Colorado 37, Texas State 3

—

September 9th – Boulder          Colorado 37, Texas State 3

—

Steven Montez threw for 299 yards and a touchdown, and the Buff defense held a second straight opponent out of the end zone as Colorado overcame a lethargic first half to put away Texas State, 37-3.

It took a 55-yard fumble return by Laviska Shenault to get the Buffs on the board in the first quarter, with the Buffs nursing a 14-0 lead at halftime. Three James Stefanou field goals in the second half, together with Phillip Lindsay seven-yard touchdown run and an 11-yard scoring connection between Montez and Bryce Bobo allowed Colorado to get close to living up to their 36 1/2-point status as a favorite.

“I still think we’re going to be really good”, said CU head coach Mike MacIntyre. “We’ve shown really good glimpses of it. We’ll put that together for the whole game and do some really good things. We’ll make some plays; we’ve got some really good players across the board”.

Colorado finished with 430 yards of total offense, holding Texas State to 283 yards. Shay Fields led the Buff receivers with five catches for 110 yards, while Phillip Lindsay had 26 carries for 87 yards and a touchdown.

Paired with the 17-3 win over Colorado State in the 2017 opener, the 37-3 victory marked the first time since 1958 that the Buffs held their first two opponents without a touchdown.

–

—

The Buff/Bobcat game started off about the way most fans figured it would, with a 55-yard run against an out-witted defense …

… except that it was Texas State that was on offense, with Anthony D. Miller out-running the Buff defense down to the Colorado 20-yard line.

There, however, the Buff defense stiffened, forcing a 32-yard field goal attempt from James Sherman, which was missed.

The Colorado offense, which was expected to roll against the Texas State defense, did look good in its opening drive of the game. A 15-yard completion from Steven Montez to Devin Ross was quickly followed by a 16-yard completion to Shay Fields. Thereafter, however, the drive stalled. The Buffs made it as far as the Bobcat 31-yard line before a sack of Montez ended the threat, forcing a punt.

The teams then traded three-and-outs and six-and-outs as both offenses struggled. On the Bobcats’ fourth possession of the game, the Buff defense forced its second three-and-out of the game. The Marcus Ripley punt was collected by Isaiah Oliver, who returned the ball near midfield … and fumbled.

The fumble could have been a momentum changer for the Bobcats. Instead, it turned into a touchdown for the Buffs, as wide receiver Laviska Shenault was Johnny-on-the-spot. The freshman turned his first touch of the ball in a Colorado uniform into a 55-yard fumble return for a score, giving CU a 7-0 lead in the final minute of the first quarter.

The Buffs seemed to be taking control early in the second quarter. After forcing another Bobcat punt, the Buff offense pieced together nine-play, 96-yard scoring drive. A 44-yard completion from Montez to Shay Fields flipped the field, with a 28-yard hookup between Montez and Bryce Bobo giving CU a first-and-goal at the Texas State seven yard line. Two plays later, Montez took it in himself from two yards out. 14-0, Colorado, with 9:33 to play in the first half.

What could have – should have – been a rout in the making, however, did not unfold.

The remainder of the first half was a series of punts, with the Bobcats not able to generate much offense, and the Buffs not able to put together a drive which would turn the game into the game everyone expected.

Halftime score: Colorado 14, Texas State 0

–

The first offensive play of the second half was a 36-yard completion from Steven Montez to Shay Fields. The next play was a 15-yard pass from Montez to Bryce Bobo.

Just as it appeared that the Buffs had restored order, the offense again stalled. Three plays netted five yards, with kicker James Stefanou called upon to give the Buffs a three-score lead. Stefanou connected from 34 yards out, making it a 17-0 game two minutes into the second half.

Before Buff fans could relax, however, it was once again a two-score game. Texas State marched smartly down the field on its first possession of the second half. A 45-yard completion from Damien Williams to Thurman Morbley was quickly followed by another Williams-to-Morbley 17-yard connection. Just like that, the Bobcats has a first-and-ten at the Buff 13-yard line.

There, however, the Buff defense held. Kicker James Sherman got his second opportunity of the game, once again from 32-yards out. This time Sherman was true, making it a 17-3 game with 9:39 still to play in the third quarter.

The score was now the same as the final against Colorado State the week before, with a similar feeling of uneasiness running through the Folsom Field crowd of 43,822.

That discomfort was not aided on CU’s next possession, which was three long passes, all incomplete, with the Buffs turning the ball back over to the Bobcats after a possession lasting all of 23 seconds.

The Buff defense, though, once again came to the rescue. An interception by Isaiah Oliver (which was immediately added to his highlight tape for NFL scouts) to the Texas State 35-yard line.

