Five takeaways from Colorado’s loss to the Oregon State Beavers
The Colorado Buffaloes still can’t get a complete performance from both sides of the ball. During the early part of the season, CU’s offense was moving the chains and scoring easily while the defense gave up points and relied on turnovers. That has completely turned on its head.
For the past two games, the Buffaloes’ defense has dramatically improved while the offense has been stuck in the mud. This trend continued as the smashmouth style of the Oregon State Beavers wore down the Buffs. CU now sits below .500 (4-5) for the first time this season and will need to do something special to become bowl-eligible.
Here are my takeaways from Saturday’s 26-19 homecoming loss to the Oregon State Beavers:
Even with a change in playcalling, the same issues showed up
Colorado promoted Pat Shurmur to call offensive plays, but CU still struggled in the run game and couldn’t protect quarterback Shedeur Sanders. ESPN color analyst Brock Osweiler pointed it out numerous times during the game as well and CU never adjusted to add extra protection. CU put together two scoring drives at the end of the game, although it was a case of too little too late.
What a brutal end to the first half
With CU only losing by seven points, it’s hard not to look at that sequence at the end of the first half when Colorado got possession of the ball at its 4-yard line with 44 seconds left. Down only 7-3 at the time, conventional wisdom says you run the clock out and go into halftime feeling good. Instead, Colorado threw an incompletion, dropped a pass and then ran with only 12 seconds off the clock.
After a great punt return, OSU scored a touchdown to go up 14-3. That decision not to run out the clock may have cost the Buffs the game.
Lack of commitment to the run
It was another week of CU not committing to run the ball as its running backs only accounted for 11 rush attempts all night. As talented as this group is, it’s frustrating to see a lack of commitment to feature them. I did not count a single time all night where CU called back-to-back run plays, even after a handful of its first down runs went for good yardage.
The defense fought hard but wore down
Colorado’s defense has been balling out the last two weeks, wreaking havoc in the backfield and causing turnovers. OSU came into the game with only six giveaways on the season, and the Buffs were able to wrangle two fumbles along with a bevy of tipped passes that could have led to more takeaways.
Ultimately, the defense succumbed to being on the field for 36 minutes of game time. The Colorado offense needs to stay on the field so the defense can get some rest.
The offense isn't taking full advantage of opponent turnovers
In the past two weeks, CU has accumulated six turnovers but has only turned that into six points. That’s not good enough production from the offense when presented with game-changing opportunities. If Colorado wants to salvage a bowl bid from this season, it needs to start playing complementary football, and a big first step is taking advantage of other teams’ mistakes.
Further reading
READ: Social media reacts to Colorado’s offensive struggles against Oregon State
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