Posts Tagged ‘Alejandro Mata’

No. 21 Colorado 41, Texas Tech 27

//posted 11.10.2024

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No. 21 Colorado rallied from a 13-0 first quarter deficit to take down Texas Tech, 41-27. A sellout crowd and Fox Big Noon Saturday’s first trip to Lubbock helped the Red Raiders take an early advantage, but the Buffs fought back … looked to turn the game into a rout … then squandered chances to put the game away. Finally, Shilo Sanders returned a fumble six yards for a touchdown with less than a minute to finally end the upset bid by the Red Raiders.

Shedeur Sanders completed 30-of-43 passes for 291 yards and three touchdowns, with Travis Hunter collecting nine passes for 99 yards and a 24-yard touchdown. The Colorado defense, scored upon on Texas Tech’s first three drives of the game, came through time and time again in the second half with sacks and turnovers to help CU get to 7-2 for the first time since 2016. The Buff defense finished with three turnovers (all in the fourth quarter) and six sacks.

Colorado finished with 351 yards of total offense. Texas Tech had 388 yards of total offense, including 180 yards in the fourth quarter, a quarter in which the Red Raiders settled for only seven points.

“It’s almost like they got to get hit in the face,” Coach Prime said of his team’s slow start. “They got to get slapped. They got to feel it and I don’t know why we’re like that, because we do everything in our power, even the way we script practices, to get started fast. The emphasis is let’s get out to a good start. Because we know if we get out to a good start, the sky’s the limit.”

The win gave Colorado a 7-2 overall record, 5-1 in Big 12 play. With three games remaining in the regular season, the Buffs, coupled with Iowa State’s second consecutive loss, took control of their own destiny when it came to playing for the Big 12 championship game. Wins over Utah, Kansas, and Oklahoma State would guarantee the Buffs a spot in the title game, regardless of the outcome of any other Big 12 games.

Colorado 34, Cincinnati 23

//posted 10.28.2024

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Colorado gained bowl eligibility with a sixth win, defeating Cincinnati with a balanced effort from both the offense and defense. The Buff offense scored on all four offensive possessions in the first half to take a 24-14 lead into the break, with the defense making it hold up. A 47-yard field goal by CU kicker Alejandro Mata with 1:39 to play gave the Buffs their final two-score cushion, raising CU’s record to 6-2, 4-1 in Big 12 play.

Shedeur Sanders completed 25-of-30 passes for 323 yards and two touchdowns, also scoring on a four-yard run. Travis Hunter collected both touchdown passes, with Hunter catching nine passes for a season-high 153 yards. Isaiah Augustave led the CU rushing attack with 91 yards and a touchdown on 22 carries, with the Buffs going over 100 yards rushing (123) for the second game in a row.

“We’re excited with some of the things that we’re doing,” Coach Prime said. “We really are. But some of the things are still a work in progress. We’re happy about some things. We’re happy about some of the players and what they’re doing. I got to see the film to see what everyone truly did and clean up some of the mistakes we made because we shouldn’t have let that game get that close. But we got the ‘W. ‘That’s what counts.”

Colorado 34, Arizona 7

//posted 10.20.2024

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Colorado dominated on both sides of the ball in picking up a second consecutive Big 12 road romp, defeating Arizona, 34-7. The Buffs went for 398 yards of total offense, while holding the Wildcats to 245 total yards. CU quarterback Shedeur Sanders completed 23-of-33 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns, while also running for a score. LaJohntay Wester collected eight catches for 127 yards, while Will Sheppard and Drelon Miller had receiving touchdowns.

On defense, the Buffs not only held the Wildcats out of the end zone for the final three quarters, but did so in convincing fashion. CU collected seven sacks, with two each from by Samuel Okunlola and Keaten Wade, while forcing three turnovers.

“Wonderful game, wonderful victory,” Coach Prime said. “Offense, defense, collectively, both units played great.

“We played a balanced game. We really did. And I’m proud of the young men. I’m proud of the coaches. They called a phenomenal game. Special teams as well.”

Colorado 48, Central Florida 21

//posted 9.29.2024

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Colorado used big plays from both the offense and the defense to defeat Central Florida on the road, 48-21. Shedeur Sanders completed 28-of-35 passes for 290 yards and three touchdowns, while the defense forced four turnovers, including a 95-yard fumble return for a touchdown by safety Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig to seal the game with five minutes remaining.