In took the Colorado offense seven plays, but the Buffs finally pushed their lead to three touchdowns. Phillip Lindsay was called upon to keep the drive alive, going for two yards on a fourth-and-one at the Texas State 26-yard line. Two plays later, Steven Montez hit Devin Ross for a 22-yard gain. On the next play, Phillip Lindsay ran it in from seven yards out, giving Colorado a 24-3 lead with 5:26 remaining in the third quarter.

After forcing another Bobcat punt, the Buff offense finally – finally! – posted a drive the Buff Nation had been waiting for all afternoon. Colorado went 86 yards in seven plays, and didn’t face a third down on the drive. Completions to Lindsay (16 yards), Bobo (ten yards), and Devin Ross (31 yards) helped set up the Buffs in the red zone. An 11-yard scoring pass from Montez to Bobo completed the drive.

With less than a minute remaining in the third quarter, the scoreboard at long last registered a runaway, with the Buffs up 31-0.

The Buffs’ next possession went 47 yards in nine plays, and resulted in a field goal. Montez had a pair of completions going for 15 yards – the first to Jay MacIntyre; the second to Juwann Winfree – to highlight the drive, which resulted in a 40-yard field goal by Stefanou.

When the Bobcats fumbled on the second play of their ensuing drive, the Buffs had a chance to make it a real blowout. Red-shirt freshman Sam Noyer made his debut at quarterback, but did not generate a first down. James Stefanou made it a three-for-three day a few moments later, with his 35-yard field posting the final points with 8:46 remaining.

Final score: Colorado 37, Texas State 0

—

“I thought our guys started out a little slow, but Texas State, their linebackers are really good,” said Mike MacIntyre. “They made a lot of stops on us on the run. We couldn’t really have a break away in there. I thought in the third quarter we were really hitting at all cylinders offensively and defensively”.

When asked about the Buff offense being sluggish for the second week in a row, MacIntyre had an answer. “It’s being consistent,” said MacIntyre. “We had 430 total yards and 37 points. If we would have hit a couple throws here and there we would have had 50 points and 600 yards. It’s just off by a foot. A misread here and a missed block there. We’ll get it and you’re seeing glimpses of it.”

“I think we all just need to play with confidence,” said wide receiver Devin Ross, “and keep up the tempo that we’ve had and always played with and we just have to be more comfortable up front and the quarterback (Steven Montez) needs to be more poised because he knows he has the ability to be great so we just have to be comfortable with him. We have to let us make plays and we’ll be fine.”

—

Game Notes … 

—  The Buffs held Texas State to a field goal, marking the first time since 1958 that Colorado did not allowed a touchdown in its first two games of the year (offensive or otherwise).  In 1958, CU opened with a 13-3 win over Kansas State at home and then shut out Kansas on the road, 31-0;

— Texas State did most of its offensive damage on four plays, as two rushes and two passes totaled 145 yards; it had 138 yards on its other 61 plays (2.3 per);

— Colorado upped its record to 2-0 for the second straight year (owning a 154-20 scoring edge). It marked the third time under Mike MacIntyre the Buffs opened 2-0, and for the 56th time in 128 seasons overall;

— Colorado recorded six quarterback sacks against Texas State, (for 27 yards in losses); it marked CU’s first six-sack game since Nov. 25, 2011 (six at Utah in the season finale); the last time the Buffs had more than six was in 2010 (nine at Iowa State). Linebacker Leo Jackson III was credited with three of those sacks:

— Freshman  wide receiver Laviska Shenault joined an exclusive club with just 14 other members when he scored (technically) on his first collegiate touch.  He recovered an Isaiah Oliver fumble on a punt return and raced 55 yards for the score; he joined Jeremy Bloom as the lone true freshmen to have done it;

— Devin Ross 15-yard reception on a third-and-7 on CU’s first drive of the game was the 100th catch of his career. He became the 15th Buffalo in school history to catch 100 passes in a career, finishing the game with 103 career receptions for 1,201 yards and seven touchdowns;

— Bryce Bobo had seven receptions in the game, also pushing him over 100 in his career, following up with Ross and becoming the 16th Buffalo in school history to catch 100 or more passes.  He also went over 1,000 yards receiving for his career, becoming the 28th Buff to have over 1,000 yards in his career.  Bobo finished the game with 103 career catches for 1,069 yards and six touchdowns;

— Punter Alex Kinney had a 70-yard punt in the first quarter, the longest of his career. Overall, Kinney enjoyed his finest day as a collegian, averaging 49.7 yards on six punts; he has placed six of his 11 punts this season inside-the-20, and on his eight punts in CU territory.

–

—–

This post, about the Texas State game, from the 2017 Season, is filed under Article.
You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment.