Woelk: Buffs Vow To Learn From USC Defeat

LOS ANGELES — Call it a learning experience.

Sooner or later, the Colorado Buffaloes were going to run into a problem they couldn't solve. It came Saturday night in the Los Angeles Coliseum.

It came in the form of a swarming, attacking USC defense that had two weeks to prepare for the Buffs' up-tempo offense — and evidently used that time wisely. It came in the form of a USC offense that tested the Buffs deep, time and again, and came away with too many big plays.

Most of all, it came in the form of a USC attitude that helped the Trojans an early punch and then punch back — and for the first time this year, Colorado had no answer. The Buffs squandered some early opportunities, created too many problems of their own, and in the end, walked away on the short end of a long, long night.

USC 31, Colorado 20 — and now, instead of Colorado holding clear control of the Pac-12 South, it is the Trojans who control their destiny.

The good news is the Buffs won't have much time to wallow in their misery. Dead ahead is another difficult road trip, this one to Seattle, where the wounded Washington Huskies are anxious to get back on the winning track after an overtime loss Saturday to Oregon.

"We'll get over this," vowed Colorado linebacker Drew Lewis, whose first career interception — on the first play of the game — gave the Buffs an opportunity they couldn't convert. "We'll learn from our mistakes and move on to Washington."

It was a frustrating night for the Buffs in a variety of ways.

Defensively, they came into the game with stopping the run as their number one priority. In that area, CU's front seven was successful, holding USC to just 62 yards on the ground.

But the Buffs' secondary, which had played well up to this point, gave up four "explosion" plays — passes of 20 yards or longer — in the second quarter alone, including a 65-yard touchdown throw that gave USC a lead it would never relinquish.

Offensively, it was an equally frustrating evening. The Buffs received their requisite big play from wide receiver Laviska Shenault Jr. — a 49-yard touchdown run from the wildcat formation — but otherwise were held in check for much of the night. The Trojans took away CU's bread and butter, the short and intermediate passing game, and the deep ball never materialized. USC limited Colorado quarterback Steven Montez to just 170 yards passing on a 26-for-47 night that included one interception, no touchdowns and four sacks.

Meanwhile, aside from Shenault's big run, Colorado's rushing attack was bottled up for most of the evening, finishing with 95 yards on 37 carries. The Trojans' front seven kept the Buffs in check and CU couldn't put together a sustained drive of any sort until it was too late to make a difference.

"They knew what we were going to do," Montez said. "They had us figured out. Then when we had some good play calls, we would shoot ourselves in the foot."

That's something the Buffs hadn't done yet this year, at least not to this extent. They had by no means played error-free football, but they had limited their mistakes enough that they could be overcome.

But the Trojans — by far the most talented team Colorado has seen, on both sides of the ball — didn't give the Buffs room to recover. When CU couldn't take advantage of two first-quarter interceptions, one by Lewis and another by safety Evan Worthington, it kept the Trojans in the game and they made the Buffs pay. Thus, instead of being a critical blow, Shenault's big score was something USC was simply able to shrug off.

Now we'll see if the Buffs can shrug off their first loss, go back to work and fix the problems that plagued them Saturday.

"It's what we're going to learn on Monday, what we're going to learn on Tuesday," Montez said. "Our guys are going to come out and play hard. This team is a brotherhood. Something like this is going to make us even closer."

Indeed, while Buff Nation may be despondent this morning — at least that seemed to be the feeling on social media — CU's players are nothing of the sort. They know their season is just now at the halfway mark. They know they still have a chance to be in contention for a division title when the calendar flips to November. With six games remaining and a 5-1 record, the potential for a special season is still very much on their plate.

(For context's sake, it's worth remembering 2016, when Colorado opened Pac-12 play with a pair of wins, then lost at USC. That season still turned out rather well.)

But these Buffs also know there is plenty of work to be done. They know they have to address the problems that arose Saturday because every opponent from here on out will do their best to mimic what USC did to expose Colorado's weak points.

One positive sign Saturday night? There was no sign of despondence in the CU locker room. Disappointment was mixed with resolve, an almost simmering anger at what they know was a sub-par effort. This was their chance to prove they belonged on the big stage, and they didn't pass the test. It was no doubt a tough lesson to swallow.

But they also walked away knowing they have the chance to learn from the setback and improve. They know there are six tests remaining, and every one is an opportunity.

Now they have to take advantage of those opportunities.

No doubt, there will be more adversity on the road ahead. But if these Buffs can do what they vowed to do late Saturday night as they trudged up the Coliseum tunnel, they can still achieve plenty this season.

Bottom line? A 5-1 record is by almost any standard an excellent start.

We will see if they can apply Saturday night's lesson to putting together a second half worthy of pairing with the first.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu