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Friday Fast Facts – Bye Week Edition
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Colorado 34, No. 24 Arizona State 31 revisited …
— Colorado, with its 34-31 win over No. 24 Arizona State, broke a 29-game road losing streak against top-25 teams, the longest such streak among Power 5 teams. With the Buffs no longer on that ignoble list, the longest streak nationally now belongs to Purdue, at 23 straight road losses to ranked teams, followed by Vanderbilt at 22 and Kansas at 21;
— Over the course of the drought of not winning a road game against a ranked team – which lasted exactly 17 years – the Buffs went through four coaches. Those coach’s contributions to the streak (after the Buffs defeated No. 20 UCLA, 31-20, on September 21, 2002):
- Gary Barnett (2003-2005) … 0-5
- Dan Hawkins (2006-2010) … 0-11
- Jon Embree (2011-2012) … 0-4
- Mike MacIntyre (2013-2018) … 0-9 … and now …
- Mel Tucker (2019) … 1-0
— There were some close losses during the streak:
- 2004 … No. 17 Texas A&M 29, Colorado 26 (OT) … Over 1,000 yards of offense at Kyle Field
- 2006 … No. 9 Georgia 14, Colorado 13 … Despite the “Quiet Bus Ride”, this was one of my favorite road trips
- 2009 … No. 13 Oklahoma State 31, Colorado 28 … “If You Are Only Going To Win One Game (Dan Hawkins)”
— But also some embarrassing routs:
- 2003 … No. 10 Florida State 47, Colorado 7 … Check out the video of Jeremy Bloom’s long touchdown reception
- 2008 … No. 16 Missouri 58, Colorado 0 … Buffs had gone 242 consecutive games without being shutout before this debacle
- 2012 … No. 11 USC 50, Colorado 6 … followed the next week by … No. 2 Oregon 70, Colorado 14 … Buffs bottom out under Jon Embree
- 2017 … No. 15 Washington State 28, Colorado 0 … Buffs use three quarterbacks in a showing of profound ineptitude
— In case you were wondering, here is how the last seven CU coaches have done overall against ranked teams:
- Bill McCartney … 20-31-2 (most wins)
- Rick Neuheisel … 11-12 (highest winning percentage before Mel Tucker)
- Gary Barnett … 11-22
- Dan Hawkins … 3-15
- Jon Embree … 0-7
- Mike MacIntyre … 2-20 … and now
- Mel Tucker … 2-0
— Sacks allowed by CU against Arizona State … zero. But wait, there’s more. The Buffs not only held the Sun Devils’ defense without a sack last weekend, but they did so last year in Boulder as well. Here’s what makes that stat remarkable: Under Herm Edwards, the Sun Devils have had at least one sack in 14 of 17 games. The only three games they failed to reach the quarterback are the two games against Colorado and their Las Vegas Bowl loss to Fresno State.;
— Temperature at kickoff on 9/21/2002, for the win over No. 20 UCLA: 99-degrees … Temperature at kickoff on 9/21/2019, for the win over No. 24 Arizona State: 91-degrees … (Here’s hoping for a heat wave in Eugene on October 11th when the Buffs take on the Ducks);
— Senior wide receiver Tony Brown quote after the Arizona State game … “It’s just another game for us; just like all the rest of the games this year. But, you know, I expect this and coach Mel expects it from us every game. So this might seem like a big game to you and to a lot of people but you know, it’s just a normal game for us”. Against Arizona State, Brown set career highs for receptions (9), yards (150), touchdown receptions (3) and first downs earned (7).
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Mel Tucker’s Podcast
Coach Mel Tucker has a weekly podcast, hosted by KOA’s Mark Johnson. So far, Coach Tucker has interviewed Rick George, Kordell Stewart, Matt Russell, Alfred Williams, Jeremy Bloom, and Barry Remington.
