Bo Nix and Oregon too much for struggling Buffs

BOULDER – Bo Nix was the star of the show at Folsom Field today. Playing through strong wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour all afternoon, Nix put up a touchdown trifecta en route to dominating the Colorado Buffaloes.

Nix finished the game with 274 passing yards completing 20 of 24 passes, while adding 16 rushing yards and 18 receiving yards. He had two passing touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns, and one receiving touchdown. The touchdown trifecta is a rarity in football, and Nix completed the feat halfway through the third quarter.

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning seemed to treat the Buffaloes as more of an experimental opponent, as they constantly ran exotic plays throughout the entire game. Their quarterback had a receiving touchdown, one of their offensive linemen had a receiving touchdown, and their middle linebacker had a rushing touchdown.

Buffaloes head coach Mike Sanford had lots of praise for Nix and the Ducks, who are hoping to make it to the College Football Playoff this winter.

“Hats off to Oregon,” Sanford said. “Oregon’s got an extremely dynamic offense.”

While the strong wind gusts didn’t seem to affect the Ducks, the Buffaloes struggled with the weather, especially in the second half. Buffs kicker Cole Becker had a 40 yard field goal pushed wide right because of the wind in the second quarter, and the Buffaloes had five fumbles (1 lost) on center-quarterback exchanges in the game, most of which were due to wind gusts.

“[The wind] was honestly one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen,”Sanford said. “Especially in the late third and early fourth quarter, I was watching the snaps come back, and they looked right on the money. [Then] they were getting blown down below to the left [and] to the right.”

The game started with Oregon receiving the opening kickoff. Six plays, 75 yards, and just under three minutes later, the Ducks led 7-0 off a receiving touchdown by Josh Conerly Jr., who plays offensive line for the Ducks.

The Buffs answered with a strong 60-yard drive, but the drive yielded no points after running back Jayle Stacks was stopped on a fourth and two from the Oregon 16 yard line.

Oregon quarterback Bo Nix then caught a touchdown on a halfback pass on the next drive, one of Oregon’s many trick plays they drew up throughout the contest. The Buffs then punted, and Oregon responded with yet another touchdown. This time, Oregon’s star middle linebacker, Noah Sewell, lined up at running back, where he took a handoff and scored a one-yard touchdown.

With 12:14 remaining in the second quarter, the Buffs were backed up in their own territory, faced with a third and ten, looking for a spark. That’s when true freshman wide receiver Jordyn Tyson broke loose in the secondary, caught a ball from J.T. Shrout up the seam, and scampered to the end zone for an 81-yard touchdown.

Tyson, who has been phenomenal for the Buffs offense, finished the day with 5 catches, 137 yards, and a touchdown. Tyson has five touchdowns this season, averaging 51.6 yards per play on those plays.

After Becker missed the field goal, the Oregon offense capitalized, and scored another touchdown, extending the lead to 28-7 at halftime.

Coming out of the half, the Colorado offense put together another strong drive. However, after a 27-yard carry by Alex Fontenot got the Buffs into the red zone, back-to-back penalties by wide receiver Jack Hestera killed the drive, causing the Buffs to settle for a field goal.

On the following Oregon drive, the Buffs defense got just their second stop of the game, as they held strong and forced an incomplete pass on fourth and goal at the five yard line. The stop sparked some life into the Buffs and the dwindling crowd at Folsom Field, which only lasted for 34 seconds.

Two plays later, in his homecoming at Folsom, Oregon cornerback and former Buff Christian Gonzalez intercepted a deep pass from Shrout, and returned it to the Colorado two yard line. From there, Bo Nix finished it off with a quarterback sneak to increase their lead to 25.

On the next drive, Gonzalez picked off another deep pass from Shrout with 5:49 left in the third quarter. After a 41-yard return, he made sure to let his former teammate know, throwing up two fingers in a disappointed Shrout’s face.

The game was effectively over at that point. Oregon put together back-to-back touchdown drives after the second Gonzalez interception, then put in their backups to finish out the game.

With 10:07 left in the fourth quarter, Tyson was hit hard on a slant route, and was badly injured. He couldn’t put any weight on his left leg as he was helped off the field, and the initial thought is that his impressive freshman campaign is over, which is horrible news for an offense that is already one of the worst in the country.

Tyson left the game earlier due a possible concussion, but was cleared to return. Even though there was speculation regarding his return, Sanford was adamant that it was Tyson’s decision to return to the game.

“He was cleared to return and Jordyn Tyson loves football,” Sanford said. “That’s my number one trait about Jordan, that I personally love is just how much he wants to be out there and play the game of football.”

The Buffs finished the game with 367 total yards, a season high for the offense. However, the Buffs went 0-3 on fourth down, threw two interceptions, and lost a fumble. The Ducks finished with 479 yards.

The Buffs defense has a lot of work to do, especially since they have to deal with USC next week, who has one of the most dynamic offenses in the country. On top of the 479 yards they let up today, the Buffs had no sacks, and missed an absurd amount of tackles, many of which led to Oregon touchdowns.

Despite letting up seven touchdowns today, Sanford was happy with how the Buffs defense played down the stretch. “I was proud [of] the second half effort we [had] against a highly dynamic offense, one of the most dynamic offenses in college football.”

The tackling has been a problem all season, and there is no excuse for a Power Five defense to tackle as poorly as the Buffaloes do.

Colorado has a short week on their hands, as they take on the No. 9 USC Trojans on Friday at the LA Coliseum. The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. MDT on Fox Sports 1.