Boulder, CU – The Colorado Buffaloes fell to (24) BYU at Folsom Field on Sept. 27, despite holding a 14-3 lead early and controlling much of the game. Their record now stands at 2-3 after another inconsistent performance.
“We had opportunities. We just didn’t make it happen. If you slow down and watch the film, you’re going to see tremendous opportunities,” Coach Deion Sanders said at the post-game press conference. “And that’s unfortunate, because you go over and over those same situations at practice all week, and you see it happening in the same defense. It’s not like you were tricked into anything.”
Colorado scored a touchdown on their initial 11-play, 75-yard drive, which started with a completion from senior Kaiden Salter to sophomore Joseph Williams. The drive included three pass completions, 31 yards rushing, and concluded with a 3-yard rushing touchdown by Salter.
Colorado’s defense then stopped BYU’s attempt on a 4th and 2 at Colorado’s 38-yard line and forced four incomplete passes during that possession.
Sophomore Micah Welsh gained 27 yards on the first play of Colorado’s next drive. Subsequently, Dre’lon Miller, a Colorado receiver, rushed for 30 yards using the same play three times, scoring a five-yard touchdown after a BYU face mask penalty.
Miller ended the game with 79 rushing yards on 10 carries and two touchdowns.
Colorado was unable to maintain the momentum established in its first two drives.
“Yeah, we had a good first quarter,” Salter said. “Of course, they spied me after that first quarter, but overall, they just made some good adjustments. Then we have to adjust when they adjust”
BYU scored a field goal and a touchdown. Colorado had three drives before halftime—two punts and one turnover on downs.
BYU scored late in the second half to secure their first lead of the game with a 9-play, 74-yard drive. Colorado quickly answered with a 74-yard, six-play drive that concluded with a touchdown pass from Salter to Miller. This was Colorado’s final touchdown of the game, giving them a 21-17 lead. BYU regained the lead with another touchdown shortly afterwards.
On BYU’s following possession, a missed field goal allowed Colorado another opportunity, but they were unable to advance the ball and subsequently punted twice. Colorado’s last drive ended as Salter threw an interception with 50 seconds remaining.
Colorado’s result against BYU follows a previous win over Wyoming, where concerns about finishing after taking an early lead were noted. Similar issues occurred in this matchup.
“We talked about focusing and finishing before the game, we talked about it at halftime, and we told them what was going to happen,” Sanders said. “We’re not going to play. We barely play the things that I say when we lose, but if you hear them, we pretty much dictated what was going to happen if we didn’t change the way we went about our job. We have to do a much better job on the back end.” 2-3 Colorado heads to 3-1 TCU on Oct. 4th at 5:30 p.m. mountain time.
