Tag: colorado buffaloes football

WATCH: Chidobe Awuzie picks off Aaron Rodgers in the 1st quarter

Chidobie Awuzie with an early interception against Aaron Rodgers on Sunday.

The Cincinnati Bengals and Green Bay Packers featured a pair of 3-1 teams in the most intriguing game of the early slate on another NFL Sunday. Former Colorado Buffaloes star Chidobe Awuzie has been off to a hot start for the Bengals in 2021 but drew the challenging task of dealing with both Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams on Sunday.

In the first quarter, Awuzie showed his worth and proved to everybody why he should be considered as one of the up-and-coming cornerbacks in the league. Awuzie played Adams perfectly and stepped right in front for the interception just minutes into the game.

That was Awuzie’s first interception of the season, but there should be plenty more headed his way after an excellent start to the year for the former Buffs corner.

Awuzie missed last week’s Thursday night showdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars as he nursed a groin injury but made a triumphant return against the Packers.

Guarding Adams is no easy task, as the former Fresno State star leads the NFL in receptions and remains as one of the best at the position. Rodgers is also no easy task, so Awuzie getting a pick off of him is certainly one to hang his hat on and remember for a long time.

So far in the first chunk of the game, Adams has two catches for 51 yards on four targets and Awuzie has played him rather well. Keep an eye on Awuzie this season and beyond as the 2017 second-round draft pick shows why he can hang around the NFL for quite some time.

Colorado and Alabama have something in common

The Buffaloes and Crimson Tide both lost a close game to Texas A&M.

The grass was a little greener for the Buffs back on Sept. 11 when they matched up with Texas A&M in Denver. While Colorado put up a valiant effort, the then-ranked No. 5 Aggies scored a fourth quarter touchdown to beat the Buffs, 10-7.

Since then, it has been mostly turmoil for both programs. Colorado still hasn’t won a game and Texas A&M lost two of its next three, including a 26-22 loss to Mississippi State. The Aggies slipped from being ranked fifth to being unranked when they welcomed No. 1 Alabama in Week 6.

Texas A&M, however, appeared unfazed by the mammoth task ahead. QB Zach Calzada, who the Buffs held to under 200 passing yards, found Ainias Smith with three minutes remaining to tie Alabama at 38. After A&M forced Alabama to punt, the Aggies gave Seth Small a 28-yard field goal opportunity and he nailed the game winner as time expired.

A three-point loss to Texas A&M is now something Colorado and Alabama can bond over,

The loss marked Alabama’s first since 2019 and snapped an exactly 100-game streak of beating unranked opponents. Alabama’s previous loss to an unranked opponent came against Louisiana-Monroe in 2007. Surprisingly enough, the Crimson Tide’s first win of that 100-game streak came when they beat Colorado 30-24 in the 2007 Independence Bowl.

Previewing a game all Colorado fans should watch, UCLA at Arizona

Colorado will face both UCLA and Arizona later in the season.

With Colorado on a bye week, Buffs fans have an opportunity to scout some of their future opponents. We’ve already seen Oregon State lose on the road to Stanford and at the time of publication, Utah currently holds a commanding lead over USC.

Kicking off at 8:30 p.m. MST is UCLA at Arizona. The Buffaloes will see the Wildcats next week and then UCLA later in the season on Nov. 13. Because Arizona is still winless at 0-4, rooting for the Wildcats would be in the Buffs’ best interest to make a potential Colorado win next week more impressive. The Bruins, meanwhile, come in at 3-2 after a rough loss to Arizona State last week.

If anything, getting a chance to watch Dorian Thompson-Robinson should be worth at least a momentary channel change to ESPN. UCLA senior QB is a large reason why the Bruins are favored by 16.5 points.

First-year Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch has settled on Jordan McCloud to get the start. McCloud is coming off a five-interception performance against then-No. 3 Oregon. Like Colorado, it has been a rough offensive year for Arizona, which has started three different quarterbacks.

Defensively, Arizona has allowed the seventh-fewest points in the Pac-12 at 124 while UCLA has allowed 143. UCLA has also given up the most passing yards per game in the conference, which should get the attention of McCloud.

All Betting Lines are Courtesy of Tipico Sportsbook.

Spencer Rattler to Colorado pleas circulate Twitter following benching vs. Texas

Spencer Rattler’s benching had Twitter abuzz on Saturday.

After another disappointing performance, Oklahoma sophomore quarterback Spencer Rattler was benched in the second quarter of the No. 6 Sooners matchup with No. 21 Texas. Rattler had rattled off 111 passing yards on 8-of-15 with an interception when he was benched for Caleb Williams, who soon became the talk of college football Saturday.

