Woelk: Coach Prime's Buffs Showing Great Resiliency
September 09, 2023 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — One of the most impressive things about Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders' No. 22 Colorado Buffaloes thus far might be their resilience.
Well, that and an offense that is averaging more than 40 points a game, a quarterback who should be squarely in the Heisman Trophy conversation, a two-way player who continues to be a dominant player on both sides of the ball and an overall bevy of skill players who make it difficult for any defense to stop for 60 minutes.
But back to that resilience.
A week ago, Colorado fell behind three times late in the game at TCU and the Buffs never blinked. Each time the offense had an answer and Colorado walked away with a head-turning victory.
Saturday, CU started slowly offensively — four punts on its first four possessions — but the defense kept the Buffs in the game until the offense found its footing. Colorado's defense forced four turnovers that led to 16 points, nailed down six tackles for loss (including two sacks) and held the Huskers to just seven points when it mattered.
This just a week after the defense yielded 42 points and 541 yards offense with no tackles for loss in the win over TCU.
What it all means is this: the Buffs are showing the mark of being able to do whatever is necessary to win.
Need to come out on top in an offensive shootout? No problem. Just give coordinator Sean Lewis' offense an opportunity down the stretch and they can produce.
Need the defense to set the tone early when the offense is struggling? No problem. Coordinator Charles Kelly's defense collected three first-half takeaways that produced 10 points, then two more quick stops after an NU touchdown in the second half — including another takeaway — to give the offense a chance to turn a close game into a rout.
Which, of course, Sanders and Co. delivered.
Thus, for the second straight week, the Buffaloes provided solid answers to the seemingly never-ending supply of questions about CU.
Not that the Buffs were perfect. They did give up eight sacks — seven on QB1 Shedeur Sanders — and the defense did give up one big explosion play, a 57-yard touchdown run by NU quarterback Jeff Sims. CU also committed nine penalties and totaled just 72 yards on the ground.
But honestly, that might be the scariest part for opponents. The Buffs weren't at their best and they still swamped their Big Ten foe. As Coach Prime said, "This team hasn't scratched the surface of what it's capable of doing."
If that is indeed true — and folks may want to start paying very close attention to Coach Prime's missives — then there could be some very big things ahead for the Buffaloes this season.
BIG DAY FOR WRs: CU receiver Xavier Weaver led CU with 10 catches for 170 yards and a touchdown, with 63 yards after the catch. He now has 16 catches for 288 yards this season.
"Xavier is a dog," Sanders said. "He is a go-getter. He wants that ball. He high points and he can get deep. He's great off the jam. Great run out the catch. He's really a return man as well. And the kid loves the game of football. So I promise you, you're gonna see a season filled with that. Because that's the kind of kid he is and he loves to compete."
Meanwhile, Tar'Varish Dawson had three catches for 41 yards and a score and he also had an 8-yard rushing touchdown.
Overall, six different Buffs caught at least two passes, with Jimmy Horn Jr. raking in eight catches for 64 yards and Travis Hunter adding three for 73 yards.
"'Chick (Dawson) has really been in the playbook," Coach Prime said. "He's a Fort Meyers (Fla.) boy so you know I have a vested interest in him. I wanted to see him do well. He's my homeboy coming from the hometown."
DISRESPECT? CU quarterback Shedeur Sanders said he wasn't fond of a team meeting Nebraska held on the CU logo before the game.
"We go out there and warm up, you have the head coach from the other team trying to stand in the middle of the Buff," Sanders said. "It's OK if a couple of players do it, it's fine, just enjoy the scenery. But when you have the whole team trying to disrespect it, I'm not going for that at all. I went in there and disrupted it. So they know that the buffalo means a lot to me. Personally, that's just when I knew that it was extreme disrespect."
As for his play, Sanders said he wasn't overly pleased with his performance, even though he finished with 393 yards passing and two touchdowns.
"It was bad today," he said. "It was a lot of mental errors. A lot of missed reads, missed throws. We just must be able to start faster, be able to just lock in quicker. Mentally, we need to understand that going into practice, get everybody together, round them up, and tell him you know what time it is. At least we did not do one thing this week: we did not have the delay of game (penalty). We worked on it a little faster, but the tempo offense was not how it is supposed to be. There is good and bad that came from this game."
Still, Sanders once again showed an innate ability to extend plays when he was under pressure while never taking his eyes off his receivers downfield.
He scrambled once on third-and-15 and completed a 40-yard pass to Hunter to keep a drive alive, then tossed a 41-yard completion to Weaver again under pressure on third-and-10 to keep a scoring drive alive.
"It is the long offseason in the weight room because Coach (Maurice) Sims got my legs strong," Sanders said. "Coach Lewis talked to me about it repeatedly this summer. It really helped on the field today. It's really the weight room. I do not really have too much quit in me like that. And I'm just not going to do that. Everybody's regular people to me, and me versus them, I know I am better."
TAKEAWAY MACHINE: The Buffs won the turnover battle for the second time in a row, with the defense collecting four takeaways and the offense giving up just one — a fumble late in the game when the outcome was well in hand.
Safety Cam'Ron Silmon Craig notched CU's third interception of the season while Jordan Domineck, Arden Walker and Bishop Thomas all had fumble recoveries. Defensive end Taijh Alston had 1.5 sacks one week after the Buffs failed to record even one tackle for loss.
"I feel like there was a lot of fire for all of us as a unit because obviously it's not good when you have a whole game and nobody on the D-line gets a sack," Alston said. "So, this week, I felt like it was real personal for us. I feel like we have to achieve our goal and just keep stacking days."
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Fox announced that its Big Noon Kickoff pregame show will return to Boulder next week ahead of the Buffs' 8 p.m. showdown at Folsom Field against in-state rival Colorado State.
ESPN, which will broadcast the game, will also have its GameDay crew on hand for the affair.
It will be CU's third straight week of national exposure on Fox network. Last week's win over TCU was viewed by nearly 7.3 million people and was the most-watched game of the day. It also set the record for Fox's most-watched Week 1 Big Noon Saturday matchup.
"We expect it," Coach Prime said. "I know it sounds kind of boastful. It sounds at the risk of sounding arrogant. We truly expect that. And that's why those kids come, they want the biggest stage and they're getting that every darn week. The numbers justify it."
BUFFS BITS: One week after scoring four touchdowns — three receiving and one rushing — CU freshman Dylan Edwards didn't find the end zone. But he still led CU in rushing with 55 yards on nine carries, including a 34-yard burst that kept a scoring drive alive in the third quarter. … Coach Prime awarded game balls to CU Athletic Director Rick George and famous twin Peggy Coppom … CU is 19-for-33 on third-down conversions this year.
