Non-Conference Schedule Propels CU Into Pac-12 Play
The Buffs roamed at home these past weeks as they played Northern Colorado, Texas A&M and Minnesota. After one win, a close loss and a game where the endzone was far from reach, CU Football starts Pac-12 play on Saturday, Sept. 25.
For every team in college football, the non conference matchups at the start of the season provide great opportunities to “play the field” outside of the conference relations and can be pivotal to a team’s postseason placement at the end of the year.
The Colorado Buffaloes had ups and downs against their nonconference schedule, with two very strong performances against Northern Colorado and Texas A&M, but then a zero-point game that left questions looming against Minnesota.
Coming off an impressive 4-2 COVID season in 2020, the Buffaloes had a skill-building August Camp, but faced a setback when quarterback JT Shrout went down with a knee injury in a scrimmage on August 14th. With Shrout out, the team rallied around freshman Brendon Lewis and kept their momentum from camp going into the season.
Northern Colorado
By Trent Finnegan
The Buffs’ home opener kicked off the season in a different way than years past, hosting the Northern Colorado Bears at Folsom instead of the traditional Rocky Mountain Showdown in Denver. This game was a great one for the Buffs to gain some confidence to start the season.
The Buffs offense started out slow with two three and outs and very little yardage on those two drives. “They came out with a defense we were not prepared for at all,” starting quarterback Brendon Lewis said at the postgame press conference. “We did a good job coming out of halftime and making adjustments.”
After those first two three and outs, the offense was put in prime field position by a Dimitri Stanley punt return and an unsportsmanlike penalty at the 28 yard line. Seven plays later, 2020 Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year Jarek Broussard scored the first touchdown of the season from a yard out early in the second quarter.
The defense kept their stifling play up, forcing two more three and outs before the offense found the end zone again. With 7:02 left in the quarter, Brendon Lewis threw a laser to receiver Montana Lemonious-Craig in the back of the end zone to extend the lead to 14-0.
The Northern Colorado offense put together a strong drive at the end of the half, going 60 yards in 12 plays, but any hopes of scoring were diminished when Colorado junior cornerback Mekhi Blackmon picked off a pass from McCaffery deep in the red zone to keep the halftime score at 14-0.
When asked about that pick that shut down the drive late in the half, Blackmon gave the credit to his defensive line. “Our d-line, our front 7 were able to pressure him all day… so he probably wasn’t comfortable back there.” McCaffery was consistently pressured behind the line of scrimmage for much of the game, a component of the game that was key for the defensive success .
The Buffs offense came out strong after halftime, as their five second half drives resulted in a missed field goal, three touchdowns, and a couple run plays to run down the clock at the end of the game. The most impressive of those drives took up 7 minutes and 25 seconds of the third quarter, when the offense moved the ball 90 yards down the field in 16 plays, with running back Alex Fontenot increasing the lead to 21-0 on a three yard touchdown run.
Other than a couple missed tackles that resulted in Northern Colorado’s one touchdown of the game, the Buffs defense kept their stellar play up in the second half, forcing a punt and two turnovers on downs in the second half en route to a final score of 35-7. Nate Landman led the way for the Buffs’ defense, finishing the game with 4 solo tackles (most on the team) and 1 deflected pass (tied most on the team), a very strong performance coming off a ruptured Achilles tendon he suffered against Utah last fall.
In total, the team finished with 281 rushing yards, with Broussard leading the way with 94 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. Along with Broussard, backs Ashaad Clayton, Alex Fontenot, and Deion Smith all put the ball in the end zone on the ground. La’vonte Shenault and Montana Lemonious-Craig led the team in receiving, each with 2 catches for 23 yards.
When asked about the performance on the ground after the game, Head Coach Karl Dorrell had good things to say. “I’m happy about all those backs, I can’t keep them all happy, that’s the challenge right now… It’s a great problem to have and it’s good to have that type of production from all those guys.”
There were some places where the team could improve on, but that is the case with every team in the nation in Week 1. “I’m really disappointed in the discipline of our team right now,” Dorrell expressed after the game. “We should have played a lot cleaner… I just felt like we could have played much much better and executed better.”
A 28 point victory is always good, and this game gave the Buffs a lot of confidence and momentum to kick off the season heading into the big showdown against Texas A&M at Empower Field at Mile High.
Texas A&M
By Nicolette Edwards
Going into the game as a 17 point favorite, Texas A&M looked to take command on Sept. 11. However, this matchup went down to the wire.
Exceptional performance by CU’s defense in the first half (and across the game) only allowed the Aggies to score on a 41-yard field goal attempt. Before the field goal, Lewis and Broussard, with the help of wide receivers Brenden Rice and Dimitri Stanley, rushed to the end zone. Broussard scored on 2nd and 2 during the first quarter and the stadium erupted.
Aggies starting quarterback left early in the first quarter due to a minor leg injury and they brought in their backup Zach Calzada. With pressure from the CU defense and adjustments with Calzada, Texas took until their first drive in the 4th quarter to reach the endzone. The ball came out as Calzada crossed the goalline and what was ruled a touchdown was overturned, then the stadium erupted.
Colorado still sat at seven points, was unable to score in their two final drives in the 4th. An 18 yard pass to Texas A&M running back Isaiah Spiller sealed the deal, leaving CU with two minutes and 41 seconds to score. Texas won ten to seven.
Broussard left the game halfway through the third quarter and did not return for the rest of the game. He was back the following weekend against Minnesota.
Both Broussard and Fontenot are narrowing in on 1,000 yard rushing careers. Fontenot finished with 996 yards and Broussard finished with 958.
“Coming off the Texas A&M game, our team played hard. I thought we fought toe-to-toe pretty well,” Coach Dorrell said. “We weren’t able to finish the game the way that we needed to, but I think with a young team we’ll get a chance to learn from that experience and build on it…I felt our defense played really well, that kept us in the game. Offensively we have to be able to find more opportunities to score some points and convert some third downs and get some continuity there.”
On Sept. 18, the Buffs offense struggled finding those opportunities against Minnesota.
Minnesota
By Bennett Kohut
The Buffs kicked off at 11 a.m. at Folsom Field on Sept. 18, a week after their close loss to Texas A & M. This was a very rough game for the Buffaloes.
The Minnesota Gophers came in and dominated the Buffs, resulting in a 30-0 final score. The Gophers dominated in every aspect of the game, especially the running game, as they scored four touchdowns on the ground on Saturday. Dorrell said, “That was a complete, I would say, beatdown in every phase.”
After the previous two games of an impressive running game from the Buffs, this one was one of the worst in program history as the Buffs finished the game with -19 rushing yards. The passing game was not successful either as the Buffs totaled at 82 yards in the air.
All of this, concluded in 63 total yards of offense for the Buffaloes.
The real struggle was in the trenches. The Buffs offensive line was dominated from the opening snap, as the first play of the game was a fumbled snap that resulted in a 10 yard loss. The offensive line proceeded to struggle as the Buffs could not move the ball all day, with no time in the pocket, and no open holes for the Buffs running backs. Quarterback Brendon Lewis was 8 for 16 with 55 yards, as he was sacked four times and fumbled once.
At the end of the game, coach Dorrell decided to throw in backup QB Drew Carter. Carter proceeded to play 12 snaps, where he threw the ball on eight of them and was the leading rusher for the Buffs with 9 yards.
“We’re struggling in a number of areas, It’s not just the quarterback,” Dorrell said. “It’s protection, it’s run game, it’s receivers, it’s backs, it’s everything. It’s one of those things where we’re gonna have to wipe the slate clean and start all over and try to figure out how to do some semblance of offense.”
As the Buffs move into Pac-12 play, CU fans may see new offensive schemes and more of Carter. Coach Dorrell stated, “We are going to give Drew Carter, because he did show some glimpses of positives…get him ready to possibly be in there.”
One positive take away from this tough game was that Fontenot reached exactly 1,000 rushing yards!
Pac-12 play begins in Tempe, Arizona as the Buffs play Arizona State on Saturday, Sept. 25. The following weekend, Oct. 2 CU plays USC at Folsom.
