Minnesota 49, Colorado 7

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September 17th – at Minnesota          Minnesota 49, Colorado 7

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The Buffs gained more yards than they did in the 30-0 loss to Minnesota in 2021 (227, compared to 69 in 2021), and actually scored in the 2022 game, albeit not until the fourth quarter, but it was still a mauling of epic proportions, falling 49-7 to the Golden Gophers.

J.T. Shrout started his second straight game, and, for the second straight game, fumbled on CU’s first possession. Minnesota was up 14-0 six minutes into the game, and never looked back. The Golden Gophers were up 35-0 at halftime, with the Buffs mustering only 39 yards of total offense and three first downs in the first 20 minutes.

“I wasn’t expecting that type of performance, given the week we had last week,” Karl Dorrell said. “We have a lot of extremely hard work to do —  mentally, physically, everything … It was challenging the whole day. We’re just not doing those things in a positive way early for us to be as good as we can be.”

Minnesota finished with 500 yards of total offense, with CU posting 226 (with 187 coming in the second half, when the game was already out of hand). Deion Smith led the Buffs with 70 yards on ten carries, while walkon Charlie Offerdahl chipped in 56 yards on eight carries.

Colorado quarterbacks continued to struggle, going a combined 10-of-24 for 90 yards. The best of the lot was freshman Owen McCown, making his CU debut in garbage time, connecting on 4-of-7 passes for 52 yards in garbage time.

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Game Story … In the first two games of the season, Colorado held the lead on the scoreboard for all of 5:08 of game clock. A first quarter field goal by Cole Becker against TCU gave the Buff Nation a taste of what it was like to be in the lead.

Should have taken a picture.

Against TCU, a punt return for a touchdown gave the Horned Frogs the lead for good early in the second quarter. Against Air Force, a fumble on the second play of the game, followed by a touchdown run on the Falcons’ first play, gave Air Force a lead it would not relinquish just 33 seconds into the game.

So, after two games, the stats sheet read as follows: Time spent in the lead … CU: 5:08 … Opponents: 104:03.

It took Minnesota all of 5:28 to start adding to that total. The Golden Gophers took the opening kickoff and marched down the field for an opening score. The Buff defense did force two third-and-threes on the nine-play, 75-yard drive, but to no avail. On third-and-three at the CU 21, running back Mohamed Ibrahim ran for nine yards and a first down. On third-and-three at the CU five-yard line, it was Ibrahim again, with the five yard scoring run making it 7-0, Minnesota.

Less than a minute of game clock later, it was 14-0.

Against Air Force, in his first career start for CU, quarterback J.T. Shrout fumbled the ball on the second play of CU’s first possession.

Against Minnesota, Shrout didn’t wait for the second play, fumbling the ball away on CU’s first play from scrimmage. The sack and fumble gave Minnesota the ball at the Buff 11-yard line. Two plays later, Ibrahim had his second touchdown on a two-yard run.

With 8:44 still to play in the first quarter, the Buffs were already down two scores.

On CU’s second possession, Shrout was replaced by first game starter Brendon Lewis, who completed a 12-yard pass to Daniel Arias to give the Buffs their first first down of the game. Three plays later, though, the drive was over, and the Buffs punted the ball away.

It appeared that, after a sack by linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo, that the CU defense would force a three-and-out. But what does the one of the worst defenses in the FBS do on a third-and-21? Give up a 34-yard run, of course.

Minnesota was poised for its third touchdown of the first quarter, but, at the CU 20-yard line, Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan was intercepted by senior safety Isaiah Lewis at the CU 15-yard line.

Three plays later, the Buffs punted yet again.

Eight plays later, it was 21-0. It took the Golden Gophers eight plays to cover 57 yards, with Mohamed Ibrahim scoring his third touchdown of the first half, this time from 18 yards out.

Down three scores, the Buff offense took to the field looking for its second first down … and three plays later left the field again.

The Buff defense did finally get a three-and-out of its own, with the CU offense taking the field midway through the second quarter at the Minnesota 49-yard line. An 18-yard run by Deion Smith on third-and-nine gave the Buffs a first down at the Minnesota 30-yard line. A sack of quarterback J.T. Shrout, though, took the Buffs out of field goal range, bringing in Ashton Logan for his fourth punt of the first half.

Eight plays and 91-yards later, it was a 28-0 game. A 39-yard touchdown pass from Tanner Morgan to Chris Autumn-Bell with 1:37 left in the half gave Minnesota, a 27.5-point favorite coming in, a four-score advantage.

Three more plays by the Buff offense netted a minus-8 yards and another Ashton Logan punt, giving Minnesota yet another chance to score.

Sure – Why not?

It took Minnesota only 57 seconds of game clock to cover 53 yards for another score. Tanner Morgan hit Dylan Wright for a 16-yard touchdown with eight seconds left.

Halftime score: Minnesota 35, Colorado 0

The stats at the break were as absurd as the score. Minnesota had 349 yards of total offense … to 39 for Colorado. The Golden Gophers had 20 first downs … to three for the Buffs (to add to the absurdity … one of CU’s first downs, and 14 of its 39 total yards, came on a 14-yard run by Charlie Offerdahl on the final play of the half). Time of possession: Minnesota 22:23; Colorado 7:37.

