’s coming down here and they’re not going to lay down so we have to prepare this week and hopefully come out and play good football on Saturday.”
On his team’s struggles in the last five games, CU Head Coach Mike MacIntyre said, “I’ve never had a season where I had going into the 10th game of the year where we have 9 starters that are out that started the first game and 4 other significant players out…so basically more than a third of the guys that you play that you count on to win games aren’t out there.”
While Colorado are on a five-game losing streak, they can be grateful for their 5-0 start that made them a top-25 ranked team. Colorado still just needs to win 1 of their last 2 games against Utah and then UC Berkeley to qualify them for a much-desired bowl game.
On this fact, MacIntyre said, “They know that. If you touch on it all the time it might put more pressure on them. They know that, they want to do that and want to have that happen…It’s tough, I wish I could fix it all with a magic wand but we can’t. It’s hard work, it’s perseverance which develops character, which gives you hope. All of that works together…We’ve got to take the life lesson and find a way to win the game.”
Yes, the Buffs do have two more chances for bowl eligibility but right now it looks like any defense in the Pac-12 can shut this offense down. CU will have potential comebacks due to injury from KD Nixon and Jay MacIntyre but this team needs to execute on their game plans for the coming weeks. The Buffs will stick around and wait for the Utah Utes to arrive where they will play this coming Saturday. WSU will look to continue their 9-1 season on Saturday when they will host the Arizona Wildcats.
