3 takeaways from Colorado's 44-20 loss at UCLA

Yikes.

The Colorado Buffaloes jumped out to a 20-7 lead against the UCLA Bruins at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, before giving up 37 unanswered points to lose 44-20. Colorado fell to 3-7 on the season, officially killing its hopes of appearing in a bowl game this season. It will be the first time head coach Karl Dorrell will miss out on the postseason in six years as a head coach.

Here’s what we learned:

The Buffs imploded

Everything fell apart in the second half.

The Buffs carried a 20-10 lead into halftime, but couldn’t get anything going in the final 30 minutes. The offense didn’t score again and the defense couldn’t stop anything the Bruins tried.

It’s tough to pin down exactly what changed, but the easy answer is to blame the coaches, considering the change occurred at the half.

Something the UCLA coaches tweaked during the intermission worked, and whatever the CU coaches tried did not.

Colorado’s running game evaporated. Jarek Broussard ran for 102 yards in the first half. He ran for 6 in the second.

UCLA got its running game going. It ran for 69 yards in the first half and 164 in the second. It also improved from 0-4 to 4-6 on third downs.

So many things looked markably different once the Bruins’ 37-point run started and it’s easiest just to say that the coaching is to blame. Maybe that’s lazy but when you get blown out on offense, defense and special teams after adjustment time, I think there’s a solid case to be made.

Jarek Broussard is… himself?

As mentioned above, Broussard ran for 102 yards in the first half, marking his best half of the season.

In the second, he couldn’t get much going. That’s probably because he only carried the ball twice.

Regardless, it was a second-straight 100-yard game for the reigning conference offensive player of the year, and it’s a positive sign despite the fact that this is a lost season. Broussard has up to two seasons of eligibility remaining and after a slow start to the season it’s great to see his explosive ability is still there.

Broussard broke off a 46-yard run in the first half, his second-longest run of the season trailing only his 49-yarder last week against Oregon State. It would have been his longest of the year if he hadn’t been run down from behind after he got inside the 10-yard line.

Broussard showcased his blend of elusiveness and his surprising power given his small frame. He was a force to be reckoned with, even though the offensive line regressed after two weeks of very solid play.

The defense missed Nate Landman

UCLA’s second-half success can largely be attributed to its ability to run the football.

The Bruins averaged over six yards per attempt while running the ball three times as often as they passed it. Simply put, UCLA lined up and bullied the Buffs up front, even though CU knew what was coming.

UCLA’s running game is one of the best in the country. The Draft Network lists running back Zach Charbonnet as the No. 2 player at the position heading into April’s NFL Draft, with UCLA’s second-string runner Britain Brown at No. 5. That’s a wealth of talent at one of the most impactful positions in the college game.

Still, you’d like to see Colorado’s defense hold up better than it did on Saturday.

The absence of All-American inside linebacker Nate Landman was the major difference between this run defense and the one we’d seen for the bulk of the season. It was Landman’s second-straight absence because of a shoulder injury.

Next year, the Buffs’ defense won’t be able to rely on Landman to clean up everything that happens in the middle of the field. Quinn Perry, Jack Lamb, Marvin Ham, Mister Williams and the rest of the squad will have to pick up the slack.

On Saturday, they didn’t look ready.

Hopefully, over the course of the next nine months they’ll figure something out.