Tag: Owen McCown

Behind Enemy Lines: Covering the Buffs is tough duty these days

We spoke to @BuffaloesWire Jack Carlough about the tough season in Boulder and what we should look for on Saturday.

It would be tough days at the office here at DucksWire if the Oregon football team had little to no chance of winning weekly. Imagine having that feeling we all had after the Georgia game and then experiencing that every Saturday night.

That’s what Colorado fans and those covering the Buffaloes have to deal with. It’s not a good situation in Boulder and since the Ducks have to go out on the road and play the 1-7 Colorado team, we turned to our pal over at BuffaloesWire, Jack Carlough, to get his unique perspective on one of the biggest mismatches of the conference this season.

We talked about a variety of subjects, including the weather for this game. Here’s what Jack had to say.

Injury update: CU Buffs could be without QB Owen McCown against Arizona State

Per Mike Sanford, Owen McCown is “not there yet” in terms of his injury recovery

Colorado interim head coach Mike Sanford addressed the media on Tuesday and revealed that Buffaloes starting quarterback Owen McCown is “not there yet” in terms of his injury recovery.

McCown had taken a beating in the Cal game on Oct. 15 and was eventually removed late for a healthier JT Shrout. Shrout was then given the start last week at Oregon State with McCown out of uniform.

Per Sanford, the true freshman QB is recovering from a throwing-based injury and remains limited at practice. The Buffs will continue to monitor his progress, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they roll with Shrout against Arizona State on Saturday.

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JT Shrout to start at QB for Colorado at Oregon State

Mike Sanford is giving JT Shrout the start on Saturday

The Colorado Buffaloes are fresh off their first win of the 2022 season, a 20-13 overtime victory against California.

Mike Sanford stepped in as interim head coach after Karl Dorrell was fired and got the first win of the year. However, the Buffs’ next opponent is Oregon State, a much tougher game than the one they played against the Bears.

The Buffs will also have a new starting quarterback under center in Corvallis. Last week, Owen McCown suffered too many blows against Cal, prompting JT Shrout to enter and throw the game-winning touchdown pass to Montana Lemonious-Craig. McCown is still injured and Shrout will be getting the start at Oregon State, Sanford said on Thursday.

Earlier in the week, McCown was practicing, but it appears that Sanford will run with Shrout, the former Tennessee transfer who was competing with Brendon Lewis earlier in the year.

Lewis entered the transfer portal this week, and now it will be between Shrout and McCown for the remainder of the season.

This will be Shrout’s third start of the season, although neither of the two went particularly well. Perhaps the coaching change with Sanford will ignite Shrout into the QB they had hoped he would be when he came from Rocky Top.

Unfortunately, it won’t be easy against Oregon State, which has been one of the biggest surprises of the Pac-12 this year.

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For a true freshman starter, Owen McCown showed great poise

Owen McCown said he was more excited than nervous in his first career start

All of a sudden, Owen McCown is arguably the best quarterback the Colorado Buffaloes have in their building. Karl Dorrell allowed the true freshman to take the reins against UCLA on Saturday and the youngster didn’t disappoint, throwing for over 250 yards and running in a touchdown.

While Dorrell believed McCown still had a few rookie moments, he was also complimentary of the poise his southpaw displayed. Even McCown himself said that he was pretty calm, and perhaps it helps to be the son of a longtime NFL quarterback.

McCown noticed an improvement in the Buffs’ attack as well and thanked offensive coordinator Mike Sanford for helping him get settled early.

“Surprisingly, I really wasn’t that nervous,” McCown said. “I felt more excitement. Obviously with the first snap going out there, had to take a deep breath and really get settled down. Coach (Mike) Sanford had some good early calls to get me settled in the game and that really helped. I thought as an offense, we showed a little improvement. From a team standpoint, just onto the next week. There’s an emphasis on how we respond.”

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On key stat from the CU Buffs’ loss to UCLA

Colorado’s improvement on offense was noticeable

Yes, the Colorado Buffaloes lost to the UCLA Bruins at Folsom Field, 45-17. Yes, Karl Dorrell is still the head coach, at least for the time being.

After questions swirled all week long, Dorrell named Owen McCown as the starting quarterback in a surprising move, although he really had no choice after how poorly JT Shrout and Brendon Lewis had played this year.

It wasn’t a very exciting game for the Buffs, but one stat stood out: 309 total yards.

This was easily the best offensive showing of the season for Colorado. For some perspective, here are the Buffs’ yardage totals from each of the previous three games:

  • TCU: 348 yards
  • Air Force: 162 yards
  • Minnesota: 226 yards

Yes, the Buffs had more yards against TCU in the opener, but the offense seemed much better with McCown running the show. Against the Gophers a week prior, the Buffs threw for a grand total of 90 yards in the game, and 52 of those were courtesy of Owen McCown.

On Saturday against UCLA, McCown looked every bit like a starting QB. He went 26-of-42 for 258 yards with a touchdown, a pick and a QB rating of 116.6.

He also added a rushing score, and this was the first game all year in which Colorado scored multiple touchdowns.

Again, it wasn’t a close game, but McCown playing better than both Lewis and Shrout is a massive surprise, and this could be the only thing that keeps Dorrell around for the rest of the season.

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Instant analysis: CU Buffs’ offense takes step forward, but defensive struggles continue in loss to UCLA

The Buffs’ second-half woes continued in their Pac-12 opener

The Buffaloes’ offense finally looked somewhat formidable.

Let’s start with the true freshman who provided some first-half fun on Saturday: Owen McCown.

