Friday morning will be the final time the Colorado Buffaloes (8-3, 6-2 Big 12) will play at Folsom Field this season as the Oklahoma State Cowboys (3-8, 0-8 Big 12) come to Boulder for Senior Day. The Buffs are looking to bounce back from an uninspiring loss against Kansas a week ago to keep their Big 12 Championship hopes alive.
With an early kickoff the day after Thanksgiving, the black and gold will have a short week to prepare for their season finale. Since many players will have family around for the holiday, Coach Prime knows that focus is the key to success this week.
“You’ve got to refocus your young men and let them understand that this is not about turkey and dumplings and applesauce or whatever you have,” Coach Prime said Saturday after the loss to Kansas. “It’s about football man.” (Coach later clarified he meant cranberry sauce instead of applesauce)
However, in his eyes, the short week benefits him and his Buffaloes.
“We’re thankful that we have one less day… you’ve got to flush [the loss] and get it on,” Prime said.
Colorado will need every possible second to prepare for this week after getting embarrassed on the ground last week by Kansas’ Devin Neal. The ground attack is the best weapon that the Cowboys have, as Ollie Gordon II is one of the most dynamic running backs in college football and a former All-American.
Gordon has 13 touchdowns on the year with an average of 4.7 yards per carry and is coming off a phenomenal performance in which he had 156 yards and three touchdowns. The biggest struggle for Colorado’s defense in its three losses this year has been tackling, and the 6-foot-2, 225-pound back is one of the best in the country at breaking tackles.
Oklahoma State will have a freshman at quarterback leading the offense in Maealiuaki Smith. Smith had over 300 yards and two touchdowns in his first start last week, but that was against a Texas Tech team that struggles to stop the pass (as seen when Colorado scored 41 points against them). The Buffs’ pass rush–which was neutralized last week–needs to get back to their roots and make Smith find his secondary reads.
On the other side, the Cowboys’ defense is historically bad. They rank 128th in the nation in passing defense (271.7 yards per game) and 132nd in rushing defense (231.5 YPG). To take advantage of this, the Buffs will need to commit to the run game and get ahead of the sticks, something they struggled with a week ago.
Isaiah Augustave, the team’s leading rusher, sustained an injury in the loss last week and is doubtful to see action on Friday. Once he went down, Dallan Hayden and Micah Welch were the two backs next to Shedeur Sanders, but only had six carries in total. They should be the one-two punch in the Buffs’ backfield this week.
When Colorado runs for at least 100 yards, they’re 5-0 and score roughly 36 points per game. In other games, they are 3-3 and score about 28 points a game. They don’t have to line up in power sets and run the ball 70% of the time, but offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur needs to do a better job of establishing the run in this game.
As always, Colorado’s ariel attack will put up big numbers and be a threat. While the Cowboy defense is terrible at stopping the pass, the Buffaloes’ offense needs to have more balance to control the time of possession and stay out of second and third and long situations.
The Buffs' offense will score a lot of points. The question is, can they stop Ollie Gordon and Oklahoma State’s rushing attack and win the time of possession battle? That is the key to getting back in the win column on Friday.
There is a possibility that Friday will be the last time a lot of seniors take the field in a Colorado uniform, including Shedeur Sanders, Travis Hunter, LaJohntay Wester, Shilo Sanders and more. Coach Prime said that Friday wouldn’t be the last time Shedeur Sanders and Hunter will play in a Colorado uniform, but with millions of dollars on the line in the form of a top-10 NFL rookie contract, no one will know until the bowl game kicks off.
The game kicks off from Folsom Field at 10 a.m. MT and will be broadcast on ESPN.
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