October 1st – at Arizona          Arizona 43, Colorado 20

Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura threw for 484 yards and six touchdowns, tying a school record, leading the Wildcats to a 43-30 romp over Colorado. The Wildcats ran over, around, and through the Buff defense for 673 yards, with ten of Arizona’s 11 drives finishing in CU territory. Arizona was good on 9-of-14 third down attempts, controlling the game and the tempo throughout.

CU’s freshman quarterback Owen McCown went 14-for-30 for 186 yards and a touchdown, also contributing a score on a one-yard run in the Buffs’ first touchdown in the first quarter all season. Fellow freshman Anthony Hankerson led the rushing attack, with 68 yards on 12 carries, including a seven-yard touchdown run for his first score as a Buff. CU’s third touchdown – the first time the Buffs had three touchdowns in a game in 2022 – came on a 14-yard pass from McCown to Daniel Arias.

“That was a very challenging offense and that quarterback, we didn’t slow him down,” CU head coach Karl Dorrell said of Arizona’s offense and quarterback Jayden de Laura. “We didn’t slow him down at all … We just have a tremendous amount of work to do. We’re working hard and we’re trying to improve the fundamentals and things that we do. It’s just not showing up fast enough when we play. That’s the unfortunate thing.”

The victory left Arizona, a 1-11 team in 2021, halfway to bowl eligibility with a 3-2 record, Colorado, meanwhile, dropped to 0-5 for just the fourth time in school history (1980; 1984; and 2006).

Game Story … Arizona became CU’s fourth opponent in a row to score a touchdown on its first drive of the game, covering 75 yards in 11 plays. A 24-yard carry by running back Michael Wiley on the Wildcats’ first run of the game set the tone, with the drive capped by an eight-yard touchdown pass from Jayden de Laura to Wiley. The Buff defense did force Arizona to take five minutes to score, but, as had happened against Air Force, Minnesota, and UCLA … the first drive of the game by the opposing offense resulted in a touchdown.

The Buff offense, though, for the first time all season, responded with a score of their own. On third-and-six to open the drive, freshman quarterback Owen McCown connected with wide receiver Daniel Arias for 12 yards and a first down. Two plays later, McCown hit Ty Robinson for another 12-yard gain. Next, on third-and-five, McCown hit running back Charlie Offerdahl for a 35-yard gain to the Arizona one yard line. On the next play, CU scored its first first quarter touchdown of the season on a McCown keeper.

Could the Buff defense build on the momentum?

No, not really. Arizona’s next drive also went 75 yards, and also resulted in a touchdown. Another touchdown, but the Buff defense did force the Wildcats to take 14 plays to score. After a holding call, the Wildcats had a first-and-goal at the CU 20-yard line … but scored anyway. On fourth-and-three, de Laura hit wide receiver Jacob Cowing for the score. After a failed conversion attempt, the score remained 13-7 late in the first quarter.

CU’s offense did pick up a first down on its next possession thanks to two carries by Charlie Offerdahl going for 11 yards. That was as far as the Buffs would go, however, punting the ball back to the Wildcats early in the second quarter.

Arizona marched quickly down the field, but the Wildcats’ third possession did not result in their third touchdown. A 47-yard pass from de Laura to Dorian Singer set the Wildcats up at the CU three yard line, but the Buff defense held. A fourth-and-one rush by Michael Wiley was stuffed by linebacker Michael Ham, giving the ball back to the CU offense.

Back-to-back runs by freshman running back Anthony Hankerson, going for 11 and ten yards, pushed the ball out from underneath the CU goal posts, but thereafter the Buff drive stalled. For the second consecutive drive, the Buffs were five-and-out.

This time, the Arizona offense was not to be denied. It took the Wildcats only four plays to cover 60 yards, with de Laura hitting Dorian Singer for a five-yard touchdown. With another failed conversion, the new score was Arizona 19, Colorado 7, midway through the second quarter.

CU’s offense continued to regress, this time going three-and-out before punting the ball away yet again.

For the fifth time in as many drives, the Arizona offense had no trouble moving the ball into Colorado. For the fourth time in the first half, the Wildcats scored on a Jayden de Laura touchdown pass. The six-play, 65-yard drive was finished off with an eight-yard touchdown pass from de Laura to Tanner McLachlan. With only the second extra point in the half, the new score was 26-7 with just under four minutes remaining.