The Buffs were out-gained on the steamy afternoon (85-degrees at kickoff, with 78-percent humidity) by the Knights, 461 yards to 418, but never trailed. Three different receivers scored, with Will Sheppard scoring on a 47-yard pass from Sanders to lead the team with 99 yards on only four receptions. Travis Hunter had his five-game streak of 100-yard receiving games broken, collecting nine passes for 89 yards and a touchdown. LaJohntay Wester, the hero of the Baylor comeback the week before, had three catches for 34 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown.

The CU running game, while not outstanding, was effective for the first time in memory. Three backs – Isaiah Augustave, Dallan Hayden, and Micah Welch – had a combined 20 carries for 98 yards and two touchdowns. Overall, with Shedeur Sanders being sacked only twice, the Buffs finished with a season-best 128 yards rushing.

Four turnovers were certainly the key to the CU defense holding UCF to 21 points, but the Buffs were effective the entire game. The Buffs surrendered their first points in the third quarter all season, but gave up only a third quarter touchdown, allowing the offense to put the game away in the second half.

Colorado 38, Baylor 31, OT

//posted 9.22.2024

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Travis Hunter knocked the ball loose from Baylor running back Dominic Richardson at the CU goal line in overtime, with the fumble recovered by the Buffs to give Colorado an unlikely 38-31 victory. The Buffs had no business getting to overtime in the first place, but a 43-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Shedeur Sanders to wide receiver LaJohntay Wester as time expired sent the game to an extra period. In CU’s overtime possession, Micah Welch scored on a one-yard run to give the Buffs their first lead since holding a 7-3 advantage late in the first quarter.

Shedeur Sanders completed 25-of-41 passes for 341 yards and two touchdowns. Sanders also scored on a two-yard run, CU’s first rushing touchdown of the season. Travis Hunter had seven catches for 130 yards, while also making the game-winning play on defense. Overall, the Buffs had 431 yards of total offense, while holding Baylor to 314 yards. Baylor used big plays, including a 100-yard kickoff return and a 45-yard touchdown run by quarterback Sawyer Robertson on a a fourth-and-short, building a 24-10 lead late in the second quarter before the Buffs began their comeback. The Bears squandered a chance to put the game away late, but Baylor kicker Isaiah Hankins missed a 45-yard field goal attempt with 2:45 left with the Bears leading by seven, setting up CU’s Hail Mary to tie the game on the final play of regulation.

“A great, great, great, great win,” Coach Prime said in his postgame press conference. “Young men were resilient. They never gave up. They never surrendered. The coaches were still inspired. I mean, all the way to the end, they were still calling and devising things … I don’t like how it played out, but I love the results. I think we’re so much better than what we’re showing you at times. We keep showing you glimpses of running game. We show you glimpses of us playing tough football defensively. We show you we can throw the ball all around, and then we just stall for a series or two and surrender something foolishly. But I’m pleased.”

Nebraska 28, Colorado 10

//posted 9.8.2024

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Nebraska scored on its first offensive possession, then scored on a pick-six shortly thereafter, giving the Cornhuskers an early 14-0 lead on a way to a 28-10 win over Colorado. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders threw for 244 yards and a touchdown, but was sacked six times as the CU offensive line continue to struggle. The Buffs finished with 16 yards rushing, not getting out of negative numbers until the Buffs’ final drive with the game well decided.

“We just never got it going until it was too late,” Coach Prime said. “It seemed like we just never got it going. Protections were a problem. We got to figure out a way to prevent that and do a better job with that.”

The Colorado defense held the Nebraska offense to 334 total yards, but the damage was done in the first half as the Cornhuskers built a 28-0 lead at the break. Freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola went 23-for-30 for 185 yards and a touchdown, and was not sacked on the night. Both teams were guilty of multiple penalties in an ugly game, with the Buffs being flagged nine times for 105 yards; the Cornhuskers 12 times for 105 yards.

“We gotta be to handle pressure – not just the pressure of … I’m not saying them rushing the passer,” Coach Prime said. “The pressure of the game, the pressure of the moment, the pressure of the time. Everybody wanna be him until it’s time to be him. They’ve got to be able to handle that pressure.”

