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September 15th – Boulder Colorado 45, New Hampshire 14
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Travon McMillian ran 162 yards and two touchdowns, leading Colorado to a 45-14 victory over New Hampshire. The Buffs led 28-0 at halftime, with a McMillian 75-yard run for a score on the first play of the third quarter, putting to rest any doubt as to the final outcome.
Steven Montez went 14-for-19 for 166 yards, including a 28-yard touchdown pass to Laviska Shenault to open the scoring. In all, the Buffs posted 491 yards of total offense, to 270 for the Wildcats. In the first half, when the Buffs were building a 28-0 lead, the Colorado defense held the New Hampshire offense to 76 yards on 39 offensive plays.
“First of all, New Hampshire played incredibly hard,” said Mike MacIntyre after the game. “What a gorgeous day in Colorado today. It was extremely hot out there (90-degrees at kickoff). I thought our team came out and played hard and physical. We had a couple of mistakes that made the game last a little longer than it should have but I was very pleased with our state of mind and our aggressiveness in the game.”
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Game Story … With the temperature at kickoff a full 90-degrees, the 42,360 who came to Folsom Field for CU’s home opener against New Hampshire were looking for the Buffs to make quick work of the Wildcats, so that they could either seek shelter from the blistering sun, or at least get back in line for another beer.
The Colorado defense was more than happy to do its part.
On a third-and-16 from the New Hampshire 34-yard line, Christian Lupoli was intercepted by Buff linebacker Rick Gamboa, who returned the pick 17 yards to the Wildcat 28-yard line. Two plays later, on third-and-ten, quarterback Steven Montez hit Laviska Shenault at the UNH ten yard line. Shenault split two defenders, walking into the end zone. Colorado 7, New Hampshire 0, five minutes into the game.
The remainder of the first quarter was a series of punts, with neither team looking impressive on offense. The Buffs, in fact, ended the first quarter with four rushes for a minus-11 yards, with Steven Montez being sacked twice by the New Hampshire defense.
The Wildcats had the ball to start the second quarter, but a sack of quarterback Lupoli by linebacker Jacob Callier halted the drive. A 20-yard punt return by Ronnie Blackmon set the Buffs up at the Colorado 45-yard line.
Senior running back Travon McMillan took it from there.
A 20-yard run opened the drive, with the Buffs deciding enough was enough for their struggling offense. McMillian carried the ball five times on the eight play drive, capping it off with a one-yard touchdown run. Early in the second quarter, the Buffs finally had a two-score lead, 14-0.
Rather than folding, the New Hampshire offense put together 12-play drive. The Wildcats covered 60 yards of Folsom Field turf, but ultimately came up empty when a 42-yard field goal attempt by kicker Jason Hughes hit the right upright.
Three Travon McMillian runs went for 12 yards, setting up the New Hampshire secondary. Steven Montez hit a wide open Tony Brown for a 53-yard gain, taking the ball down to the UNH ten-yard line. After a Travon McMillian gained four yards on first down, Kyle Evans raced to the left corner, scoring on a six-yard run.
What happened been a nervous 7-0 lead early in the second quarter was now a comfortable 21-0 lead with 3:41 before the break.
Just 73 seconds later, it was 28-0.
On the fourth play of the Wildcats’ ensuing drive, quarterback Christian Lupoli was sacked, fumbling the ball away. Buff Backer Davion Taylor scooped up the fumble, going 14 yards for a Colorado touchdown.
Colorado 28, New Hampshire 0, with 2:36 remaining in the second quarter.
Aided by a facemask penalty, the Wildcats quickly moved into CU territory. On fourth-and-four at the Buff 42-yard line, however, a Christian Lupoli pass fell incomplete, and the Buffs had one more chance to pad the score before halftime.
In quick succession, the Buffs moved into scoring position – ten yard completion to Tony Brown; ten yard run by Steven Montez; 15-yard completion to Laviska Shenault; 11-yard completion to K.D. Nixon.
At the New Hampshire 12-yard line, however, Steven Montez threw an interception in the end zone, ending the threat.
Halftime score: Colorado 28; New Hampshire 0
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The Colorado third quarter game plan was to take the second half kickoff and put to rest any doubt about the final outcome of the game.
Mission accomplished.
On the first play of the third quarter, Travon McMillian took off on a 75-yard touchdown run. Just 12 seconds into the second half, the lead was up to 35-0.
From there, however, the game deteriorated as Colorado substituted freely, with the backups making mistakes.
After the teams exchanged punts, the Buffs took over at their one yard line as Ronnie Blackmon fumbled the punt return attempt. On third-and-seven at the CU four, Buff backup quarterback Sam Noyer was picked off by Wildcat safety Pop Lacey, who returned the interception 15 yards for a touchdown.
With 6:56 left to play in the third quarter, the shutout was gone. 35-7, Colorado.
A 47-yard run by Beau Bisharat helped to restore order on CU’s next possession. The Buffs pushed the ball all the way to the New Hampshire one yard line, but ultimately settled for a 19-yard field goal by James Stefanou.
Two plays later, New Hampshire had its first offensive touchdown. Christian Lupoli connected with Neil O’Conner for a 71-yard touchdown, making it a 38-14 game … with 17 minutes still left to play.
The teams then exchanged punts as most of the sun-backed Folsom Field crowd filed out. After taking over on downs near midfield, the Buff backups finally put together a sustained drive. Over nine plays, Beau Bisharat and Alex Fontenot traded carries, with Fontenot finishing off the drive with a 15-yard touchdown run with 4:24 left to play.
The Wildcats fumbled the ball away on their next possession, with Daniel Talley recovering at the UNH 43-yard line. After the Buffs turned the ball over on downs trying to run out the clock, the Wildcats mounted a final drive, with four straight completions at the CU 32-yard line finally ending the threat.
Final score: Colorado 45, New Hampshire 14
“I like the resiliency of our football team”, said Mike MacIntyre, with the Buffs finishing non-conference play 3-0 for the second consecutive season. “I like our fight and our effort. I like our closeness. I like our mental toughness. I like our physical toughness. We’re going to get punched some but we’re going to get back up and punch back. You can’t count these guys out ever”.
“I have been putting in a lot of hard work this offseason to try and have a really consistent year,” said Travon McMillian of his 162 yards and two touchdowns (on 15 carries). “It is good that I have been consistent this year, but I am going to keep trying to get better throughout practice each and every day. I am going to remain humble and keep working.”
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Game Notes …
— The 90-degree temperature at kickoff was the fourth-highest ever for a game at Folsom Field;
— CU raised its season record to 3-0 for the 42nd time in school history, with the Buffs pulling it off in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1994-95;
— The win raised CU’s record to 6-2 against FCS teams, including five straight wins. The only other game scheduled against an FCS team is in 2024, when North Dakota State is scheduled to come to Boulder;
— Travon McMillian’s 162 rushing yards set a new career high. His previous high was 142 yards against Duke in 2015 while playing for Virginia Tech;
— Laviska Shenault (five catches for 67 yards) scored a touchdown for the third straight game, becoming the first receiver with scores in three straight games since Nelson Spruce scored in seven straight games in 2013-14.
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9 Replies to “September 15th – Colorado 45, New Hampshire 14”
Most disappointing in the trompin of a Sisters of the Poor school:
1). Those ugly all grey/gray unis. Could hardly see them against the green turf on TV. Damn Ugly to tell the truth. Ya need contrast to make unis attractive. And who in hell chose grey/gray ? The color is SILVER….which shines. Use a shiny thread fabric….they do make it.
2). Black helmets ? Dang tootin. Look sharp.
3). Glad to see Alex and Beau shine. Beau made a statement. Can run ! Can push the “D off the line of scrimmage for 3-4 yds when NH was expecting one run after another. Why hasn’t he been playing more ?….. am I degrading the select RB’s….Nope. Love ’em.
4). Hated seeing WIDE OPEN NH receivers. Some one has to take responsibility there. We’ll get burned in PAC-12 play if this continues to happen.
Those were the negatives….. there were lot more positives.
Recommend:
Heal and get ready for the PAC-12…. there are some teams out there for the picking.
Yo Stuart,
Best part of the day was Nebraska losing to Troy. HA HA HA! Those Nebraska folks really need to get a life other than Husker football. Last week it was their complaining that Colorado’s “dirty players” twisted the foot of their QB. Didn’t have anything to do with his injury mind you, but some of those crazy folks on Corn Nation were so livid that they thought Colorado should have to forfeit the game and be booted from NCAA play for the rest of the season. Really, stuff like that was said, although you had to get through the pile of expletives as high as a grain silo to find the really crazy stuff.
