At the box office, the Colorado football program is getting everything it hoped for, and maybe more.
On the field, however, the Buffaloes’ home hasn’t been a friendly place this season.
In front of a sellout crowd on Saturday – the second in three games at Folsom Field – the Buffs came up short in a battle for first place in the Pac-12 South, falling 35-30 to visiting Arizona.
“We’ve got a very disappointed locker room, obviously,” CU head coach Mel Tucker said after his Buffs (3-2, 1-1 Pac-12) fell to 1-2 at Folsom this season. “You want to take care of home. We had a great turnout; our fans were great. There was an electric atmosphere and that’s what we expect here in Boulder. There was a lot of folks obviously, who left disappointed. There’s no one more disappointed than us.”
Short-handed with what is becoming a long list of injuries, the Buffs were, at one point, without nine players they count on as starters. Receiver Laviska Shenault and defensive end Mustafa Johnson – arguably CU’s best players on offense and defense – didn’t play and several others went down during the game.
Tucker’s never made excuses, however, and he wasn’t about to on Saturday.
“Injuries are part of the game,” he said. “The next man up is not a cliché; it’s what is required. We had enough guys to finish the game; we were able to put 11 out there on every snap. So there’s really no excuse and no explanation.”
A game that saw nine lead changes, 983 yards of offense and 65 points was decided after Arizona scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 5-yard run by Nathan Tilford with 6 minutes, 51 seconds to play, and then came up with a defensive stand to seal the win.
CU drove past midfield on its last possession, but Steven Montez’s final two passes fell incomplete. Arizona ran out the final 2:23.
“I was confident that we were going to go make something happen all the way till the clock hit triple zeros,” Montez said.
Arizona (4-1, 2-0) won its fourth in a row by riding the arm of Khalil Tate and taking advantage of CU’s mistakes.
Tate, who has now shredded the Buffs three years in a row, threw for 404 yards and three touchdowns.
“He’s a gifted athlete, great quarterback and he took advantage of what we were in and they just made more plays than us,” CU linebacker Nate Landman said. “Credit to him and their offense and their coach for scheming it up.”
Tate, who had his coming out party in a record-setting performance on this field two years ago, didn’t play last week in a win against UCLA and it was unclear until pre-game warm-ups if he’d play in this game.
He played and he did Khalil Tate things once again. During the last three years against CU, he’s completed 78.9 percent of his passes (60-for-76) for 908 yards and nine touchdowns, while rushing for 365 yards and four scores.
“Colorado has a special place in my heart,” Tate said. “It’s always great playing against them; they always give us great competition.”
CU countered with Montez, who threw for 299 yards and a touchdown; Tony Brown, who caught 10 passes for 141 yards and ran for a score; and Alex Fontenot, who rushed for 94 yards.
While both offenses were piling up stats, mistakes by the Buffs proved costly.
“They made more plays than we made, they executed more often than we did,” Tucker said.
The Buffs missed several opportunities in the first half, alone.
- On the first possession, they drove to the Arizona 12, but messed up a run play that lost 8 yards and led to them settling for a field goal.
- On the second possession, two penalties for 25 yards led to a punt.
- The third possession included two penalties and a dropped touchdown pass and finished with a punt.
“We felt in the first half like we left some plays on the field on both sides of the ball,” Tucker said. “When you play a good football team, you really can’t afford to leave plays on the field, and that’s what happened today.”
CU finished with eight penalties for 85 yards, while Arizona, the most penalized team in the Pac-12 coming in, was flagged just once for 5 yards. The Buffs had a handful of dropped passes, as well.
Despite the injuries, penalties and other miscues, CU had a chance to come away with a win in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t put together one last rally.
“Our performance wasn’t good enough today,” Tucker said. “At some point between now and tomorrow, we’re going to have to get over that, turn the page; we’re going to evaluate the film … and figure out where we need to get better.”
Arizona 35, Colorado 30
Play of the game: CU trailed 7-6 late in the first half when Mikial Onu intercepted an Arizona pass. On the next play, Buffs’ receiver KD Nixon got the ball on a double reserve and threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Dimitri Stanley to give the Buffs a 13-7 lead.
Turning point: Given the fact that were nine lead changes, there was never really a major turning point. But, Arizona’s final stop of the CU offense, with 2:23 to play, helped the Wildcats preserve the win.
Top 3 Buffs of the game
1. Tony Brown: The senior caught 10 passes for 141 yards and also ran for a 15-yard touchdown.
2. Steven Montez: He completed 28-of-42 passes for 299 yards and a touchdown.
3. Nate Landman: Finished with a team-high 12 tackles, including his first tackle for loss of the season.
Arizona 35, Colorado 30
Arizona 7 7 14 7 — 35
Colorado 3 17 7 3 — 30
First Quarter
COL – FG Stefanou 37, 9:02
ARI – Berryhill 7 pass from Tate (Havrisik kick), :15
Second Quarter
COL – FG Stefanou 39, 2:37
COL – Stanley 38 pass from Nixon (Stefanou kick), 1:50
ARI – Peterson 75 pass from Tate (Havrisik kick), 1:40
COL – Russell 12 pass from Montez (Stefanou kick), :03
Third Quarter
ARI – Casteel 33 pass from Tate (Havrisik kick), 13:11
COL – T.Brown 15 run (Stefanou kick), 5:11
ARI – Tilford 5 run (Havrisik kick), 3:42
Fourth Quarter
COL – FG Stefanou 20, 11:23
ARI – Tilford 5 run (Havrisik kick), 3:42
ARI COL
First downs 22 26
Rushes-yards 26-83 37-159
Passing 404 337
Comp-Att-Int 31-41-1 29-44-0
Return Yards 75 15
Punts-Avg. 5-37.6 5-46.4
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 1-5 8-85
Time of Possession 24:57 35:03
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Arizona, Brightwell 11-27, Tate 4-23, Tilford 5-23, J.Taylor 1-4, Dar.Smith 2-4, M.Wiley 1-2, Casteel 1-1, (Team) 1-(minus 1). Colorado, Fontenot 21-94, Mangham 10-34, Montez 5-16, T.Brown 1-15.
PASSING – Arizona, Tate 31-41-1-404. Colorado, Nixon 1-1-0-38, Montez 28-42-0-299, (Team) 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING – Arizona, Casteel 7-74, M.Wiley 6-48, Joiner 4-68, Cunningham 4-56, Peterson 3-99, Dar.Smith 2-20, B.Curry 1-19, Dixon 1-8, Berryhill 1-7, Brightwell 1-4, J.Johnson 1-1. Colorado, T.Brown 10-141, Fontenot 5-34, Stanley 4-75, Russell 3-32, Mangham 3-9, Arias 2-35, Nixon 1-7, Jackson 1-4.
MISSED FIELD GOALS – None.
