The reason why the Buffs can’t stop false starting

In football, there’s a big difference between 41 points and 10 points.

There’s an even bigger difference between 45 and 3.

But despite the back-to-back blowouts — first to Oregon and then to Washington State — Colorado Buffaloes head coach Mel Tucker still believed his team is inches away from competing.

The missed deep connection between Steven Montez and Laviska Shenault who had beaten his defender to the end zone against Washington’s State only missed by inches.

The five free runners at Washington State’s quarterback who couldn’t bring him down only missed by inches.

The four defenders who got their hands on the ball against Washington State but couldn’t haul it in only missed by inches.

The Buffs were closer to the Cougars than the 41-10 final score would suggest.

At least that’s the message Mel Tucker wanted to send to his team when he switched up the weekly routine prior to the USC contest Friday night. Practice began Sunday instead of Monday, due to the short week, but instead of the standard Monday walkthrough, Tucker brought the entire team into one room and played the Washington State game from start to finish, less than 24 hours after its conclusion…