Karl Dorrell is optimistic despite the loss to No. 5 A&M

BOULDER — Karl Dorrell’s Colorado team almost pulled off a shocking upset over No. 5 Texas A&M.

“We had our chances, and unfortunately it didn’t work out,” Dorrell said after the game.

The Buffs led for 44 minutes and 43 seconds, but gave up the game-winning touchdown with less than three minutes to play. When Colorado took the field to answer with a score of its own, the Buffs failed to pick up a first down. It was their sixth drive without moving the chains.

“We had opportunities in the first and second half,” Dorrell said. “We didn’t do what we should have done. We didn’t do well enough offensively.”

The defense was a different story.

While the Buffs’ offense had six drives that didn’t include a first down, the defense forced five such drives in the first half alone.

“Defensively, I felt they played their butts off,” Dorrell said. “Very proud of that.”

Regardless, the Buffs blew a massive opportunity. They led with three minutes left in a game against a top-tier opponent, games that Dorrell won during the final years of his tenure at UCLA, his only other stint as a head coach.

Colorado hasn’t beaten a top-10 opponent since 2007, when the Buffs beat No. 3 Oklahoma.

That same year, Dorrell’s last at UCLA, Dorrell beat No. 10 Cal. The year before that he beat No. 2 USC. The year before that he beat No. 9 Oregon and No. 10 Cal.

He thinks this Colorado team is capable of the same thing.

“I think everybody thought that we wouldn’t be close to this (A&M) team,” Dorrell said. “I told a lot of you that we are a better team than you think. I told you that. I still believe that.”

It’s a strange balance to strike; on the one hand, Colorado blew a game that it should have one. On the other hand, the Buffs went toe-to-toe with the No. 5 team in the country… and looked like the better team for 55 minutes.

“You can imagine the disappointment,” Dorrell said. “But there’s no reason to hand our head low for anything. We had a chance to win a significant game, and our locker room is more disappointed in us for not finishing the game.”

At the end of the day, what the standings say are what matters, and right now Colorado is sitting there with one win and one loss.

But the way that loss came was promising.

“Damn right I’m optimistic,” Dorrell said. “We’ve still got a lot to fix, but we were in the game for 95% of it today. Unfortunately, we didn’t win. That’s what we’ve got to learn from. That’s how you guys have to look at this.”

At the very least, Saturday’s loss should give CU confidence that every game left on the schedule is winnable. Arizona State and USC will provide challenges, but neither is on the same tier as the A&M team that the Buffs almost beat. Oregon is, probably, the only team that is on the same level.

The next step is winning those games.

“We’ll get there, I promise you,” Dorrell said.