Colorado 31, North Dakota State 26

//posted 9.1.2024

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Shedeur Sanders threw for 445 yards and four touchdowns, including three to All-everything Travis Hunter, leading Colorado to a 31-26 win over North Dakota State. The Buffs went for 504 yards of total offense, but surrendered 449 yards of offense to the Bison, who came up just short of an upset, with a final 49-yard Hail Mary completion ending the game at the CU four-yard line.

Jimmy Horn collected seven passes for 198 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown. Travis Hunter also had seven receptions, going for 132 yards and three scores. The Colorado rushing attack, which was 129th in the nation in 2023, opened the 2024 season with a 59-yard effort on 23 carries. The Buff defense gave up points on NDSU’s first four possessions, leading to a 20-17 halftime deficit, but stiffened in the second half, giving up only six points before closing out the Bisons’ final drive with a completion just short of a score.

“You ever felt like you won, but you didn’t win?”, Coach Prime rhetorically asked during his postgame press conference. “Giving up the last touchdown on the run, that bothered me, because we pride ourselves on going to get the quarterback, and we have multitude of young men that can go get the quarterback and we didn’t get that done. But I’m thankful. I think 31 NFL scouts were on hand tonight and I think they saw what they came to see. So let’s move on from there. I’m going to try my best to hold back my anger, but we got the ‘W’ so I’m happy.”

Utah 23, Colorado 17

//posted 11.28.2023

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Freshman CU quarterback Ryan Staub made his first career start, throwing for 195 yards and a touchdown, but it wasn’t enough, as the Utes held on for a 23-17 victory in the last regular season Pac-12 game for both teams. Utah senior backup quarterback Luke Bottari was held to 61 yards passing, but scored on two short runs to lead the Utes to the win.

Travis Hunter collected eight catches for 107 yards and a touchdown, but had two others called back. On one, Hunter stepped out of bounds; on the other, a catch in the end zone was reversed. The latter catch would have given CU a 14-13 halftime lead, but the Buffs instead had to settle for a 47-yards Alejandro Mata field goal and a 13-10 halftime score.

CU’s scores came on a 30-yard trick play pass from wide receiver Jimmy Horn to running back Dylan Edwards, and an 18-yard touchdown pass from Staub to Hunter. On the day, though, the Buffs were held to 262 yards of total offense. The defense held Utah to 329 yards of total offense, but were unable to get off the field in the final 7:26 of the fourth quarter, as the Utes were able to run out the clock after Hunter’s touchdown made it a one score game midway through the quarter.

“We’re certainly heading in the right direction,” Sanders said. “We’re certainly trending forward. We got our butt kicked twice this year in 12 games. There was no winning those two games but every other game we had a shot, and I think that’s progress.”

No. 23 Arizona 34, CU 31

//posted 11.13.2023

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Tyler Loop connected on a 24-yard field goal with no time remaining, giving No. 23 Arizona a comeback 34-31 win over Colorado 34-31 at a sold-out Folsom Field. Jonah Coleman rushed for 179 yards as the Wildcats earned their fourth consecutive victory, while Colorado lost its fourth straight to fall to 4-6.

Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch led the Wildcats to bowl-eligibility in his third season in charge. So he understood the plight of first-year Colorado coach Deion Sanders, trying to turn around a program that went 1-11 a season ago. “I would not be worried if I was a Colorado fan,” Fisch said. “They have a fantastic head coach that is going to do just great.”

Shedeur Sanders ran for a score and threw for two more as the Buffaloes (4-6, 1-6) lost for the sixth time in seven games since a 3-0 start. Sanders also finished with 262 yards passing to go over the 10,000-yard mark for his career.

“We could have won the darn game. I like that we should have won. I’m tired of ‘we could’ve won’,” said coach Coach Prime, whose team had 11 penalties for 83 yards. “There ain’t no lose in me. It don’t sit well with me. It don’t rock well with me. It don’t lay down with me. I have no lose in me.”

