Buffs' offense struggles after early surge
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AP
Colorado's offense started the game on fire with 17 points on the board with 13:36 left to go in the second quarter.
However, the offense stalled. Big time. No way to sugar coat it. They didn't score the rest of the second quarter - nor did they score in the second half.
Luckily for CU, their defense came to play. The Buffs' run defense was extremely stout, allowing just 2.7 yards per rush and allowed just three points during the game.
“We made a few mistakes here and there, the offensive line jumping offsides, a missed block or a missed read, those kinds of things," Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre said. "We’ll see that on film, we’ll correct it, and we’ll move on. We will be an explosive offense. Someday this group will really be explosive, and I can’t wait until they do it. Hopefully it’s next Saturday.”
While Colorado certainly had their own unforced offensive errors, Colorado State certainly deserves credit for limiting the high powered Buffaloes' offense.
Colorado State's defense sacked Steven Montez just once in the first half but got to him four times in the second half. CSU's five sacks came from five different players.
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“(Montez) was holding it a little bit," MacIntyre said. "We’ll learn from that, and he’ll see where he’s got to go with the ball to get it out of his hands a little quicker. There was one sack where we should’ve changed the protection. They had all year to study us too, and we improved on some things. They did a good job having a game under their belt.
"(CSU) is much better on defense, they’re older, they’re experienced, they’re going to lose a lot of guys too off that defense after this year. Marty (English) has done a good job coaching them, I told him after the game that I was really impressed by how much they’ve improved defensively.”
The Colorado players talked about their second half struggles following the game as well.
“We did some good things in the first half," said wide receiver Shay Fields, who finished with six catches for 78 yards and a touchdown. "We started off fast but second half we got into a little bit of trouble, we couldn’t execute as well. We just need to fix that.”
“We’ve got to go back to watch the film," running back Phillip Lindsay said. "They brought a couple blitzes that confused us a little bit. Other than that, we’ve just got to go out there and play Colorado football. That’s just one snap and clear when we do make a mistake, and then score points. Get our receivers involved, and get them the ball, take some more shots, and help our defense out. Our defense did a phenomenal job today.”
At the end of the day, the Buffs knocked off a Colorado State team that many pundits thought would beat CU and potentially win every other game on their schedule this season - other than their matchup with Alabama.
So beating CSU by two touchdowns on a neutral field is nothing to scoff at, even if the Buffs did struggle mightily on offense to put up points in the second half.
“It’s a good feeling," Lindsay said. "To go out my last year playing in the Colorado Rocky Mountain Showdown against CSU again. It feels pretty good to be able to get the win for myself.”
