Colorado
2-7-0 , 0-6
Washington
6-3-0 , 2-3
Brooks: Third-Quarter Breakdown Buries Buffs, 38-23
November 01, 2014 | Football, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER – A feel-good first half disappeared into a disastrous third quarter Saturday for the Colorado Buffaloes. On the first day of November, October's near misses were blotted out by yet another Pac-12 Conference loss – this one administered by Washington, 38-23,
The Buffs lost a 10-0 first quarter lead but remained in front 20-17 at halftime Saturday. Then disaster struck hard and fast. UW (6-3, 2-3) converted three CU turnovers into two third-quarter touchdowns and exited the quarter with a 31-23 advantage. The Huskies got those two TDs barely a minute apart, and less than 2 minutes into the fourth quarter, Dante Pettis' 87-yard punt return for a touchdown all but finished off the Buffs (2-7, 0-6).
Second-year coach Mike MacIntyre called the loss "very disheartening . . . we had all the momentum in the world (leading 23-17 early in the second half). But they got all the momentum back."
CU's momentum didn't shift as much as it vaporized after a lost Phillip Lindsay fumble, the first of his career, and a Sefo Liufau interception, his 12th of the season. MacIntyre said UW "definitely won the game" but added that his team should be given an assist or three.
"You can't have three turnovers and a punt return (for a TD) and beat a Pac-12 team," he said.
"Definitely there's a momentum shift when turnovers happen, but I didn't feel it getting away from us," said CU tailback Michael Adkins II, whose 109 ground yards gave him back-to-back 100-yard rushing games.
CU's faint 2014 bowl hopes were mathematically flushed, leaving the Buffs out of postseason play since 2007 and headed for a ninth consecutive losing season (including 2007's final 6-7 mark). Three games remain on their schedule – two on the road and all three against ranked opponents. CU plays next Saturday at No. 14 Arizona and, after a bye week, at No. 5 Oregon on Saturday, Nov. 22. The season finale is Nov. 29 against No. 18 Utah at Folsom Field.
MacIntyre contends bowl talk is generated by outsiders and that he never mentions the postseason to his team. "(Media) mainly puts stuff out there about bowl games," he said. "I don't ever talk to a team about that  . . . I don't think (the Buffs) went out there saying, 'If we lose this one we won't go to a bowl game.'"
Added junior receiver Nelson Spruce: "Even though we're not bowl eligible anymore we still have to attack every game like we're fighting for a bowl game. If we do let off the gas at all, we're going to fall back and lose all the progress we've made."
As has happened too often to suit MacIntyre, the game ended on consecutive kneel downs by the opposing quarterback. "We play in a tough league," he said. "It's going to take a while. My mentor at Duke (David Cutcliffe) didn't win six games until his fifth year."
He said when he was hired to coach the Buffs two years ago, CU was "the worst BCS program in the country. But we're moving our way up . . . I don't look at this like the world is coming to an end. I look at this an opportunity to improve. I didn't think we were overmatched today."Â
The afternoon's bright spots for CU: Liufau and two receivers – freshman Shay Fields and Spruce – set school seasonal records. Fields' two catches give him 40 for the season, breaking the CU freshman seasonal mark of 39 by Chris McLemore in 1982. Spruce's 13 receptions gave him 90 this season and moved him past the 83 caught by Paul Richardson in 2013.
And Liufau's 36 pass completions – he was 36-of-52 for 314 yards, two touchdowns and one interception – put him at 274 this season, breaking Joel Klatt's school mark of 241 set in 2005.
But record individual numbers were not what the Buffs sought on this Saturday. After one half, a win seemed plausible. Instead, CU is now 1-14 in its last 15 Pac-12 games and 4-29 since joining the league.
Huskies linebacker/tailback Shaq Thompson rushed for 174 yards on 15 carries and scored one touchdown. The 6-1, 228-pound Thompson's total was the second-most by a CU opponent this season. UCLA's Paul Perkins ran for 180 last weekend, but 92 of his yards came on one play.
And of Thompson's 174 yards, 151 were gained in a first half that MacIntyre said his defense failed to "roll tackle the big back like we'd practiced . . . he just ran over us. He's a good back."
Thompson's running and quarterback Cyler Miles' passing – 13-of-19, 206 yards, 2 TDs – furnished UW with more balance than CU's off-and-on defense could handle. The Buffs played without starting linebacker Addison Gillam (flu), starting safety Tedric Thompson (concussion) and backup safety Terrell Smith (concussion) and occasional starting corner Akhello Witherspoon (concussion).
CU outgained UW 495-442 in total offense, with Adkins contributing his 109 yards on 13 carries. He gained 107 in last weekend's double overtime loss against UCLA.
Buffs kicker Will Oliver hit all three of his field goal attempts (32, 39, 49 yards), making him 11-of-15 for the season, and kicked two extra points to keep him perfect (35-of-35) in his senior year.
The Buffs led 20-17 at halftime, but the score would not have been that close had it not been for a handful of Huskies big plays and a late 78-yard drive that pulled UW to within three points. But CU also had its share of explosive plays and benefitted from a pair of recovered fumbles.
