Buffs Review: Reality sets in against Minnesota

This is the third part in a series looking back on the 2021 season. Every couple of days we’ll review another game and work our way through the season.

Colorado met up with the Minnesota Golden Gophers for an afternoon game at Folsom Field in Week 3 of the college football season. CU was coming off a narrow loss to #5 Texas A&M, giving them some momentum despite the loss. But Minnesota demolished the Buffs 30-0 and sent Colorado’s season into a tailspin. The Gophers would go on to win nine games, including six of nine in Big Ten play.

Turning Point: Brendon Lewis fumbles

Minnesota’s touchdown to extend the lead to 20 with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter was the dagger, but the turning point came just a few minutes earlier.

The Gophers punted the ball to give CU it’s second possession of the second half. The Buffs set up at their own 40-yard line, a great starting point to try to break the seal and cut into Minnesota’s 13-point lead.

Lewis carried the ball up the middle on the first play of the drive and had it punched away. Minnesota set up in plus-territory.

Seven plays later, Trey Potts was in the end zone for the third time and the Gophers had an insurmountable 20-point lead.

3 Stars

Nate Landman – The Buffs played a power-running Big Ten team. Of course Landman was one of the game’s stars.

Landman made 13 tackles and 8 of them fit Pro Football Focus’ definition of a run stop. Three of them were tackles for loss. The Buffs’ star linebacker was everywhere.

Guy Thomas – CU’s breakout outside linebacker continued his hot start against Minnesota. Thomas finished with 10 tackles, one for a loss, and three stops.

Jalen Sami – The sophomore didn’t blow up the stat sheet—he had three tackles—but he was instrumental in clogging up the middle of the field throughout the game.

Plus, Sami showed some hustle. On at least one occasion, he made a downfield tackle when most linemen would have given up on the play.

CU Spotlight: The offense is officially bad

The Buffs got off to a slow offensive start against Northern Colorado… but that was to be expected in the first game with a freshman QB and they still put up 35 points. That’s what we told ourselves.

The Buffs only managed seven points in Week 2… but they were playing a good SEC team and they finished within three points of a win. That’s what we told ourselves.

Against Minnesota, the truth became clear: Colorado had a bad offense.

Let’s take a look at some numbers:

67 – percentage of gametime that Minnesota had the ball

7 – CU’s total yards gained in the first half

4.4 – Brendon Lewis’ QBR

2 – plays that gained 10+ yards

1.4 – yards gained per play

0 – points score by Colorado in the game

-19 – CU’s rushing yards in the game

Get the picture? Colorado did absolutely nothing offensively in this game.

Here’s some real analysis:

• The offensive line couldn’t handle the Gopher front seven. It didn’t have a chance. But it especially didn’t have a chance because of some of the plays that were called.

  For example: A stretch run to the weak side in which neither relevant blocker had leverage over his man. The Buffs’ OL couldn’t win straight up and they definitely couldn’t win at a disadvantage. On that play, the tackle lost a one-on-one just to add another level to the struggles.

• The receivers didn’t get open. They lost their one-on-ones and didn’t find gaps in the zone nearly as often as they should have. It’s easy to blame the line, quarterback and coaches in a game like this, but the receivers didn’t do anything to give the team a better chance.
• Brendon Lewis struggled. When a receiver was open, Lewis missed him too often. I don’t know if it’s a lack of anticipation or a lack of faith in his arm, but the freshmen didn’t take what the defense gave him. In his defense, he was under pressure on 55% of his drop backs.

We didn’t necessarily know that the Buffs would go on to set a new standard for ineptitude in Boulder after these first three games, but we knew things weren’t going to go well and no level of failure was out of the question. All of the momentum and hope from a near-upset of a top-five team was erased in one week.

Opponent Spotlight: The Gopher RPO

Minnesota’s offense is a unique beast. Head coach P.J. Fleck has installed a power-running, RPO-heavy scheme and he’s willing to put extra tight ends and linemen on the field to bully opponents.

Overall, Colorado did a decent job stopping the Gophers. The Buffs only gave up 13 points in the first half and held them at that mark, which kept the team in the game, until the final minute of the third quarter. From there, Minnesota plowed over the Buffs and ran up the stats, finishing with 277 yards on the ground.

But the impressive part wasn’t the brute strength the Gophers have up front, it was the thought process behind everything they did.

Minnesota set up a touchdown when veteran quarterback Tanner Morgan saw the look the Buffs gave him and moved the running back from his left to his right. The Gophers were in a spread look and the Buffs matched with a light box. Thanks to the change, Minnesota had leverage for a big outside zone run.

This was the type of thinking you saw on every play, whether it was a run out of spread, an RPO, or a big power run from inside the five.

One of the first plays the Gophers ran was a perfect run-pass option. There were two receivers lined up to the left. The outside receiver ran a slant. The inside guy ran an outside release then ran a delayed slant behind the first receiver. It was the perfect way to beat the Cover 1 defense CU had run so well the week before. The game-planning was obvious.

The CU offense, meanwhile, was cookie-cutter. It didn’t matter where the Buffs had the advantage, they ran the play as it was called in the huddle. CU was at a major disadvantage when it came to coaching.

Maybe bringing in Minnesota offensive coordinator Mike Sanford Jr. will spark change in Boulder.

What would you do?

Karl Dorrell faced a difficult decision with two minutes to go before the half. It was 4th & 6 and he had the following options:

1. Send the freshman out to try a 56-yarder to cut the lead to 10
2. Punt the ball from inside the opponents’ 40-yard line
3. Try to pick up the first down with an offense that had gained 6+ yards on four of its 25 plays

There was no good option.

Dorrell asked his quarterback to throw for the first but he was sacked almost immediately.

Keep an eye on: Drew Carter

For the second time in his career, Drew Carter saw the field against Minnesota.

The true freshman played 12 snaps—double his workload against Northern Colorado—and the results were mixed. He made a couple of nice, but not flashy, throws. He missed a couple as well, including an airmail over the head of a wide open Deion Smith in the flat. Carter completed four of his eight passing attempts for 27 yards. He was the team’s leading rusher with nine yards on two attempts.

Nothing about what Carter did screamed “start me,” but given the lack of offense against A&M and Minnesota, there was a case to start Carter just to shake things up. Going forward, we’ll take a look at when the Buffs should have instead the freshman.