Five takeaways from the CU Buffs’ first win of 2022
It’s alive!
The Buffaloes’ energy was felt by all 50,471 in attendance at Folsom Field on Saturday who witnessed interim Mike Sanford lead Colorado to its first victory of the season, 20-13 (OT), against Cal.
The Buffs’ defense had their best performance of the season and JT Shrout was solid in relief of Owen McCown at quarterback.
We’ll see if this momentum continues next week against Oregon State, but it was finally fun again to watch the Buffs.
Our thoughts are also with Deion Smith, who was carted off the field following a scary injury in the third quarter.
Here are my five biggest takeaways from Saturday:
Gerald Chatman is doing something right
The main headline on Saturday was the inspired play of Colorado’s defense. Interim coordinator Gerald Chatman was thrown into a tough situation and his unit was dominant. Seven Buffs had a TFL and Tyrin Taylor recorded his first career interception to help limit Cal’s offense to 297 total yards.
The big plays are finally coming on defense
As our Tony Cosolo wrote prior to the game, the Buffs’ defense needed to do a little extra in this one. Taylor’s interception on Cal’s first drive set the tone and the D-line was all over Jack Plummer and Jadyn Ott, something we haven’t seen all season. Chatman doesn’t seem afraid to send some extra pressure and it worked well, especially in overtime.
Owen McCown didn't get much help
With Owen McCown’s size, it’s critical that he doesn’t take too many hits, and he, unfortunately, hit the ground hard a few too many times. His stat line was also hurt by a pair of early drops by Daniel Arias, who later made up for those somewhat with a 41-yard catch.
Offense settled at times on third down
At 0-5, there’s no reason Colorado shouldn’t be aggressive on third-and-longs. Twice in the first half, the Buffs settled with a run up the middle, including once on Cal’s 16-yard line. I get that they had to be somewhat cautious with points available in a 0-0 game, but Owen McCown’s leash seemed short.
However, I’ll add that the Buffs looked much better in short-yardage situations.
Energy improvement was obvious
I usually avoid talking too much about perceived energy improvements because it’s both subjective and doesn’t always mean better results. But the Buffs’ energy against Cal was so drastically better that you couldn’t ignore it. Players on the sidelines were waving towels and nearly the entire bench, including coaches, were rushing the field after big plays. Coming off three years of Karl Dorrell’s stoicism, Sanford’s energy was needed.
