For a few moments, the Colorado offense produced as advertised.
The senior running back with some Heisman Trophy hype sprinted through the Colorado State defense for a 45-yard touchdown.
The sophomore quarterback with the strong arm threw a laser to one of the many talented receivers for an impressive 31-yard touchdown.
Outside of about a 10-minute stretch of the game Friday, however, the CU offense sputtered throughout the Buffaloes’ 17-3 season-opening win against the Rams.
“We just made a few mistakes here and there,” CU head coach Mike MacIntyre said. “Offensive line jumping offsides, those kinds of things. A missed block or a missed read, or something to that effect that would have made some big plays. We’ll see that on film and correct it and we will move on.”
Early in the game, CSU’s secondary played a soft zone and Steven Montez picked them apart with short passes to move the chains. The Rams adjusted, however.
“I thought we did a better job of getting after Montez and affecting him, taking away his first progression, making him move his feet a little bit,” CSU head coach Mike Bobo said. “When he did that, he was a little bit inaccurate.
“I thought we just started playing more … trying to play ball instead of trying not to get beat. I thought we were playing not to get beat early on and playing real cautious.”
Once the Rams settled in defensively, the Buffs struggled. The Rams increased their pressure on Montez and he was sacked five times on the night, with four of those in the second half.
“He was holding it a little bit on a couple things there,” MacIntyre said. “We’ll learn from that he’ll see where we have to go with the ball and get it out of his hands a little quicker. There was one sack where we should have changed the protection. All that’s just new and doing it and doing it.”
Despite the lackluster performance by the offense, which produced just 345 yards and didn’t score in the final 43 minutes, the Buffs came away confident that they’ll be just fine.
“Someday this group will really be explosive, and I can’t wait until they get it under their belts and do it,” MacIntyre said. “Hopefully it’s next Saturday.”
Contact staff writer Brian Howell at howellb@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/BrianHowell33.
