Posts Tagged ‘Nelson Spruce’

Arizona State 54, Colorado 13

//posted 10.12.2013

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Arizona State romped to a first quarter lead of 25-0 and a halftime bulge of 47-6 before settling for a 54-13 rout of Colorado.

The Sun Devils ran up 532 yards of total offense, including an impressive 276 yards on the ground, in sending the Buffs to their third straight defeat – and second straight 41-point mauling.

True freshman quarterback Sefo Liufau played his first snaps at quarterback for Colorado, replacing the ineffective Connor Wood. Liufau went 18-for-26 for 169 yards in his debut, but also threw two interceptions.

No. 2 Oregon 57, Colorado 16

//posted 10.5.2013

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Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota accounted for seven touchdowns – five passing and two rushing – leading No. 2 Oregon to a 57-16 victory over Colorado.

The Ducks amassed 755 yards of total offense, with 406 yards passing and 349 yards rushing. The Buffs, who held tough with the nation’s No. 2 team for a quarter-and-a-half, had over 300 yards of total offense in the first half, but next to nothing in the second half. Colorado went the entire fourth quarter without a first down, settling for 373 yards of total offense. Buff quarterback Connor Wood struggled, going 11-for-33 on the day, for 205 yards and two interceptions. Paul Richardson had only five catches, going for 134 yards.

Colorado 38, Central Arkansas 24

//posted 9.10.2013

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For the second week in a row, Colorado faced a fourth quarter deficit.

For the second week in a row, Colorado rose to the challenge.

Aided by two defensive touchdowns and yet another 200-yard receiving night from Paul Richardson, the Buffs were able to withstand a strong challenge from Central Arkansas, scoring 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to win its home opener, 38-24.

Connor Wood went 23-for-36 for 341 yards and three touchdowns, but also committed four turnovers (two interceptions and two fumbles) which led to 21 of the Bears’ 21 points. Paul Richardson had 11 catches for 209 yards and two touchdowns, giving him 21 catches for 417 yards and four touchdowns in the first two games (Nelson Spruce led the Buffs’ receivers in 2012, with 446 yards receiving in 12 games).

The Colorado defense, which had not posted an interception in over nine games, and only three in all of 2012, had three on the night against the Bears. Greg Henderson had a 46-yard pick six early in the second quarter, and Kenneth Crawley had a game-clinching interception in the end zone with two minutes to play … but it was Jered Bell’s interception and 79-yard return for a touchdown to tie the score in the fourth quarter which was the play of the game.

Colorado 41, CSU 27

//posted 9.6.2013

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Colorado matched its win total for all of 2012 with a season-opening victory over Colorado State, 41-27.

In the first game of the Mike MacIntyre era, junior quarterback Connor Wood became just the third Buff quarterback in CU history to pass for 400 yards in a season opener, going 33-of-46 for 400 yards and three touchdowns. Two of those touchdowns came on bombs to junior wide receiver Paul Richardson, who became the first Buff receiver to post two career 200-yard receiving games, collecting ten catches for 208 yards.

Heroics were not limited to the offensive side of the ball, however, as the much-maligned Colorado defense, which gave up almost 500 yards a game in total offense the previous season, held Colorado State to 295 yards. The defense also contributed a touchdown of its own, with Greg Henderson going 53 yards for a score on a fumble caused by senior captain Chidera Uzo-Diribe.

“I’m just excited for our seniors to start the season off like this with a great rivalry game,” said Mike MacIntyre, who became just the second CU coach in the past 80 seasons to post a victory in his first game. “I think our conditioning paid off tremendously, the way we practice, our repetitions, if you come and stay at practice you know what we do, we practice really hard, we don’t have picnics, I’ll tell you that so I appreciate what our kids do.”’

Fall Camp – Roster Battles

//posted 8.18.2013

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A unit-by-unit look at the CU roster as the 2013 season opener approaches …

Utah 42, Colorado 35

//posted 11.25.2012

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Colorado completed its worst season in school history, and first season ever in Folsom without a victory, in a 42-35 season-ending loss to Utah.

With the loss, the Buffs fell to 1-11 for the 2012 season, the first 11-loss season in 123 years of college football at the University of Colorado. The Buffs finished 0-6 in games played in Boulder, the first winless season at home since 1920, and the first season with nothing but losses at home since the Buffs posted 0-2 home record in 1891.

A 23-point underdog, the Buffs stayed close to the Utes throughout, even taking the lead for much of the third quarter, before falling to a 22-point Utah fourth-quarter comeback. Colorado out-gained Utah on the afternoon, 418 yards to 336, and had more first downs that did the Utes (25-to-18). Five turnovers, though, including four interceptions thrown by starter Nick Hirschman, condemned the Buffs to an off-season of national ridicule.

