WATCH: Patrick Dawson recaps the Buffs' seven-point loss to the No. 16 Oregon State Beavers. (Video courtesy of ESPN CFB)
BOULDER– A week after the Colorado Buffaloes’ sputtering offense spoiled a stellar defensive outing against the then-No. 23 University of California, Los Angeles Bruins, the same issues arose in the Buffs’ Saturday night loss to the No. 16 Oregon State Beavers on homecoming weekend.
“This is hard,” Coach Prime said after the game. “The reason it is 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.”
In hopes of salvaging the struggling Buffs’ offense, Coach Prime appointed Pat Shurmur as co-offensive coordinator, taking play-calling duties from Sean Lewis. By night’s end, the coaching change came to no avail.
When asked about the coaching change, Prime and Buffs’ quarterback Shedeur Sanders kept it short.
“I don’t look back on it,” Coach Prime said regarding the move, “I don’t second guess myself whatsoever because it’s more to it than what you may know. So let’s just trust the process.”
After winning the ninth coin toss of the year and electing to kick, the Colorado defense continued their impressive play by stopping the Beavers on the opening drive. But after a seven-play opening drive by the Buffs that resulted in a punt, the eerie feeling of another offensive letdown was in the air.
“Consistency,” Coach Prime said. “We haven’t found that level of consistency as of yet and that’s what’s truly disheartening.”
Again, the defense stepped up as Colorado cornerback Omarion Cooper forced a fumble and gave the Buffs the ball back on OSU’s 38-yard line. However, CU returned the favor as Oregon State’s Cory Stover knocked the ball away from Sanders as the quarterback attempted to scramble for the first down.
Now having missed two opportunities to jump on the No. 16 team in the nation, the better team prevailed as Oregon State scored the first touchdown of the game thanks to a 23-yard quarterback draw by Aidan Chiles on the following drive. With both teams having forced turnovers, the Beavers turned theirs into points while the Buffs did not.
Entering the second quarter, the black and gold remained down seven. However, the lack of offensive success altered the energy of the Folsom faithful despite the one-score margin.
As the quarter unfolded, hope seemed to shine as Colorado safety Shilo Sanders forced another OSU fumble and gave his brother the ball back on the Beavers’ 19-yard line.
The play was short-lived as CU kicker Alejandro Mata nailed a 32-yard field goal on the fourth play of the drive. While the forced turnover turned into points, the offense’s inability to find the endzone despite the promising field position was underwhelming.
Still, the defense made up for it by forcing Oregon State to punt on their following two drives.
With 49 seconds left in the half, Colorado got the ball back on their own four-yard line. But after two confusing incompletions and a gainless run, the Buffs had to punt.
“We wanted to get out of there because we knew we were receiving the ball in the second half,” Coach Prime said about the play, “so the plan was to either get a first down and try to go. Or, if you don’t, we’re not successful on first down, ok, let’s hit the clock.”
A great return by OSU’s Anthony Gould allowed the Beavers 21 seconds to go 20 yards. In one play, Oregon State did just that as wideout Deshaun Fenwick reeled in a 20-yard touchdown snag before the end of the half.
“They had a tremendous punt return and they were able to punch it in,” Coach Prime said, “which is crazy and hurts tremendously.”
Instead of going into the half down a four, the Buffs were now down 11. In the second quarter, Colorado only generated two total yards of offense.
Similarly to the prior week, the CU defense finally broke as they allowed a touchdown on OSU’s opening drive of the second half. But after a Colorado penalty on the extra point made the Beavers go for the two-point conversion, a bad snap by the Beavers was picked up by Buffs’ cornerback Kyndrich Breedlove and returned 88 yards. Having turned what was supposed to be Oregon State’s two-point conversion into two points of their own, the black and gold now trailed by 15.
Entering the fourth quarter, the Buffs hoped to claw at the two-score lead.
However, it would be tough as Sanders continued to play through pain.
“Shoot, he’s been hurt,” Prime said. “I think he went in to get injections so he could finish.”
A field goal by OSU kicker Atticus Sappington opened the quarter, but Colorado marched down the field as Sanders found an open Travis Hunter to bring the lead back to 11. Still, the Beavers responded with another Sappington field goal from 41 yards out, making it a two-score game with 4:47 left.
“Our kids fought hard, they really did tonight,” Coach Prime said. “I love the fact that they didn’t have any quit in them, that they rallied at the end and gave a heck of a effort. We just wish they could do that in the midst of the game.”
Down 14, Colorado then led a nine-play, 75-yard drive capped off by a catch and run for six by running back Anthony Hankerson. The drive took three minutes and five seconds.
Unfortunately for CU, another questionable coaching decision ruined any chance of a Colorado comeback. The Buffs decided to send the following kickoff out of the back of the endzone instead of attempting an onside kick. The Buffaloes had three timeouts with 1:42 left in the game, but two rushes by Beavers’ running back Damien Martinez earned OSU a first down to end the game.
As the Beavers kneeled the ball out, No. 16 Oregon State beat Colorado, 26-19.
“Just in life, everything’s not going to work how you want it to be,” Sanders said. “So you just gotta remain just staying positive and stay, uh, not really having no negativity towards the situation because it’s not going to help anything. It’s the situation we're in and we got to accept that and move forward.”
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