Coach Prime's Buffs Turn Attention To Arizona
October 15, 2024 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders' Colorado Buffaloes went back to work Tuesday in preparation for Saturday's 2 p.m. (MT) game at Arizona (FOX).
But while focusing on the future, the Buffs (4-2 overall, 2-1 Big 12) also took to heart a valuable lesson learned from last weekend's 31-28 loss to Kansas State.
"Accountability," Coach Prime said. "Everyone must take accountability in their efforts, their preparation, the habits that we incurred in the game, the things that we didn't do well. To really hold yourself accountable to those things, and put in the work today, in the weight room, film room, training room to get healthy and ultimately out on the field so we can improve the areas of concern. The guys took it upon themselves, and they came out there with certainly a different attitude."
Saturday's loss, punctuated by a late Kansas State drive for the winning touchdown, ended a three-game CU win streak.
"Sometimes you get intoxicated a little bit with winning and start thinking that you are really like that," Sanders said. "This Saturday was a wake up call for a multitude of us."
Coach Prime did have some relatively good news on the injury front. Two of the key players injured against Kansas State, two-way star Travis Hunter and wide receiver Jimmy Horn Jr., are both expected to be available Saturday.
But budding star Omarion Miller, who led CU with eight catches for 145 yards against Kansas State, underwent surgery for a leg injury and will be out for the season. Also likely out at least this week is wide receiver Terrell Timmons Jr.
Despite the loss, the Buffs are still in good position in the Big 12 race. They currently sit in a five-way tie for fourth place, just one game behind BYU, Iowa State and Texas Tech, all of whom boast 3-0 conference records. If the Buffs take care of business over the last half of the season, they could still put themselves in position for a Big 12 championship game berth.
That makes Saturday's game at Arizona (3-3, 1-2) another critical matchup. While the Wildcats have lost their last two — 28-22 to Texas Tech and 41-19 at BYU — they are still a dangerous team boasting an outstanding quarterback-wide receiver combination in Noah Fifita and Tetairoa McMillan. Fifita has thrown for 1,636 yards and eight touchdowns (but also nine interceptions) while the 6-foot-5, 212-pound McMillan leads the Big 12 in receptions (42) and yards (742), with four touchdowns.
"A well-coached team," Coach Prime said. "A great quarterback and I feel one of the best receivers in the nation, if not the best … You gotta deal with those two. Quarterback can make all the throws. He doesn't look to run, but he has tremendous escapeability. They have a running game and they can move the ball up and down the field."
Defensively, the Wildcats are giving up 26.5 points per game, but they do have 11 sacks and have forced eight turnovers (four fumble recoveries and four interceptions). They have also been fairly solid against the run, giving up 144 yards per game on the ground.
"They got some big guys in the middle to try to be stout versus the run," Coach Prime said. "I'm not going to say they're vulnerable in the pass, everybody seems like they're vulnerable to what we have out there at receiver. But these guys play complementary defense, and they get after it. They get to the ball. They're relentless. They attack, they are predators on the field. They get to the ball, and they make plays. So it's going to be a tremendous task."
One area of focus this week for the Buffs will be their run game, along with pass protection. CU finished with a program-record minus-29 yards rushing against KSU while also giving up six sacks, which resulted in 74 yards lost.
"We gotta create holes so they can hit," Coach Prime said. "I'm pretty sure our linemen are gonna take on that challenge tremendously. They had a great practice today, and I expect them to reap the benefits of those practices."
The Wildcats have given up big yards on the ground in a couple of their losses, including 235 to Kansas State and 147 to BYU. If the Buffs can establish the threat of a run game, it will no doubt open up the pass game for quarterback Shedeur Sanders and his wide receivers.
Sanders is coming off another excellent game against KSU, when he completed a school-record 16 passes in a row while finishing 34-for-40 for 388 yards and three scores. His 85 percent completion percentage was a CU record for games with at least 30 and at least 40 attempts.
One year ago the Buffs also found themselves with a 4-2 record at the halfway point of the season.
But this year, Coach Prime stressed, is different, especially in close games.
"Once upon a time, it was just hope, like, 'Man, we hope we can stay in this game … we hope we can do this.' Now it's expectation. We really expect to win those games and that stuff hurts. We expect to win, we don't expect to just compete. We expect to win."