No. 2 Oregon 70, Colorado 14

//posted 10.28.2012

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Oregon, the No. 2 team in the country, was a 47-point favorite at home over hapless Colorado. The line was an embarrassment for the CU program, but not half as embarrassing as the fact that the Ducks covered … by halftime.

Oregon ran through, around, and over the Colorado defense, scoring touchdowns on all seven first half possessions en route to a 56-0 halftime lead and 70-14 rout. The Ducks amassed a ridiculous 425 yards rushing, and 617 yards of total offense, holding the inept Buff offense to 245 yards of total offense. The game was so out of hand that Oregon’s backup quarterback, Bryan Bennett, out-scored the Colorado offense, three touchdowns to two.

No. 11 USC 50, Colorado 6

//posted 10.22.2012

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USC quarterback Matt Barkley threw for 298 yards and six touchdowns while establishing USC’s new career mark for touchdown passes, while Trojan wide receiver Robert Woods set a pair of school records himself in the Trojans’ 50-6 victory over Colorado. Woods set a single-game school record for touchdown catches, with four, and passed Dwayne Jarrett on USC’s career receptions list with his 217th career catch on his third scoring grab.

Colorado, meanwhile, couldn’t get out of its own way, turning the ball over six times, while the Buff defense presented only token opposition to the USC offense. In falling for the 16th time in 20 games under Jon Embree, Colorado endured its 11th blowout loss under the Embree regime.

Arizona State 51, Colorado 17

//posted 10.12.2012

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Rashad Ross returned the second-half kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown to break open a close game and Taylor Kelly threw three scoring passes to tailback Marion Grice in Arizona State’s 51-17 victory over Colorado on Thursday night.

Grice caught touchdown throws of 37, 16 and 20 yards from Kelly, who threw for 308 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions thanks to a steady diet of successful screen passes. He also tucked it and ran for 67 yards through huge chunks of open space all night long.

Arizona State went for 593 yards of total offense, while Colorado spent most of the second half hovering around the Mendoza line of 200 yards of total offense, settling for 255 yards after gaining some yards late in the game when the contest was out of hand, and most of the black-out home crowd of 45,161 had headed for the exits.

UCLA 42, Colorado 14

//posted 9.30.2012

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UCLA, behind a balanced offense which went for over 300 yards passing and 200 yards rushing, slowly … but surely … pulled away from Colorado, posting a 42-14 victory in Boulder. Red-shirt freshman quarterback Brett Hundley threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more, as the Bruins won for the first time in Boulder since 1984.

In a game in which Colorado needed to control the clock, the game started out poorly for the Buff offense. A three-and-out by gave UCLA the ball at the Bruin 41 yard line. The UCLA offense had little difficulty at first, but two penalties nullified big gains, keeping the Bruins at bay. Then, at the CU 33-yard line, UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley was sacked by Buff defensive tackle Kirk Poston, fumbling the ball back to the Buffs in the process.

A nine-yard pass to Tony Jones and a 15-yard run by Christian Powell set the Buffs up at the UCLA 22-yard line. Aspirations of an upset were quelled quickly, though, as on an end around Gerald Thomas fumbled. The Buffs recovered the ball, but only after a loss of 11 yards, and the drive was over.

UCLA was not to be denied in its second drive. Converting on second-and-one three times, the Bruins never faced a third down in putting together a nine-play, 88-yard drive. Quarterback Brett Hundley did the honors from 12 yards out, and, with 4:54 to go in the first quarter, UCLA was ahead to stay, 7-0.

Colorado 35, Washington State 34

//posted 9.23.2012

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Colorado quarterback Jordan Webb scored on a four-yard run with nine seconds to play, the last of three Colorado touchdowns in the final seven minutes, to stun Washington State 35-34 on Saturday in the Pac-12 Conference opener for both teams.

Webb threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more for Colorado, which had been outscored by an average of 40-19 coming into the game, and entered the game in Pullman as twenty-point underdogs.

The start of the game was eerily similar to what had befallen the Buffs in a 69-14 defeat at Fresno State the week before. Washington State took the opening kickoff and barely broke a sweat in taking the ball down the field for a score. It took the Cougars only six plays to cover 75 yards, with quarterback Connor Halliday hitting Gabe Marks for a 32-yard touchdown less than two minutes into the game.

Then, something different happened … Colorado did not immediately fold.

Fresno State 69, Colorado 14

//posted 9.17.2012

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Buffs suffer humilating loss of historic proportions at Fresno State, falling behind 35-0 to the Bulldogs … in the first quarter! … CU falls to 0-3 for just the third time in the 123-year history of the program …