After the Buff offense again went three-and-out, it was time for the Wildcats to put the game away … but the Buff defense actually a three-and-out from the Wildcats.

Taking over at its 35-yard line, the Buffs found themselves at midfield two plays later after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the Wildcats. Two plays later, Owen McCown and Deion Smith connected for CU’s second play of the season of over 40 yards, with the 41-yard gain setting the Buffs up with a first-and-goal at the Arizona nine-yard line. After a false start, McCown hit Daniel Arias for a 14-yard touchdown. Kicker Cole Becker missed the extra point, leaving it a 26-13 game with just over a minute remaining before the break.

Not content with a two score lead, Arizona again moved the ball quickly into CU territory. A 42-yard field goal attempt by Tyler Loop, though, went wide right on the final play of the half.

Halftime score: Arizona 26, Colorado 13

The Buffs took the second half kickoff, and, after gaining a first down on an Anthony Hankerson four-yard run on third-and-two, promptly went into punt formation after Owen McCown was sacked three plays later.

Just as Arizona had become the fourth of five CU opponents to score on its first possession of the first half, Arizona also became the fourth Buff opponent to score a touchdown on its first drive of the second half. The six-play, 80-yard drive resulted in Jayden de Laura’s fifth touchdown pass of the game. This time, the recipient was Tetairoa McMillan from 23 yards out. Midway through the third quarter, the new score was 33-13.

The game getting out-of-hand early in the second half – again – the Buffs actually put together a third quarter drive. For the first time in the 2022 season … the Buffs scored in the third quarter. The Arizona score had given CU’s opponents a 48-0 edge in third quarter scoring, but the Buffs finally put points on the board with a six-play, 75-yard drive. A 42-yard completion from Owen McCown to Jordyn Tyson gave the Buffs a first down at the Arizona 22-yard line. Three runs by Anthony Hankerson later, the Buffs were on the board. Hankerson’s first touchdown as a Buff came from seven yards out, giving CU its first three touchdown game of the season, and a 33-20 score with five minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Another Arizona possession … another deep drive into Colorado territory. The Wildcats scored yet another touchdown on a 20-yard run by DJ Williams, but the score was nullified by a holding penalty. The Buff defense again had the Arizona offense at a first-and-20, but this time was able to hold the Wildcats … to 18 yards. Tyler Loop’s 29-yard field goal attempt was good, but it was still a two-score game, at 36-20, late in the third.

Thanks to a ten-yard run by Deion Smith and a third down seven-yard completion from McCown to Montana Lemonious-Craig, the Buffs opened the fourth quarter with the ball at midfield … and in the game in the final stanza for the first time all season. Four plays later, however, an incomplete pass on fourth-and-three at the Arizona 43-yard line ended the drive.

With any chance at a comeback in the balance, the Colorado defense forced a third-and-13 … and gave up a 19-yard pass. The Buffs then forced a third-and-ten … and gave up an 11-yard pass. The Buffs then forced a third-and-three … and gave up a five-yard run. The Buffs then gave up Jayden de Laura’s sixth touchdown pass of the game, a five-yarder to Michael Wiley. Arizona 43, Colorado 20, with nine minutes left to play.

The Buffs again pushed the ball into Arizona territory on their next drive, with a 20-yard run by Owen McCown giving CU the ball near midfield. The drive was kept alive with a pass interference call on fourth down, but CU’s quest for points came to nothing when McCown fumbled on a sack at the Arizona 16-yard line.

Three consecutive gains of 13 yards gave Arizona yet another chance to score, but the Wildcats were content to take a knee after reaching the CU 20-yard line for the 10th time in 11 drives.

Final score: Arizona 43, Colorado 20

“There’s always hope I mean, I’m always gonna have hope, you know, that’s, our players need hope to coaches need hope”, Dorrell said of the 0-5 Buffs. “We’re always going to try to find a way we’re gonna. We’re gonna continue to try to find the right combinations of things to do with maybe it’s changing personnel and changing people in the personnel groupings. We’re going to try to do anything and everything to try to improve what we’ve done is obviously not very good right now.”