Golden Gopher running back Mohamed Ibrahim already had 20 carries for 179 yards and three touchdowns. CU’s leading rusher was Deion Smith, with 29 yards on five carries.

The CU quarterback issue also remained unresolved. J.T. Shrout started, but was 1-for-5 passing for 4 yards and a game-opening fumble. Brendon Lewis, meanwhile, was also 1-for-5 in the first half, with the one completion going for 12 yards.

The Buff offense, with its first possession of the second half, doubled its first down totals, but still came up empty. A 16-yard run by Maurice Bell opened the drive, with a Jayle Stacks two-yard run on fourth-and-one near midfield keeping the drive alive. A ten-yard completion from Shrout to Arias gave the Buffs the ball at Minnesota 34-yard line. From there, however, the Buffs went in reverse (including a holding call on a running play), with a Shrout pass on fourth-and-16 falling incomplete.

Keeping the starters in, Minnesota scored on its first possession of the second half. Tanner Morgan collected his third passing touchdown of the game, hitting Clay Geary for an eight-yard score to complete a ten-play, 60-yard drive.

Minnesota 42, Colorado 0, with 3:46 remaining in the third quarter.

Their manhood challenged, the Buff offensive unit … went three-and-out for fourth time on the afternoon.

Bringing in backups, Minnesota was nonetheless still successful. It took the Golden Gophers only six plays to cover 67 yards against the porous Buff defense, capped by a Bryce Williams 22-yard touchdown run in the first minute of the fourth quarter.

With no one left in the stands but diehards and family, the Colorado offense put together its first scoring drive of the game. Four straight runs by walk-on running back Charlie Offerdahl netted 35 yards, with five straight runs by Deion Smith gaining another 51 more. With a first-and-goal at the Minnesota four-yard line, J.T. Shrout connected with tight end Austin Smith for CU’s first score in seven quarters, completing a 10-play, 75-yard drive.

Minnesota had a chance to get past the 50-point mark on its next drive, but a sack by Aubrey Smith of backup Minnesota quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis ended the Golden Gopher drive.

On CU’s final possession, freshman quarterback Owen McCown saw his first action as a Buff. His first completions were also the first receptions by freshman tight end Erik Olsen, going for three and six yards. A 15-yard completion to tight end Caleb Fauria on a fourth-and-two kept the drive alive. A 28-yard completion to Jaylon Jackson  – CU’s longest play of the day – got the Buffs to the Minnesota three yard line on the final play of the game.

Final score: Minnesota 49, Colorado 7

“I feel like it’s super hard just to get going,” said running back Deion Smith, who averaged 7.0 yards per carry on his 10 attempts. “And that’s where you struggle. That’s the second week in a row for us just starting off with a negative play on offense, and it’s really hurting us. We have to figure out what it’s going to take to overcome this. We have the scheme and we also have the players to overcome this, but for some reason, it’s just coming out here on Saturdays. It doesn’t click all the time.”

The Buffs did manage a touchdown late in the game, ending a seven quarter drought without a point. In addition to fumbling on the first play of the game on offense, the CU attack, under former Minnesota offensive coordinator Mike Sanford, went three-and-out on four possessions. The longest possession of the first half for the Buffs, as the Golden Gophers raced to a 35-0 advantage, went for five plays and 17 yards.

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Game Notes … 

— The game dropped CU’s advantage in the series with Minnesota, which had been 3-0, to 3-2. It was also CU’s first loss to the Golden Gophers in games played in Minneapolis (2-1);

— CU dropped to 0-3 for the season, the 13th time in school history the Buffs opened a season 0-3, with the last coming in 2012;

— The Buffs went 4-of-5 on fourth downs, with the four successful conversions tying for third-most in a game;

— Three players made their first career starts: Tight end Caleb Fauria; safety Jeremy Mack; and running back Deion Smith;

— Tight end Austin Johnson joined an exclusive list, becoming the 18th Buff in school history to turn his first touch into a touchdown, with his four-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter. Johnson joined two teammates who are also on the list, Trevor Woods (blocked punt v. Arizona in 2021) and Daniel Arias (27-yard touchdown reception v. Washington in 2018);

— Running back Deion Smith, for the second week in a row, set a new high for rushing yards in a game. His ten carries for 70 yards eclipsed his 54-yard effort against Air Force the previous week;

— Quarterback Brendon Lewis went 2-for-6 for 14 yards. The six passes without an interception moved his consecutive pass total without a pick to 156, moving him into second on the all-time list (passing Sefo Liufau, who had a streak of 152 passes. No. 1 on the list remained Steven Montez, with a run of 172 passes without an interception in 2017).

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Tags: Ashton Logan, Aubrey Smith, Austin Smith, Ben Reznik, Brendon Lewis, Caleb Fauria, Charlie Offerdahl, Daniel Arias, Deion Smith, Isaiah Lewis, J.T. Shrout, Jayle Stacks, Jaylon Jackson, Jeremy Mack, JT Shrout, Maurice Bell, Owen McCown
This post, about the Minnesota game, from the 2022 Season, is filed under Article.
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