Three takeaways from Colorado’s 55-23 loss to Texas in the Alamo Bowl

The 2020 Colorado Buffaloes football season is in the books and it didn’t end the way anybody had hoped.

Colorado fell 55-23 to No. 20 Texas in the Valero Alamo Bowl at the Alamodome in San Anonio. It was Colorado’s second bowl appearance in the last 13 years, Karl Dorrell’s sixth bowl game in six seasons as a head coach and the team’s second-straight loss to cap off the season.

Here’s what we learned.

Texas was the better team

You never know what to expect from a bowl game.

Two teams from different conferences who have only played teams from their own conference  for months get paired off and sent to a mostly-empty stadium somewhere in the south within days of the holidays they couldn’t spend with their families and most of the best players decide not to play anyway.

This year it’s even tougher because the stadiums are even emptier and the conference bubbles are even more closed off, so you really don’t know which conferences are playing the best ball.

For some reason, Texas was a much, much better team than Colorado was on Tuesday.

They Longhorns were bigger, faster, stronger and sharper than the Buffs. They broke tackles and dominated the line of scrimmage. They hit on their deep balls and they avoided turnovers.

Texas stunned Colorado early with a couple of quick strikes, both in the running game and in the passing game. It found success with all three quarterbacks that saw playing time.

The Colorado defense made a couple of plays, and so did running back Jarek Broussard, but it wasn’t nearly enough to keep up with the barrage the Longhorns sustained throughout most of the game.

Maybe if the Buffs had Nate Landman, Jalen Sami, Mark Perry, Chris Miller and others on the field on Tuesday, the team would have looked like it belonged.

But don’t forget that Texas was missing six of seven team captains and all six of them were all-conference performers this season.

Maybe it was the new faces. Maybe it was the extended break. Maybe it was playing in front of a crowd. Maybe it was the coaches. Maybe Colorado just doesn’t have the talent. Maybe it was the lights. Or maybe it was something else entirely.

Whatever the case, it’s as obvious as ever that Colorado is still a few steps away from where it wants to be.

Brendon Lewis is close to ready

If there was one silver lining to Tuesday’s game, it was the play of true freshman quarterback Brendon Lewis.

Head coach Karl Dorrell told reporters earlier in the week that he wanted to get the Texas native on the field for a series, ideally at some point in the first half. Lewis subbed in early in the second quarter as planned, but the circumstance was less than ideal; in six possessions, the Buffs had mustered four punts, two interceptions and zero points.

Down 14-0, Lewis engineered a touchdown drive that gave life to Colorado. He came in again on the next series but his offense didn’t pick up a first down.

Noyer put up two drives that ended in field goal attempts then went three-and-out, setting the stage for Lewis to take over for the duration of the game late in the third quarter.

Lewis’ athleticism is obvious – he broke a couple of long runs and he turned what should have been a safety into a nine-yard gain – and he completed 6 of 10 passes, averaging almost 10 yards per attempt. But the offense was much simpler than the one that Noyer ran. If Colorado had another game next week, its opponent would be sitting on the play-action bootlegs and Lewis would have to show another layer to his game.

All told, Lewis deserves heaps of credit for his performance in his first college action, especially considering what the offense had produced before he entered the game.

The quarterback competition this fall could be one for the ages.

The defense was leaky

It was a slow start for the Colorado defense, but that was to be expected. CU was down five defensive starters, forcing a bunch of new faces with no chemistry into the starting lineup against one of the most experienced quarterbacks in the country.

The Longhorns opened with a four-play, 74-yard touchdown drive and added another touchdown on their third series. But then the Buffs buckled down; over the next four drives, Colorado only allowed one first down.

Then the holes reappered.

Sam Elinger completed passes of 34 and 38 yards on the next drive. Texas kicked a field goal.

Then Bijan Robinson set up a touchdown with a 66-yard run.

Then Casey Thompson completed two 20-plus-yard passes and a 15-yard penalty in a touchdown drive.

Then a pair of 20-plus-yard runs.

Then a 20-plus-yard pass and a 20-plus-yard run and another 15-yard penalty.

Then a 73-yard touchdown catch.

It was ugly.

There were plenty of problems for CU, including penalties, missed tackles, blown coverages and all sorts of others. Hopefully it was just because the new faces are still acclimating but they’re going to have to get acclimated soon because the Buffs will rely even more heavily on them in 2021.