With a bye week before playing Cal, many observers saw the break as a good opportunity to see the Karl Dorrell era in Boulder come to an end. When asked about whether the team was still fighting for their coaching staff, offensive lineman and team captain Casey Roddick said, “Absolutely. I mean, at the end of the day, the outside noises outside of us can’t You can’t handle what anybody says over Twitter or Instagram or stuff like that. I mean, people are gonna say whatever they want, but at the end of the day, it’s what’s inside of that meeting room at the end of the day, what’s inside and the culture that we tried to build inside and we can’t you got to silence everything that’s happening on the outside because you can’t control that. At the end of the day. It’s are you going to come in, bring your hardhat and get the work and that’s what we need.”

Game Notes … 

— With the victory, Arizona cut CU’s advantage in the series to 16-9 (9-4 CU in games played in Tucson);

— CU dropped to 0-5 for just the fourth time in school history (1980; 1984; and 2006);

— The Buffs scored on their first drive of the game for the first time in 2022 (McCown 1-yard TD run) and a touchdown for the first time since November 28, 2020 vs. San Diego State;

— The 673 yards of total offense produced by Arizona marked the third time the Wildcats have posted over 600 total yards on CU (670 in 2013; 616 in 2015). Overall it was the most yards yielded by the Buff defense since surrendering 755 total yards to Oregon in 2014;

—  Three players made their first career starts – Offensive lineman Gerad Christian-Lichtenhan (who, at 6’10”, may be the tallest starter ever for the Buffs); linebacker Marvin Ham; and tight end Erik Olsen. Those starts brought the number of first-time starters in 2022 to 19 (the most since 20 in 2019);

— With three carries for 18 yards, Charlie Offerdahl claimed the record for the most rushing yards by a walk-on in school history. His totals after the Arizona game: 27 carries for 131 yards, passing Josh Ford’s 128 rushing yards during the 2011 season. Offerdahl also contributed a 36-yard pass reception, the longest for a walk-on since tight end Scott Fernandez had a 71-yard reception v. Arizona in 2012.

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23 Replies to “Arizona 43, Colorado 20”

  1. That was rough. Phil, Rick and Lance must be having the best meetings they’ve ever had too. I mean, really productive. Great plan. They believe they have the right people in place, and they’re going to turn over every stone to figure this thing out.

    Todd? You may need to spend a little more hands on time, to get this right.

    Go Buffs

    1. Eric, So I am going to wait until the Cal game but I need to figure out how to get you the money. I owe you $25……f%$k….. this is such a disaster. I am still going to go to the games. By halftime the Cal game should be over. I can meet you s9mewhere at the stadium?

      1. Thanks Rob. I live in the foothills of ca, so won’t be in Boulder any time soon.

        Stu may still torture himself and fly down for home games the rest of the year. If so, you can buy him a beer or three with that $25. It’s the least we can do.

        Not even I thought they could be this bad this year. And my expectations were not high.

        Go Buffs

  2. First watching of Owen and physically he doesn’t look out of place to the degree Koy did.
    We need to keep him, does his dad want to be OC?? Seriously he has taught his son well, and we need teachers.

  3. I saw it…the RB screen, it’s been 3+ years? It went for 30+ easy yards.
    So of course we don’t run it again…back/back timeouts on D….just a couple of real basic questions for our coordinators.

  4. I just hope all these freshman on O are bonding big time together and are making a promise to each other that they will turn the program around versus talking about what schools they are going to next year.

  5. Its normal to have a defensive line that is better at run stop, versus pass pressure, or an offensive line that is better at run blocking than pass protection, but its really hard to watch our OL and DL who cant do either….whats even more perplexing is CU has had this problem for so many years in a row. I find it hard to think its just on the players, and after watching the coaches call back to back time outs in the first half, i have my suspicion its coaching. Whatever it is, its making CU a bye week or personal best week for opposing teams.
    Hard to watch, but just as many business are finding out, “go woke, go broke”, cu is broke.
    Regardless of record, CU identifies as a winner, yay.

  6. Kansas, 5-0…in football?! Mississippi State, another Mike Leach rebuilding project on their way, Okie State…routinely ranked in the top 25, currently top 10…a few examples of programs whose recruiting classes are usually in the 25-50(or lower) range nationally, yet manage to keep players around, develop them, and produce positive results. What’s wrong with this picture? Buffs ought to easily be in position to at minimum manage building a competitive environment.

