Head scratcher is really the best way I can describe the events that took place at The Jones last night.
There were so many things that went wrong in this game for Tech that I honestly think it was a miracle that it found itself with a chance to tie the game late. It’s 34-20 with around 10 minutes to go in the game and I thought to myself that there was no way this game could have become interesting again.
Another hat tip to the defensive side of the ball because going into this one, I really got the sense that they were already going to be playing from a disadvantage, and I thought DeRuyter’s unit rose to the challenge.
Plain and simple, though, Colorado beat the Red Raiders at their own game, through the air, at least. Shedeur Sanders only went 1-for-5 on passes longer than 15 yards down the field. One completed pass that went for a grand total of 16 yards. So where did they make their work?
In preparation for this game, we had the understanding that this Buffaloes wide receiver room was going to be the best that Tech had faced all season, with elite speed and playmaking ability. While I expected CU to be much more aggressive taking shots down field and trying to use its speed to its advantage vertically, the Buffs got theirs through the horizontal game.
The quick hitters underneath were there all night long. Then you talk about the screens, oh boy.
For as much hate as screens get in our neck of the woods, Colorado ran them about as effectively as an offense could.
Respect to Josh Kelly, Caleb Douglas and Coy Eakin, but I’m sorry, this CU receiving corps made the Red Raiders’ screen game look like a walk through. Unreal speed, and that’s only part of the story.
What ultimately burned Tech in the screen game was CU’s willingness to hold steady blocks, in particular on the Wester touchdown where Travis Hunter held a block for several seconds to give his companion a breakaway shot down the sideline. Tech’s inability to properly maintain outside leverage did not help the situation either.
I think the most frustrating part about the defensive situation last night was not even really anything that the unit did or did not do. It was well-established the kind of night the guys up front were going to have to have in terms of wrangling up Sanders. The effort there certainly can’t go unnoticed. I appreciated that Tech sent extra bodies– and sent them often – to try and throw him off.
When you’re sending 4, 5 or even 6 guys to try and bring him down, and you still can’t, I’m throwing my arms up in the air in the press box and just like, what can you even do at that point? At some point you acknowledge the talent on the opposite side of the line of scrimmage, and credit to the Red Raiders and the defensive staff for not bowing down and giving the team a fighting chance late into the game.
And here we go again with this dreadful offense.
Play the blame game and point at whoever you want, but this offense’s inconsistencies are really an amalgamation of everything that is wrong on that side of the ball.
This was without a doubt, the offensive line’s worst game they’ve put out and the numbers and the tape will back that up, 1000 percent. Six sacks and 10 TFLs tell the story.
There was one sack, in particular, in the first half where Behren Morton got drilled. Blame it all you want on Morton’s pocket awareness, but the edge rusher completely beat Caleb Rogers off the line that Morton stood no chance anyways. Hell, on the strip sack that ended the game on the final drive, Rogers got away with a crazy hold on Arden Walker, who still fought through to strip the ball.
Morton is at his best when he is making quick reads and getting the ball out of his hands in a rapid manner. Last night and maybe even more so against Iowa State, it just does not seem like the RPO/PA game has been used with much intentionality as the games wear on and this has not benefitted Morton in the slightest. The way this offense operates on the first couple of drives of the game to how it moves throughout the rest of the contests is night and day, and certainly not in a good way.
The complete inability to run the ball falls on the shoulders of the offensive line and also on the offensive coordinator. Tahj Brooks finished with 137 yards on 31 carries, so purely reading the stat sheet it doesn’t look like he did all that bad.
But 70 of those yards, more than half, came in the fourth quarter with CU playing purely for pass coverage by that point.
And I didn’t think the Buffs did anything spectacular in the run game either, maybe very early on they were loading the box a bit more to try and keep Brooks from getting established. But as the first couple of drives rattled off and Tech got going on crossers, CU had to respect that. Still, the run game was absolutely stifled through three quarters. The first takeaway in my article I posted last night was going to be about this until Brooks got it going late.
And the continuous beating of heads into walls trying to get it going between the tackles was horrific. The inability to take advantage of favorable fronts and the refusal to try anything other than something inside the tackles was a mistake. I love Tahj Brooks as much as the next guy, but plain and simple his brand of football was not working for three quarters and failing to try something different there was a missed opportunity.
I apologize for the long-winded thoughts here but man I am throwing whatever is coming to mind on this page. I made a comment in another thread last night that this team will probably finish 8-4. There’s going to be a divide of people who will take that for what it is and some who will recognize that this team had several chances to finish better than that. Given the state you’re in and some of the wins you’ve had this season, you might even be lucky to be 6-4 right now. Whatever side you end up falling on by season’s end, I think we can all agree that last night was disappointing for this program.
