Players Mentioned
Colorado-Utah Notes
November 29, 2014 | Football
Players who carried out CU's symbolic instruments today:
American Flag: Wes Christensen      Â
Colorado Flag: Brady Daigh
Sledgehammer: Sean Irwin              Â
Toolbox: Kaiwi Crabb
Special Teams Belt: Jordan Murphy  Â
Buffalo Head: K.T. Tu'umalo
QUICKLY Colorado finished 2014 with a 2-10 overall record and an 0-9 mark in Pac-12 play; four of the losses came by a combined 15 points; you have to go back to 1964 to find a CU team that endured that many league losses by so few points (12) … CU now leads the Utah series, 31-27-3, but Utah holds a 3-1 edge in games played as members of the Pac-12 (the four games have been decided by a total of 21 points) … CU has lost 12 straight league games and eight games overall … Only Oregon (51) and Arizona (42) scored more points against Utah's defense than CU (34) … Today marked CU's first regular season finale at home on a Saturday in 20 years (Nov. 19, 1994, the day Rashaan Salaam went over 2,000 yards for the season, Kordell Stewart set the Big 8 total offense record and Bill McCartney retired from coaching) …
Colorado scored on its opening drive for the fourth time this year (three TDs, all in the last four games) … CU had three 75-yard TD drives, finishing the season with 23 of 75 yards or longer … Opponents had made 143 straight PAT kicks until Utah's Andy Phillips missed in the second quarter (dating to the 2012 USC game) … CU ended the year with the opponent throwing 275 passes without an interception (insert * here) … Â
CU finished the season with 996 plays on offense (old record was 906 in 2002) … The Buffs also set marks for first downs (296), passing first downs (159), pass attempts (545), completions (348), yards (3,415) and touchdown passes (29) …
Weather: The temperature today at kickoff was 66; for the opener on Sept. 13 against Arizona State, it was 61; the only one cooler was on Nov. 1 versus Washington (50); others were 72 (Hawai'i, Sept.20), 68 (Oregon State, Oct. 4) ad 75 (UCLA, Oct. 25). It was 67 for the CSU game in Denver.  Well … that's Colorado!
Senior Day: This was the last game for 21 seniors … WR Tyler McCulloch had an uncle fly in this morning to surprise him – Tommy Sheppard, former Nuggets PR man and current senior VP of basketball operations for the Washington Wizards.
Buffalo Heart Award: Postgame, CB Greg Henderson was presented with the 17th annual Buffalo Heart Award, given by the "fans behind the bench" to the players with those qualities they feel best exemplifies the heart of a Buff.
ATTENDANCE Today's official attendance of 39,155 gave the Buffs a total of 226,670 for the season; an average of 37,778; though CU's lowest figure since 1985 (36,789), it will still rank second for the 20th straight year for per game average in the state for all sport teams in 2014, trailing the Denver Broncos (76,945, two home games remaining) but ahead of the Colorado Rockies (33,090). CU was first in the state in college football attendance for the 49th straight year, ahead of Air Force (28,161; AFA was the last school top CU's figure, in 1965) and Colorado State (26,575); all had six games
TB CHRISTIAN POWELL (10-75, 3 TD) He enjoyed his fourth multi-TD game, and his second 3-TD effort (other: vs. Sacramento State in 2012). He finished the season with 448 yards rushing to lead the team a third straight year, becoming the ninth Buff to do so; he also finished the year 5-of-5 converting in 3rd-&-1 situations.
WR NELSON SPRUCE (5-91, 1 TD) He set CU single-season records in receptions (106) and touchdowns (12), with his 1,198 yards the eighth 1,000-yard season in CU history (the second-most to the 1,343 by Paul Richardson last year). He will enter his senior year with 206 career catches, second only to 215 by Scotty McKnight (2007-10), and his 2,294 yards are sixth, but he's 255 out of first; his 19 career TDs are three shy of McKnight's record. He has caught at least one pass in 25 straight games (multiple in 21 straight.Â
ALL-TIME PAC-12 100+ RECEPTIONSEASONS:
Player, School (Season)                    No.         Player, School (Season)                 No.
1Â Â Brandin Cooks, OSU (2013)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 128Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 5Â Â Â Keyshawn Johnson, USC (1995)Â 102
2Â Â Marquise Lee, USC (2012)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 118Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 6Â Â Â *Vince Mayle, WSU (2014)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 101
3Â Â Robert Woods, USC (2011)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 111Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 7Â Â Â Dameane Douglas, Cal (1998)Â Â Â Â Â Â 100
4    Nelson Spruce, CU (2014)           106     *—plays Washington later today.
QB SEFO LIUFAU (31-20-1, 317, 1 TD) He finished his sophomore season with 325 completions in 498 attempts for 3,200 yards, 28 touchdowns and a 65.3 completion percentage, all CU single-season records (the latter for 200 or more attempts); he also set the season mark for total offense (3,336), the most 300-yard passing games and 300-yard total offense games in a season (5 of each). He has at least one TD pass in 20 straight games (each one of his career). Career-wise, he moved into sixth in passing yards (4,979), into seventh in total offense (5,148) and is tied for fourth in TD passes (40).
- He and WR Nelson Spruce also teamed for their 16th touchdown pass play (15 Liufau to Spruce; one the other way), snapping a tie for the most coming in with Cody Hawkins and Scotty McKnight.
INDIVIDUAL LINER NOTES
-PK Will Oliver (2-2 FG, 4-4 PAT, 10 points) He finished his CU career second in scoring with 279 points (behind Mason Crosby's 307), and ended his CU run with 102 consecutive extra points (old mark was 66). He was also second in field goals made (50) and attempted (69), first in PAT kicks made (129) and attempted (131), third in field goal percentage (72.5) and second in PAT percentage (98.4). Â
-WR Shay Fields (4-69 receiving). He set the CU freshman record with 50 receptions, with the second-most yards (486; the yardage record is 514 by Paul Richardson on 34 receptions in 2010).
-WR Tyler McCulloch 4-101 receiving) He had the first 100-yard game of his career (49 games), and became the 25th player in school history to reach 1,000 career yards (he finished with 88 receptions (20th) for 1,089 yards (21st). ]
COLORADO INJURIESÂ TB Phillip Lindsay (sprained toe), ILB Addison Gillam and CB Ahkello Witherspoon (concussions), all probable for spring practice (February 13).