3 takeaways from Colorado's 28-13 loss to No. 19 Utah

BOULDER — The 2021 season is in the books.

The Colorado Buffaloes fell to the No. 19 Utah Utes on the road on Friday to close out a disappointing campaign. Fresh off an Alamo Bowl appearance in the shortened 2020 season, the Buffs only mustered a 4-8 record this time around.

Here’s what we learned on Saturday:

Colorado missed Nate Landman

This isn’t surprise, and it definitely isn’t the first time we’ve seen it, but the absence of Nate Landman had a huge impact on Saturday.

Utah is big and bulky up front, and it might possess the best rushing offense in the Pac-12. The Utes pound the rock up the middle and build the rest of the offense from there. To beat the Utes, you have to be able to stop, or at least slow down, the running game.

Landman missed his fifth consecutive game with a shoulder injury, and Utah was able to exploit the middle of the defense. The Utes ran the ball 45 times for 265 yards. Two backs surpassed the century mark and the team averaged just under six yards per carry for the game.

Quinn Perry only made three tackles after putting up at least seven in each of the other games Landman missed. Robert Barnes, who has held a larger role in the CU defense since Landman’s departure, managed seven.

Simply put, the second level of Colorado’s defense was unable to make the plays it needed to. Utah ran for 10 or more yards on 11 different plays.

The only bright spot was the play along the edges, where Carson Wells and Devin Grant contributed a couple of big splashes. The defensive line penetrated on occasion, too.

The gas in the run defense have shown since Landman injured his shoulder. Now, Colorado has 10 months to figure out how to fix them.

The offensive line struggled

Colorado’s offense has struggled for most of the season, and the offensive line can be blamed as much as anything else.

When offensive line coach Mitch Rodrigue was replaced by quality control coach William Vlachos. The line improved for a couple of games, but it struggled again on Saturday.

Utah only notched four sacks but there would have been more if Brendon Lewis hadn’t been able to run out of pressure. He was constantly under duress and he took at least two hits that could have knocked him out of the game. He completed less than 40% of his passes for 84 yards and the struggles can be attributed just as much to the offensive line as the quarterback.

The Buffs couldn’t run the ball, either. They combined for a 2 yards per carry average. Alex Fontenot led the way with 10 carries for 28 yards. It didn’t help that Jarek Broussard was unable to play because of an injury.

Vlachos, 33, had a chance to audition for the full-time job in the second half of the season. His group showed serious signs of improvement over its early-season performance, but a strong finish could have done wonders for Vlachos as Colorado enters the offseason.

The team played hard

Colorado was fighting an uphill battle on Saturday. The Buffs entered the game as 24-point underdogs on the road against a rival that had beaten them in four straight games and eight of the previous nine. Plus, the game was essentially meaningless as the Buffs had been eliminated from postseason contention weeks earlier.

Still, Colorado showed up to play. The Buffs fought hard and kept the game closer than Vegas, and just about everybody else, had expected.

Ball-carriers fought for extra yards. Brendon Lewis wore hit after hit after hit. The defense was flying around and hitting hard whenever possible.

In a season where real victories were remarkably hard to find, moral victories are a decent consolation. The Buffs’ effort on Saturday is worth noting.