No. 16 Oregon State 26, Colorado 19

//posted 11.7.2023

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Oregon State quarterback DJ Uiagalelei threw for one touchdown pass and ran for another, leading No. 16 Oregon State to a 26-19 victory over Colorado. The sold out Homecoming crowd of 52,725 watched the Buff offense continue to struggle, with CU only producing 238 yards of total offense – 52 in the first half. Buff quarterback Shedeur Sanders came into the game as the nation’s second-leading passer with a 337-yard average. But he was limited to 41 yards before halftime and finished with 245 after two late touchdown drives following an in-game painkiller injection for the second straight week in his sore hip.

Questionable play-calling at the end of the first half allowed the Beavers to post a touchdown in the final minute of the second quarter, giving Oregon State a 14-3 cushion at halftime. The Buff offense produced a pair of 75-yard touchdown drives in the second half, after the Buffs’ first 10 possessions resulted in just 78 yards of offense, with Sanders posting touchdown passes of 15 yards to Travis Hunter and 12 yards to Anthony Hankerson.

“The reason it’s so hard is because you know you’re capable of doing better, playing better, performing better, calling better games, coaching better on my behalf and you are coming up short when you have enough to get the job done,” Coach Prime said of his team, which fell below .500 (4-5) for the first time in his tenure at Boulder.

“It’s painful. It hurts myself, the team and all the coaches, the fans … Our kids fought hard. I love the fact that they didn’t have any quit in them. They rallied at the end and gave a heck of an effort. We just wish we could do that in the midst of the game — the first, second, third, and fourth quarters with consistency. And we haven’t found that level of consistency as of yet and that’s what’s truly disheartening.”

No. 23 UCLA 28, Colorado 16

//posted 10.30.2023

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The Colorado offense, last in the nation in sacks allowed, was exposed early and often as No. 23 UCLA slowly pulled away in the second half, posting a 28-16 win before a sold out Rose Bowl crowd. Buff quarterback Shedeur Sanders was harassed and hit all night, suffering seven sacks and numerous other hits. A strong early effort by the Buff defense, which generated four first half turnovers, was wasted as the CU offense netted all of three points off of those opportunities.

The UCLA offense, kept to a 7-6 lead at halftime, methodically pulled away in the second half, finishing with 487 yards of total offense. The Buff offense, meanwhile, posted only 255 yards of total offense … with 86 yards of that total coming in CU’s only touchdown drive of the contest late in the fourth quarter. Shedeur Sanders completed 27-of-43 passes for only 217 yards, with other totals – 24 pressures; 17 hits; 13 knockdowns; seven sacks – telling the true story of the game.

“Offensively, we’ve got to improve,” Coach Prime said. “Our quarterback is taking a beating. (Shedeur Sanders) got an injection at halftime just to block some of the pain… We have to do a better job of protecting him … Running the football, we’ve had a couple lineman go down (with injuries), but that’s no excuse.”

Colorado 27, Arizona State 24

//posted 10.11.2023

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Alejandro Mata kicked a 43-yard field goal with 12 seconds left, lifting Colorado to a 27-24 win over Arizona State. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders accounted for two touchdowns as the Buffs defeated the Sun Devils in Tempe for only the second time in school history. Wide receiver Javon Antonio, who had three catches for 42 yards coming into the game, had five catches for 81 yards and a touchdown. Antonio also had a 43-yard reception with less than a minute to play, setting up the game-winning field goal.

Arizona State out-gained Colorado, 392 yards to 295, in a game marred by penalties (9-for-88 for ASU; 8-for-65 for CU). Shedeur Sanders completed 26-of-42 passes for 239 yards and a touchdown, also contributing a 16-yard scoring run, but Sanders was harassed all night, being sacked five times. Anthony Hankerson led the Buffs in rushing, with ten carries for 58 yards, but, with the sacks included, the Buffs returned to their anemic ways on the ground, finishing with 30 carries for a net of 56 yards.

“Played like hot garbage,” Sanders said. “And I’m trying to figure this out. Sick of it. I really am. I’m sick of us coming out here and putting forth the effort we put forth in the first half. We’ve had really diligent meetings and we’re trying to figure this out, ’cause I’m sick of it. I’m sorry. I’m happy about the win but I’m not happy in the fashion that we won it in. We’re better than that. We really are better than that, and we gotta start showing that. I expect to win and I expect to win in a better fashion than that. I’m sick of these consistent holes that we’re displaying and the penalties and the things that we’re doing. We’re so much better. I apologize for my anger today, but I don’t accept mediocrity.”