Report card: Grading Colorado’s 49-10 loss to Oregon
If you asked every Colorado Buffaloes fan, almost all knew what was coming in Saturday’s game against Oregon Ducks. Colorado has struggled with the Ducks ever since joining the Pac-12, only capturing one win — that thriller in Eugene back in 2016. Almost every other game has looked like the one we saw this weekend.
CU was unable to stop Oregon’s offense and the Buffs could only muster 10 points of their own on a windy day at Folsom. As the wind got worse, the offense got sloppy and CU’s defense put up little resistance, allowing Bo Nix to pad his Heisman resume.
Let’s go through the grades in the 49-10 loss:
Coaching: F
Colorado couldn’t come up with the right plan of attack against Oregon, and it looked as if the Ducks knew exactly what CU was trying to do. When Colorado would drop back into coverage, the Ducks attacked the short passing game; when CU would bring pressure, Oregon had a man running free in the secondary. The defensive coaches were outcoached and it showed on the scoreboard.
Colorado’s offense consisted of a limited number of plays and most of the time Oregon had the right alignment to counter the attack. The offensive coaches just don’t do enough to stress a defense. We rarely see things like screens or an advanced route tree. Both sides of the ball have become predictable and opposing coaches are taking advantage.
Offense: F
I believe we have gotten to the point where we know what we have in JT Shrout, and it’s unfortunate to say but Shrout is not a Power Five quarterback. The inaccuracy is really becoming an issue, especially on a day when the line kept a very clean pocket. The line did look really good today, and that compounds the issues at the QB position even more. Shrout was also forcing the ball into traffic on too many occasions as well.
Jordyn Tyson is going to be a star. He exploded again and scored Colorado’s only touchdown on the day when he blew past the Oregon defense and outraced everyone to the end zone for an 81-yard score. However, Tyson looked as if he suffered a serious leg injury late in the game.
Defense: F
What can be said here that hasn’t been said for the majority of the season? Colorado was again outmatched on the defensive side of the ball. The issues were compounded by players being out of position and playing undisciplined football. Oregon was able to feast on this, as evidenced by the outside linebacker crashing in on a run play near the goal line only to see the QB keep the ball and walk in for an easy score off the lack of edge containment. You can’t feel good after the first two scores of the game came from a tackle-eligible receiver and a toss back from the running back to Bo Nix.
Special Teams: F
I am probably being overly harsh on the special teams but given the performance of the team this year, no one will bat an eye. Colorado did not punt on the day and couldn’t get much going in the return games. The normally reliable Cole Becker also missed on one of his two field goal attempts.
Overall: F
It has been a long season and Saturday wasn’t much reprieve from what has been going on. This was another poor showing by this team on national TV that has to have the fanbase feeling uneasy about what is going on. Colorado put up little resistance against the class of the Pac-12 and couldn’t do enough to keep the game interesting. It has come time for the coaching staff to start playing the underclassmen more so we can begin looking at what players can make an impact in the coming years.
Further reading
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