Colorado has plenty of work left to do

TEMPE, Ariz. — Karl Dorrell says Colorado is close.

“We’ve gotta be big men and grow up and try to get some things fixed in a hurry,” Dorrell said late Saturday night. “I think we’re pretty close. I don’t think we’re that far away.”

I’m skeptical.

Colorado has lost back-to-back games by a combined score of 65-13. The Buffs have been outgained by 567 yards in that time. They went 24 consecutive possessions without scoring a point.

Yes, Colorado has one of the hardest schedules in the country and they’re in the midst of the toughest stretch of the season.

But the goal is to compete for the Pac-12 South crown. Colorado won’t be “back” until that happens, and the odds of the Buffs catching up to Arizona State this season seem slim.

The Buffs have problems everywhere on offense.

The offensive line has struggled consistently. They’ve tried numerous combinations up front but nothing has worked. The pass protection is weak. There’s little push in the running game. But there are veterans in the room and enough talent to turn things around.

The running backs haven’t lived up to the hype either. Alex Fontenot had a solid night on Saturday but he’s been mediocre to this point. Jarek Broussard hasn’t broken the big runs we saw last season. But solving the issues up front could be enough to unlock the talent in the backfield.

Quarterback Brendon Lewis has struggled. But he’s a freshman with four starts under his belt and he could turn a corner at any point.

When Lewis has hit his receivers, they’ve dropped too many passes. But there’s talent outside, too, and they can take just about any pass to the house.

The play calling has been disappointing, too. But Dorrell is working more on the game planning and if results don’t follow there could be a change to who calls the plays.

Some of the problems are big. Some are small. But they all add up.

Everything mentioned above is totally fixable but there are so many pieces of the offense that need to be fixed. Getting them all solved quickly won’t be easy. Getting them all solved this season might not be easy either.

And the defense has its issues, too.

Colorado’s defense can be one of the very best in the Pac-12—maybe even the entire country. On Saturday, it wasn’t though.

They couldn’t contain quarterback Jayden Daniels. That’s a tough assignment for any defense, but Colorado failed.

Colorado struggled to defend some of the speed that ASU has on the perimeter, particularly when Daniels extended plays with his legs.

And, worst of all, the defense shot itself in the foot with a couple of penalties that extended drives that ended in touchdowns.

Plus, the special teams have lacked, too. Penalties wiped out a pair of big returns from ASU on Saturday and, although he was good on Saturday, freshman kicker Cole Becker is still sub-50% on the season.

Karl Dorrell is right: Just about every problem is solvable.

But the list of problems is long.

“We still have a tremendous amount of work,” Dorrell said.

It’s time to get to work.