BOULDER – In college football’s game of the week, the No. 10 Colorado Buffaloes took on the No. 20Washington State Cougars in a classic bout of Pac-12 title contenders. The game had everything; dropped touchdowns, big throws and runs by two of the conference’s best quarterbacks. The game featured six different lead changes in a back and forth entertaining prelude to a title fight.
The Buffaloes, once again didn’t blink, winning 38-24 in game that they could’ve easily hit the mat.
“I just stared saying this about three weeks ago but we do not blink,” Mike MacIntyre said postgame.
The Buffs struck first, on their first offensive drive of the game following a nice stop by the defense. A mix of Self Liufau and Phillip Lindsay got CU into the end zone to take the early 7-0 lead. But opposing quarterback Luke Falk and his explosive spread attack weren’t going to let things be that easy.
On the very next drive, WSU stuck back. First with a big broken tackle in the run game to create a big gain and then an accurate Falk strike would put the teams all level. Things didn’t get any easier for the Buffs. A costly Lindsay fumble after a big gain from the local tailback would give the road team the ball right back.
Soon after Falk would punish the Buffs on a big time play call; with running back Jamal Morrow going long on a deep route to beat Kenneth Olugbode in coverage for a big 46-yard touchdown to put WSU up 14-7 with 2:30 left in the first quarter.
Falk created lots of danger early on, making accurate passes downfield and to the sideline, managing to complete passes over the outstretched arms of Buffs defensive backs Tedric Thompson, Isiah Oliver, Ahkello Witherspoon and Chidobe Awuzie all in perfect coverage. In this matchup of strength against strength, the Buffs secondary made several plays holding Falk under 50 percent. But Colorado did allow some completions despite being in the tightest of coverage possible, a real testament to Falk.
“Honestly I think he’s the best quarterback we’ve seen. He made some throws on us when we’re playing good coverage,” said Awuzie about Falk.
Despite allowing them to move the chains, Colorado’s defense came up with some crucial stops to keep the score down, totting their bend don’t break attitude. First with Awuzie forcing a field goal by getting through the line on a third down blitz, which lead to a botched kick. Then with a turnover on downs by WSU. The Buffs kept averting near catastrophe, in the form a dropped Gabe Marks touchdown and then they would make a huge play like the one by Witherspoon on 4th-and-7, who knocked the ball out while playing coverage on Marks.
After that crucial stop, the offense leveled the game back with a Liufau running touchdown coming off of three consecutive runs in the red zone. The half would end with Wazzu finding a field goal and the Buffs missing a kick giving the away team a 17-14 lead that seemingly could have been much worse.
The Buffs came out with a different attitude in the second half. The team came out motivated and immediately took the lead back. A powerful, imposing drive was unleashed by the offense establishing the running game. Liufau once again, on the ground, capped a drive off with a 7-yard run. Liufau’s performance was impressive. He ran with determination, found receivers open and made some huge plays with pressure in his face.
As Lindsay said about Liufau post-game, “that’s my dude, he’s my guy to the end, he’s our leader,” and he certainly played that way.
Liufau ran for three touchdowns and passed for 345 yards, but his biggest play might have been with pressure on him by start Cougars safety, Shalom Luani, who he bent forward and bounced off his back to keep the chains moving.
Yet the Cougars weren’t done, soon they took the lead back, 24-21. CU was done allowing anything more to Falk and company though. The Buffaloes offense was the better unit on third down, as the tight coverages from the Buffs secondary became progressively harder to beat for the visitor’s precise quarterback. This third down efficiency became evermore important later in the contest.
“We don’t blink’ came from the Stanford game, I’ve noticed how they just keep fighting. The start of the 4th, to rise up and stop em.” Said Mike McIntyre about his team.
Colorado outscored the No. 20 team in the country 24-7 in the second half, with the offense outperforming Washington State when it mattered most; on third down. As WSU converted 4-of-15 and 2-of-4 on fourth down, while CU was 13-21.
CU’s response to the Cougars touchdown came on the next drive, getting Lindsay going on a 27 yard gain, while Liufau closed it out with his third scored of the game. With Folsom rocking the Buffs were up 28-24.
A Liufau injury scare complicated things, but CU still managed a field goal to extend the lead. With their leader coming back on the field for the next series, the Buffaloes wouldn’t be denied.
After a 26-yard completion to Devin Ross, Lindsay began to feast on a tired Wazzu defense capping the drive off with a 13-yard TD, giving them a 38-24 lead.
The defense would do the rest forcing turnovers on the next two drives to ice the game. This dream wasn’t meant to end, not today, not now. This inspiring Buffaloes team’s run is going to continue for at least another week. How long it goes will be up to them. If Saturday proved anything, it’s that Colorado’s celling is higher than even people within the athletic department could have imagined.