While he certainly had his rookie moments, Colorado’s new starting quarterback proved he’s the best Karl Dorrell has. McCown, the Buffs’ first left-handed starting QB since the late Sal Aunese, threw for 258 yards and engineered a few quality drives in the 45-17 loss to UCLA.

As Jake Schwanitz of DNVR mentioned to me, you can say goodbye to McCown’s redshirt season, and that’s alright. (We’re going to excuse his rougher second half for now.)

The Buffs’ offensive line didn’t do much to help as it contributed to four QB hurries and five sacks — although McCown should’ve thrown the ball away on a few of them. True freshman Van Wells was thrust into a tough spot and Tommy Brown likely wasn’t 100% after getting beat up in the first half, to name a couple of issues.

Defensively, Colorado was overmatched by a veteran offense for the second consecutive week. The Bruins totaled 515 yards on the afternoon as Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Zach Charbonnet evaded far too many tackles. Defensive back Trevor Woods (seven total tackles) remained a bright spot and linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo was a big play producer (two TFLs and one sack).

And finally, I’ll add that walk-on Trent Carrizosa might be the Buffs’ best punter. He averaged 46.2 yards on his five boots.

We’ll have more coverage to follow.

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REPORT: Owen McCown to start at QB for CU Buffs vs. UCLA

BREAKING: It’s Owen McCown time

Myself included, not many people expected true freshman Owen McCown to get the starting quarterback nod against UCLA in Week 4. But that’s exactly what we’re about to witness, according to Brian Howell of BuffZone.

Last week at Minnesota, McCown threw for just over 50 yards in his lone drive during garbage time. Apparently, that was all Karl Dorrell needed to see for his rookie QB to surpass, at least for now, Brendon Lewis and JT Shrout.

McCown, the son of former NFL QB Josh McCown, is a left-handed slinger who can also run a bit, although his smaller size presents a few concerns in that department.

We’ll see what happens.

Kickoff is at noon MT on the Pac-12 Network.

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Battle for starting QB job now a three-Buff race

If you have two quarterbacks, you have none. But what if you have three?

Three weeks in and it’s still unclear who the CU Buffs’ starting quarterback is.

To summarize: In Week 1, Brendon Lewis got the start but was outplayed by JT Shrout, who was then rewarded with the start against Air Force. However, Shrout struggled in the Springs and let Lewis re-enter the race heading into Minnesota. Things got really complicated against the Gophers as Karl Dorrell let Lewis and Shrout trade drives. Neither found any success and in what was CU’s final drive, Owen McCown came in and produced a touchdown — albeit against a weaker Minnesota defense that was up 49.

All caught up?

The Buffs are now back in Boulder and Dorrell told the media on Wednesday that Lewis, Shrout and McCown are all getting first-team reps in preparation for UCLA.

Offensive coordinator Mike Sanford was also asked about the situation at QB (h/t BuffZone):

“You go through three games and you don’t have the ability to fully, clearly name a starting quarterback based off the information that we had from spring ball and fall camp,” Sanford said. “Really, the information never truly clarified itself and that’s just a reality. You could go back and forth and say that you’d want to make one guy the guy and just live with it, but that was a challenging proposition from the standpoint that nobody had truly stood out as the sole starter”

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One key CU stat vs. Minnesota: Owen McCown did his thing

Yes, it was garbage time, but Owen McCown might’ve been CU’s best QB on Saturday

There is no player of the game for the Colorado Buffaloes after a 49-7 loss to Minnesota in another frustrating performance by the entire team.

Karl Dorrell’s name has become a hot topic, and Herm Edwards being let go by Arizona State has only expedited those conversations.

Yet, there are some key stats to examine from Saturday’s ugly loss to the Golden Gophers.

With JT Shrout and Brendon Lewis competing and trying to take the edge in the QB battle, it was Owen McCown who finished the game with the most passing yards.

Here are the lines for all three QBs:

  • JT Shrout: 4-11 for 24 yards, TD
  • Brendon Lewis: 2-6 for 14 yards
  • Owen McCown: 4-7 for 52 yards

That’s it.

The Buffs threw for just 90 yards on the day, and McCown, a freshman who wasn’t expected to play at all this season, ended up leading Colorado in passing yards.

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Lewis lost the job to Shrout for Week 2, and in Week 3, all three QBs got playing time for Colorado and none of them were able to do anything. So, what is the next move at the QB position for Dorrell?

There is absolutely zero clarity in the QB room, and maybe Dorrell and Mike Sanford decide to give McCown a shot. What else do they have to lose?

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Battle for Colorado’s No. 3 QB role is also worth following

Who’s your pick for Colorado’s No. 3 QB?

The biggest question for the Colorado Buffaloes is who will be the starting quarterback.

Will incumbent Brendon Lewis retain the starting job? Or will Tennessee transfer JT Shrout finally get his chance to run the show in Boulder?

For now, nobody knows who will be the starter. Moreover, there is some uncertainty on who will be the No. 3 QB as well.

As of Monday, Houston transfer Maddox Kopp, Drew Carter and freshman Owen McCown are the most likely candidates to win the spot.

Head coach Karl Dorrell opened up on what that battle looks like and admitted that McCown has a clear shot to the No. 3 job (h/t Brian Howell of Buff Zone).

“I think he’s playing well,” Dorrell said. “He’s in the discussion being in that third position role. Drew Carter’s competing in there, too, and Maddox Kopp.”

The next few weeks should iron out all of these question marks, and McCown made a lot of noise in high school, although Kopp made his way to Boulder for a reason and hopefully a shot at playing time in the future.

Dorrell and his staff have quite a bit to figure out, although it’s always a good problem to have too much talent on the roster.

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