Williams helped orchestrate a 21-point comeback to take down Texas, 55-48. His 66-yard touchdown run and later 52-yard TD pass to Marvin Mims electrified the Cotton Bowl and fueled the comeback.

For Rattler, his spot as Oklahoma’s starting quarterback now appears in question. The preseason Heisman candidate was booed again by his own fans for underperforming, at least to Oklahoma standards.

Rattler’s benching and Williams’ emergence had Twitter abuzz with suggesting Rattler should transfer. Colorado was a popular suggestion.

It’s not exactly a great look for fans to suggest a struggling quarterback pack his bags for Boulder, but what CU fan wouldn’t be thrilled to have Rattler? His 1,260 passing yards and 10 touchdowns are both numbers that well surpass what Brendon Lewis has done. The offensive struggles in the passing game have been well documented for the Buffaloes, who rank dead last in the Pac-12 in several offensive categories.

Colorado, for now, is still expecting Tennessee transfer J.T. Shrout to return next year, but Rattler holds a resume that should leave Buffs fans drooling.

Notre Dame transfer Jack Lamb adjusting to Colorado

Notre Dame transfer Jack Lamb has adjusted nicely with his new Colorado Buffaloes.

A Notre Dame football player transferring to Colorado in the early 1990s would probably be unlikely considering their rivalry. But now over 30 years later, times have changed. Former Fighting Irish linebacker Jack Lamb made the switch and has already made an impact during his first season with the Buffs.

Although Lamb is now technically a graduate student, he decided to transfer to Colorado in February with three seasons of eligibility remaining. That has to be a big bonus for Karl Dorrell‘s defense. After his 2019 season was cut short due to a hip injury, Lamb played sparingly in 12 games for Notre Dame in 2020 and recorded 13 tackles, including three against a No. 1 Clemson team.

Now dawned in a new suit of gold, Lamb believes the change has been a “game changer” for his career.

“Coming here I wanted to get a little more playing time,” Lamb said. “I didn’t get much of that after coming off a hip injury, so being able to get that opportunity here has been awesome.”

His play is beginning to reflect that as Lamb is coming off consecutive games with multiple tackles. He said that his confidence has improved as well with each game.

Another intangible Lamb has brought to Boulder is the experience he gained at Notre Dame. While many of Colorado’s youngsters are continuing to get acclimated to college football, Lamb has already faced some of the best programs in the country while at Notre Dame.

“In terms of just overall schemes and understanding the game, I learned a lot of that from Notre Dame,” Lamb said. “Getting three and a half years of that there and then being able to transfer all that here, it’s worked out well for me.”

Lamb’s Buffaloes will enjoy a bye this week before hosting Arizona on Oct. 16.

Bye week comes at right time for Buffaloes

Colorado’s bye week is providing the Buffaloes an opportunity to correct some things with Arizona up next.

The frustration is brewing in Boulder as the Colorado Buffaloes have limped to a 1-4 record heading into their bye week. Head coach Karl Dorrell admitted his patience is dwindling with a young team that has struggled.

He hasn’t lost hope, however, with a bye week bringing a plethora of opportunities. Along with “evaluating” everything, Dorrell’s bye week agenda has been to fix what can be controlled.

“There’s still a lot of games left, there’s still a lot to play for,” Dorrell said. “We play this game to compete and to win. Obviously, we’ve been on the shorter side of winning, but there’s things in front of us that we can control, (or) at least that we can try to address to play better and to get ourselves in a position to win.”

I chatted with running back Deion Smith and linebacker Jack Lamb on Tuesday to get their approach on the bye week. Both said that while Arizona is in the back of their minds, fixing the team’s internal problems is taking priority during the bye.

BOULDER, CO – OCTOBER 2: Running back Deion Smith #20 of the Colorado Buffaloes celebrates with running back Jayle Stacks #33 after a second quarter touchdown against the USC Trojans at Folsom Field on October 2, 2021 in Boulder, Colorado.

“Just improving on the small things, fundamentals and techniques is what we got to focus on in these times,” said Lamb, who came to CU after graduating from Notre Dame over the summer.

A bright spot of the USC game, Smith said his second touchdown of the year was still overshadowed by the eventual loss. Looking back at CU’s current four game losing streak, Smith and Lamb would agree that easily avoided mistakes have often made the difference.

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“We’re just focusing on mechanics, breaking it down from square one and trying to just focus on the small things, the little things,” Smith said. “A lot of the times when it comes to these games the last four weeks it’s always been down to the small, little things. If we break down each play… it’s these small things. This week is a great week for us to get back to the small thing and pay more attention to the details.”

After their bye week, Colorado will have just seven more games to get back on track. A beatable Arizona team will come first on Oct. 16.