  7. Welp…with a bye week here, now would be the time to pull the trigger on Dorrell if they’re going to do it. Going forward I wonder if former Buff and current Illinois DC Ryan Walters would like to get his first head coaching gig at his alma mater. He has done an admirable job in Champaign the last two years. 29th in team defense in 2021 and 4th so far heading into this weekends win against Wisco (who they held to 208 yards). 36 years old and his name is starting to show up on a few lists of future head coaches around the country. I can’t help but think he’d be very interested in the Boulder job….and the Buffs youngest coach since the days of Gentlemen Jim Yeager back in the 1940’s.

    1. Sounds like as good of an option as any name I’ve heard. But hell, at this point I would happily beg MacIntyre to come back, that’s how desperate I am

  8. Wasn’t able to watch game…
    What is happening on defense, ouch ?

    Hate to say it, but something seems broken. You don’t go around looking under rocks each week for answers, a good coach has a plan, motivates, sees improvement, where players buy in
    …What I did see was TCU looked amazing yesterday

  9. I may have no real hope that this program can turn it around, but I would have liked to have watched…or even listened on the radio. But no. I have *less* access to CU football in 2022 than I did in 2010. I kid you not, in Boston…I have watched Northern Colorado an equal number of times as I’ve gotten to see a CU game. Thanks to the PAC-12 network’s novel approach to broadcasting; available nowhere! And the radio broadcast is blocked except if you pay a subscription service. Of course, that subscription money doesn’t go to CU, or the Pac, or the NCAA. It just goes into the pocket of Westwood One. Screw that. We have the media footprint of a mediocre FCS team.

    1. For what it’s worth, after ditching cable I found fubo tv which carries the pac12 network. Not sure if they vary their offerings by region.

  10. This team and coaching staff in particular are so bad that this long after another poor showing there is only 1 comment. Unfortunately the fan base is apathetic and numb like I am. Fire this staff, write off this season and go get a turnaround coach who knows how to win and how to recruit!

  11. Close the book on the Dorrell era at CU. Nice guy, will find work in the NFL but isn’t the right fit for the college game. We need a guy under 50 who is an up-and-comer, fiery and willing to instill some passion in his players. I didn’t think it would get this bad but it has and we need to fix it.

  12. Chester, this is a positive I have banked on this team on every spread. Turn a negative into a positive. Your mind will change

  13. The defensive scheme is the worst I think I have ever seen. I can literally point out holes in our defense pre-snap on a regular basis. Want to know why we have so many missed tackles, becuase the guys are out of position for being misaligned. (They are also all under sized and play poor technique but the alignments are god aweful). Our linebackers regularly over pursue and leave their gap in a gap based offense. Which against a stretch run you just can’t do. The flow laterally instead of down field too often. We leave a 10 yard gap to the outlet reciever, every frighten down, and we can’t make open field tackles. Our db’s bail on the snap when they should be reading the qb. Our db alignment is god aweful. The offense is not creative. The wide recievers are not getting open, DeVann has improved the o line but not by much. McCown has at least may the defense back out of the box but then when we go down by 2 scores we give up on the run…. And Hagen keeps rotating his running backs when it is clear Hankerson is the best back we have. He should be getting 60-70 % of the Carrie’s with smith and offerdahl resting him. Where is the creativity. Where is 6 offensive lineman? Where is stacks as a fullback? Why do we keep rolling a left handed qb right? Why our the running backs running the outlet route in the flat 5 yards deep again? I cannot stress this enough. So much of this is coaching. I was so on the Dorrell Sanford Wilson train. But I only had what they said and what the players said and one scrimmage of watching bad on bad. Sanford vs Wilson is a match made in heaven. God this is bad. I am excited to see the next head coach. I hope he won’t be worse, but I think it would be hard to find one who was.

    1. Barnett made a comment after the last home game, about how “sometimes if you have a good defense, that makes your offense playing against them every day better, and vice versa. But if you don’t have either a good defense or a good offense it’s hard to get better in practice”

      Almost like the defense is so bad and their alignment and scheme so bad that the offense can’t even apply what they don’t learn in practice to real games against competent opponents.

      When your bad offense plays your bad defense in practice, everyone just gets worse instead of better?

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