On the game's first possession, the Buffs forced the Huskies into their only punt of the opening half and scored on their first drive. Liufau drove his offense 70 yards in nine plays, combining with D.D. Goodson on a 30-yard pass-run for the score. CU's 7-0 lead was its first against U-Dub since the Buffs joined the Pac-12 four years ago.
A fumble recovery by linebacker Kenneth Olugbode at the CU 13-yard line thwarted a UW drive and led to a 72-yard scoring drive, this one culminated by the first of Oliver's two first-half field goals. His kick traveled 32 yards and put the Buffs up 10-0 with 3:42 left in the first quarter.
On that drive, CU lost starting left tackle Jeromy Irwin to an ankle injury, which could have been a major blow for the offense given UW's penchant for quarterback sacks. But Irwin was capably replaced by redshirt freshman Sam Kronshage, and the Buffs finished the half allowing just one sack. The Huskies totaled three for the game.
A 41-yard kickoff return by Lindsay put the Buffs in position for their second TD. Liufau took it from there, engineering a 59-yard march that he ended with a 1-yard pass in the back of the end zone to fullback George Frazier on the drive's seventh play.
The Huskies closed out the first and second quarters with long scoring drives, the first an 86-yard march capped by Thompson's 25-yard run, the second a 9-yard Miles-to-Kendyl Taylor pass that brought UW to its 20-17 halftime deficit. Thompson finished the half with 152 yards rushing on 10 carries, two of which were for 39 and 56 yards. He also caught one pass for 41 yards.
Oliver's second field goal of the half was a 39-yarder and followed a 35-yarder by UW's Cameron Van Winkle. Between those kicks, the teams exchanged fumbles by their quarterbacks, with CU and Oliver making the most of a recovery by defensive end Jimmie Gilbert at the Buffs 37.
The Buffs opened the second half with a 44-yard drive that positioned Oliver for his third field goal – a season-long 49-yarder that pushed CU in front 23-17.
The Huskies quickly retaliated, driving to the Buffs 14-yard line and appeared ready to score. But a Miles completion to DiAndre Campbell was jarred loose by CU defensive back John Walker. It took an official review to determine that end Derek McCartney had recovered the ball in the end zone.
But CU's good fortune quickly turned. Lindsay fumbled three plays later and UW end Andrew Hudson pounced on the ball at the CU 46. After the Huskies scored five plays thereafter on a 28-yard pass from Miles to Dante Pettis, Van Winkle's PAT gave U-Dub its first lead of the afternoon, 24-23, with 5:38 left in the third quarter.
Less than a minute later, Liufau was intercepted by linebacker Travis Feeney, who scored on a 30-yard return for UW's seventh defensive TD of the season. Van Winkle's PAT gave the Huskies a 31-23 advantage – and the Buffs hadn't worked themselves out of their giving mood.
Lindsay fumbled the kickoff and UW's Cory Littleton recovered at the Buffs 31. The Huskies couldn't capitalize on the home team's third turnover of the quarter, but carried a 31-23 lead into the last quarter and quickly increased it.
Pettis, whose longest previous punt return was 35 yards, took Darragh O'Neill's rugby kick on the east sideline and headed west. Picking up his blockers as he turned upfield in front of the UW bench, he sprinted 87 yards untouched for his first return TD of the season.
Van Winkle's PAT sent the Huskies ahead 38-23. That score held for the final 13:10, with the Buffs' final possession ending on a fourth-down sack at the UW 10-yard line with 1:52 remaining. Three game-ending kneel downs would follow.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
Team Stats
WASH 0, COLO 7
COLO - Goodson, D.D. 30 yd pass from Liufau, Sefo (Oliver, Will kick) 9 plays, 70 yards, TOP 3:00
WASH 0, COLO 10
COLO - Oliver, Will 32 yd field goal 10 plays, 72 yards, TOP 4:16
WASH 7, COLO 10
WASH - Thompson, Shaq 24 yd run (Van Winkle, C. kick), 7 plays, 86 yards, TOP 2:34
WASH 7, COLO 17
COLO - Frazier, George 1 yd pass from Liufau, Sefo (Oliver, Will kick) 7 plays, 59 yards, TOP 3:13
WASH 10, COLO 17
WASH - Van Winkle, C. 35 yd field goal 6 plays, 65 yards, TOP 2:04
WASH 10, COLO 20
COLO - Oliver, Will 39 yd field goal 10 plays, 42 yards, TOP 4:14
WASH 17, COLO 20
WASH - Taylor, Kendyl 9 yd pass from Miles, Cyler (Van Winkle, C. kick) 7 plays, 78 yards, TOP 1:24
WASH 17, COLO 23
COLO - Oliver, Will 49 yd field goal 9 plays, 44 yards, TOP 3:37
WASH 24, COLO 23
WASH - Pettis, Dante 28 yd pass from Miles, Cyler (Van Winkle, C. kick) 5 plays, 46 yards, TOP 2:19
WASH 31, COLO 23
WASH - Feeney, Travis 30 yd interception (Van Winkle, C. kick)
WASH 38, COLO 23
WASH - Pettis, Dante 87 yd punt return (Van Winkle, C. kick)
