Coach Prime's No. 19 Buffs Gear Up For No. 10 Ducks
September 19, 2023 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — With the non-conference portion of the schedule in the rearview mirror and Pac-12 play now directly ahead, the price of poker just went up significantly for the 19th-ranked Colorado Buffaloes.
The stakes are definitely getting higher.
Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders' 3-0 Buffs open league play Saturday at No. 10 Oregon (1:30 p.m., ABC), then return home the following week for a matchup with No. 5 Southern California.
The stretch is one that will no doubt be the biggest test yet for the Buffaloes — and one that becomes even more daunting without the services of star cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter.
Hunter suffered an injury in last weekend's double-overtime victory over Colorado State and will not be available for at least the next couple of weeks. That is tough news for a CU defense that will face the nation's No. 2 scoring offense this weekend, with the Ducks averaging 58 points per game.
"We're looking for the next man up," Coach Prime said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. "We're looking for someone else to step up and take control."
After Hunter went out against Colorado State, sophomore corner Kyndrich Breedlove stepped in. But Sanders said there are a variety of possibilities against the Ducks, including transfer Travis Jay, who has been coming back from an injury.
"We have talent," he said. "We just have to get the talent to be talented and to do what they're capable of doing. But no one in the country can fill Travis Hunter's shoes. He's one of a kind. He's the best player on offense, the best player on defense. That's just who he is in the country, not just on his team. So having guys step up — they just have to step up and do the job we're asking them to do."
Oregon's offense has been firing on all cylinders as the Ducks have rolled to a 3-0 record. UO has the nation's fifth-ranked passing attack (363 yards per game) and the 17th-ranked rushing attack (216.3 yards per game).
Colorado's defense, meanwhile, is 122nd in the nation in yards per game (460.3) and 102nd in scoring defense (30.33).
But perhaps the most important number for the CU defense thus far has been takeaways. The Buffs have forced 10 turnovers this season — and six of those have come inside the CU 25-yard line, meaning each has ended a potential scoring threat.
"We practice getting to the football," Sanders said. "We practice a certain physicality. The way we practice is normally the way you play … I attribute that to the way we attack when we're on the field."
But Sanders also knows Colorado will not only have to shore up its defense beginning this weekend, the Buffs will also have to get their offense untracked a little earlier. Last week against CSU, Colorado's offense scored only one touchdown in the first three quarters before finally catching fire late. While the Buffs did display plenty of resilience in erasing an 11-point deficit in regulation and then winning in overtime, that's not something Sanders wants his team to do on a regular basis.
"We don't want to get to that point where we have to be resilient," he said. "We want to get out to a great start. We have not played a complete game. We have not played a game with offense, defense and special teams all showing up in the same manner. The offense is playing well, the defense is hot garbage. If the defense is playing well, the offense is horrible and special teams aren't special. We have to put it all together to be able to defeat a team like Oregon."
MUTUAL RESPECT: Sanders said he "respects the heck" out of Oregon head coach Dan Lanning.
"What he's accomplished, stepping in, taking over a program and keeping it not only rocking steady but accelerating it," he said. "I respect the heck out of him. I love what he's accomplishing. I love who he is, the way he runs his team. I love the way he operates. So I've got a lot of respect for him."
Lanning, in his weekly press conference, had similar praise for Sanders.
"I think Coach Sanders has done a great job, obviously, with his team," Lanning said. "He's created a lot of momentum, and they've done phenomenal in their first three games. So this will be a fun one for us."
Lanning also had high praise for CU offensive coordinator Sean Lewis and defensive coordinator Charles Kelly.
"Sean Lewis does a phenomenal job," Lanning said. "He creates a lot of issues. They're the fastest pace team in our conference that is obviously passing for a ton of yards. Their quarterback is playing as well as anybody right now. And he has a really good grasp of their system … Defensively, Coach Kelly does a great job. We're kind of cut from the same tree as far as philosophy and how he operates and I think they're playing well within their scheme. They understand their strengths, their weaknesses. They understand how to utilize their players, and I think that shows up throughout the film for them."
NATIONAL NUMBERS: CU quarterback Shedeur Sanders is second in the nation in passing yards per game (417), trailing only Washington's Michael Penix (444). Oregon's Bo Nix is 12th at 297.67 … Nix and Sanders are 15th and 16th, respectively, in passing efficiency …
CU's Xavier Weaver is fourth in the nation in receiving yards per game (128.7) while Oregon's Troy Franklin is 21st (97.3).
McCASKILL COULD BE READY: Sanders said he finally took the non-contact jersey off running back Alton McCaskill this week and there's a chance McCaskill could play against Oregon.