The most recent interview was with Marwan Hage, and can be found here …
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Statistically speaking
— Colorado has been out-scored in only the second quarter this season, but by a significant margin – 59-27. In the other three quarters, the Buffs enjoy the advantage: 31-20 in the first; 28-6 in the third; and 54-31 in the fourth … that’s a pretty dominant 82-37 in the second half;
— Colorado is being out-gained by an average of almost 30 yards per game (466.5 – 438.4). The Arizona State game (475 – 453) was the first game this season in which the Buffs enjoyed an advantage in total offense;
— Individually, Buff linebacker Nu’umato Falo leads the nation in fumbles recovered, with three, while safety Mikial Onu leads the nation in interceptions, also with three (Onu has already bested the Buff interception leader from 2018, Nate Landman, who had two, and matched the three that Evan Worthington had in 2017);
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… UCLA 67, Washington State 63 revisited …
— UCLA scored 42 points in its first three games combined. It scored 67 in a win at Washington State, including 50 in the second half, to erase a 32-point third-quarter deficit. The 67-63 final made it the highest-scoring game in Pac-12 history;
— The 32-point comeback was the greatest for UCLA since … 2017, when the Bruins erased a 34-point deficit against Texas A&M;
— UCLA was 2-for-10 on third down before its winning touchdown, a 15-yard screen pass to Demetric Felton from Dorian Thompson-Robinson with 1:07 left. The Bruins and Cougars combined for 1,377 total yards;
— Washington State committed six turnovers, including fumbles on its last two possessions;
— Washington State tied the FBS record for most points scored by a losing team in regulation;
— Washington State quarterback Anthony Gordon broke the Pac-12 record with nine passing touchdowns in the loss to the Bruins. Gordon completed 41 of 61 passes for 570 yards and nine touchdowns with two interceptions. In 2014, Washington State quarterback Connor Halliday set an FBS record with 734 passing yards in a 60-59 loss to Cal;
— Gordon has already thrown 21 touchdown passes this year (Steven Montez has thrown nine), the most in the first four games of a season for any FBS team since at least 2000.
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Player Notes
— Quarterback Steven Montez is second on the all-time passing charts in yards, becoming only the second Buff to surpass 8,000 yards (8.005). Montez still has a ways to go to get to No. 1 Sefo Liufau (9,568);
— Tight end Beau Bisharat is tied for eighth on the all-time list for special team tackles (31), and sixth in special team points (74);
— Kicker James Stefanou (6-for-6) is one 25 kickers nationally (four from the Pac-12) who remains perfect in field goal attempts;
— CU’s roster settled in at 83 scholarship players (out of 85 allowed by the NCAA), with another 29 walk-ons. By Class: 3 graduate transfers … 15 seniors (8 fifth-year); 20 juniors; 30 sophomores; 45 freshmen (16 red-shirt/3 2nd-year/26 true). So, CU will have at minimum 20 scholarships to work with for the Recruiting Class of 2020, with likely five or more coming by natural attrition before next fall.
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Pac-12 Notes
— Oregon has gone three games (Nevada, Montana, and Stanford) without allowing a touchdown. The last time that happened? 1935;
— Arizona State has scored at least 10 points in 123 games, the second-longest streak in modern FBS history. The record is Louisiana Tech’s 125 from 2008-18. ASU last scored fewer than 10 points in a 14-9 loss to USC in November 2009;
— Stanford (1-3, 0-1) – Struggling Cardinal have lost three in a row for the first time since 2008;
— USC scored 30 points on Utah, which had allowed only 29 points total over its first three games;
— Five teams from the Pac-12 were ranked in the fifth week of the Associated Press poll … No. 13 Oregon; No. 15 California; No. 17 Washington; No. 19 Utah; and No. 21 USC … It’s the first time the Pac-12 has had five or more teams ranked for five straight weeks since the first six weeks of the 2015 season;
— In Pac-12 rankings, CU is sixth in scoring offense (35.8 points) but 10th in scoring defense (30.8 points). The Buffs are 8th in total offense (434.8 yards/game), and are 10th in total defense (466.5 yards/game);
— Three quarterbacks in the Pac-12 have yet to throw an interception – Oregon’s Justin Herbert (129 pass attempts); Oregon State’s Jake Luton (96) and Utah’s Tyler Huntley (84). The total was four Pac-12 quarterbacks last week, before Derrion Rakestraw picked off Arizona State quarterback Jayden Daniels in the fourth quarter;
— … Pac-12 National Leaders after Week Four: Arizona, interceptions (8); Washington State, passing offense (499.5 yards/game); Anthony Gordon, Washington State, passing yards/game (473.5), total offense/game (483.5), and completions per game (34.25); Jevon Holland, Oregon, punt returns (24.5/attempt); Michael Turk, Arizona State, punting (50.4 yards/punt).
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