Now that the Fuskers have lost to Troy, all that venom is now aimed at new head coach Scott Frost. Wow. Two weeks ago this guy was the 2nd coming to the Nebraska faithful and now they want to run him out of town on a #$%&* rail.
I’m so glad I live here in Boulder, Colorado. There are so many things to do and such a beautiful location. We also realize that football is just a game after all. It’s not life or death.
That said. We are 3-0 and Nebraska is 0-2. That’s priceless. It’s not just Nebraska though. It’s been a rough weekend for the Big 10: Nebraska loses to Troy. Rutgers loses to Kansas. Maryland loses to Temple. Wisconsin loses to BYU. Illinois loses to South Florida. And Northwestern loses to Akron. WOW!
I’m glad that Colorado took care of business and beat New Hampshire. It was obvious that they ad a pretty big let down after two big wins over longtime rivals. But I’ll take a letdown win over letdown loss any time.
We’ve got two weeks to get ready for UCLA. As I write this the Bruins are down 38-14 to Fresno State in the 4th quarter. Just a note, I know how the Bruin fans are feeling right now.
The Buffs need to rest and get some guys healthy. They also need to get their backup QB some serious reps. I shudder to think what will happen if Montez gets hurt. We have to have the backups ready to go.
Nice to see Bisharat and McMillian running hard. Also glad to see Evans get a TD. On the other side of the ball, note that no fewer that 26 (TWENTY-SIX) Buffs had at least one tackle in the game. That is an amazing stat. So glad they got so many guys in to play in the home opener.
Go Buffs. Get some rest. Enjoy the win. Pac-12 league games are up next. We’re proud of you. Keep on getting better.
Mark
GoldenBuffs89
Fans are fans … they only see the short term.
Dudes, dont be like the Corn Fuskers… our 2nd team needs experience to understand their mistakes… why are you unhappy, because we didn’t step on the throats of a team we were going to beat anyway? The pac12 awaits in two weeks. We need to throttle chip Kelly and his uchumps, not New Hampshire.
Get off the hash pipe and Buff um up!
Ok, fair point. The frustration from my comment below has subsided somewhat. I was a bit harsh on the 2nd stringers. That being said, I think we missed a chance to give our second unit QUALITY experience. You don’t really get valuable experience in mop up duty if you are treating it like mop up duty. Once the second unit went in, there was a lack of sharpness. In retrospect, I think this falls on the coaching/playcalling. We should have been running the offense / playcalling as if it were a 0-0 game. THAT would give the second unit experience! That will also get us more ready for Pac 12 play in the event that a key starter goes down and someone needs to step up.
Right I agree there. The play calling went vanilla. This is the thing with young college kids. .. some of the red shirts really don’t get it yet. They will Monday when film gets reviewed with their coach. That being said, if your a red shirt, you probably don’t want to make it too complicated. Your probably just happy your suited up and on the field.
Seems like the team came out flat, perhaps emotionally hung over from the win against Nebraska. 2nd quarter looked good along with the huge run at the beginning of the 3rd quarter. Glad to see the second team get some meaningful repetitions. Based upon what I read about Noyer, I expected to see a better performance. Nerves? Lack of experience? In any event, not inspiring. O-line still needs work. But, overall, nice to be 3-0 before bye week.
The score is irrelevant. The game was very disappointing. Our second team is garbage (especially the o-line). Very frustrating. They took the starters out way to early. Against a slightly better team we might have actually been in trouble.
Totally agree. I get the idea of getting the second and third string some reps, but geez, the play selection was horrible. A tenth string qb can just hand the ball off. what did we learn about Noyers???/ Nothing. Threw a bad pass. If you are committed to use all qbs, where was Senstrom? Its no wonder the stands emptied long before the 4th qtr. C.U. is struggling to get fans in the seats as it is. Why would I want to pay to see a half of a game?
45-14 might seem disappointing against New Hampshire but the 14 came at a point in the game where I was constantly looking at a jersey number and saying “Who?” I’ll take 45-14 over a loss to Sacramento State every time.
Montez. Shenault. Landman. Progress.