How the Buffaloes have fared following their bye week in recent years

How the Buffs have done following a bye week.

Coming off four straight losses, the Colorado Buffaloes will have a breather this weekend. At the beginning of the season, many would also consider their Week 7 matchup against Arizona as a breather. I’m not sure that is the case anymore. The winless Wildcats have certainly struggled in 2021 but as we’ve seen all year in the Pac-12, nothing should be taken for granted—especially with this struggling Colorado team.

To gain a better perspective on how beneficial some rest can be, we looked back at Colorado’s previous five seasons and how the Buffs played immediately after a bye week. Overall, they haven’t been bad.

Isaiah Oliver’s strong season ends abruptly with knee injury

Isaiah Oliver is out for the season after a devastating knee injury.

The Colorado Buffaloes alums have enjoyed success in the 2021 NFL season, with the most notable being wide receiver Laviska Shenault. However, one former Buff that has played well is Atlanta Falcons cornerback Isaiah Oliver.

The 2018 second-round pick has been enjoying his best season as a pro and was finally carving out a bigger role with the Falcons. Unfortunately, Oliver’s season has come to an end after a devastating season-ending injury suffered on Sunday against the Washington Football Team.

It was a scary injury and one not worth watching at all, and all thoughts go to a quick, successful recovery for Oliver.

Oliver was having an excellent year, and even more devastating is the fact he was in the midst of a contract year. This is a tough blow for him and for Atlanta’s defense as a whole.

Falcons head coach Arthur Smith touched on the loss of Oliver, according to Josh Kendall of The Athletic. 

“I can’t say enough good things about him as a pro and a teammate. He’s really bought in, was having a good year. That’s the crappy part about this game.” Oliver was playing nickel, and well, this season.”

Oliver had started three of the team’s four games at the nickel corner spot and was thriving in his new role, totaling 11 tackles with a fumble recovery and a forced fumble before suffering the injury.

Just an overall brutal situation for both Oliver and the Falcons, and the hope is that he can get a decent-sized contract, especially after the start he got off to during the 2021 campaign.

 

Deion Smith walks us through his touchdown vs. USC

Deion Smith made his presence known with a touchdown vs. USC.

Since Deion Smith scored a touchdown in the Buffaloes’ opener against Northern Colorado, he has been relatively quiet. That was until Saturday when the sophomore reminded Buffs fans how good he can be in short yardage situations.

Smith may not be the biggest tailback at 6-foot even and 190 pounds, but his quickness and intelligence were noticeable against USC. With just over a yard from the goal line, Colorado brought Smith in and he showed enough patience to get the job done.

“It was our goal line package and I knew had outside zone,” Smith said. “By the time I got the ball, it just looked clouded. There were a lot of people on the edge and I felt like I had a better chance out-running them to the edge than trying to pound it.”

The touchdown brought Colorado somewhat back into the game by cutting USC’s lead to 20-7.

“It was definitely a huge confidence booster,” Smith said. “I didn’t feel completely great about the touchdown just because of the outcome of the game, but it was still a great experience. I felt like I was contributing in a way, helping my offense try to get something going.”

Smith added that he is confident in short yardage situations but wants to succeed whenever his opportunities come. He finished the USC game with 12 yards on seven carries.

Meet our Colorado Buffaloes Player of the Week

The Colorado Buffaloes couldn’t beat USC. But, Mark Perry posted a season-high in tackles.

The Colorado Buffaloes lost to the USC Trojans for their fourth straight loss on a frustrating day in Boulder. Head coach Karl Dorrell made headlines for the camera incident, and the Buffs’ hopes of upsetting the Trojans once and for all were silenced for another year.

Nonetheless, there were a couple of positives from the game against USC. Buffs quarterback Brendon Lewis played decent, finishing the day with a 10-for-17 line with 162 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

But our Player of the Week belongs to Mark Perry as the safety finished the day with 10 tackles against a talented USC offense. Perry also had the fumble recovery after Keaontay Ingram dropped the ball.

Perry led the way for the defense despite the Trojans putting up 37 points. Drake London absolutely went to town on Saturday—as he has all season—and torched the Buffs the entire game.

Perry was everywhere on Saturday, and he needed to be. In turn, he posted a season-high in tackles. In fact, Perry had more tackles on Saturday than he did in the entire 2020 season. Other than that, it wasn’t too encouraging for the Buffs and they will have two weeks to focus on their next game against winless Arizona.

The Buffs’ lone victory was against Northern Colorado in the opening week, and since a somewhat encouraging loss against Texas A&M, they have struggled.

A bye week is in the folds now, and up next is a perfect opportunity for Dorrell and his team to get back on track with a matchup against the Arizona Wildcats.