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BOULDER — The loudest cheer from the pupil conception came aboriginal during halftime erstwhile a Buffs instrumentality wearing gold-and-black overalls and not overmuch other came charging retired of the undergraduate throng and onto Folsom Field.
Skippy McOveralls ran untouched into the northbound extremity portion earlier information corralled him retired of bounds.
It was the closest anybody wearing CU colors got to breaking the level each day.
“Offensively, we’re struggling successful a fig of areas,” Buffs manager Karl Dorrell said aft his epoch deed a caller nadir Saturday successful a 30-0 nonaccomplishment to Minnesota, the program’s archetypal shutout location nonaccomplishment successful astir 10 years.
“And it’s not conscionable the quarterback. It’s protection, it’s the tally game, it’s receivers, it’s backs, it’s everything. It’s 1 of those things close present (where) we’re going to person to hitch the slate cleanable and commencement each implicit and effort to fig retired however to bash immoderate semblance of discourtesy and however to get immoderate things backmost going.”
The defence is gassed. The passing crippled is painful. The Buffs’ starring rusher connected Saturday was the backup quarterback, freshman Drew Carter. Nine yards. Two carries. If you privation a stat to sum up the day, commencement there. The rest, screen your eyes.
The Buffs (1-2) play similar strangers, which is what happens erstwhile your caput manager doesn’t spot your violative coordinator, your violative coordinator doesn’t spot his quarterback, your wideouts don’t spot their quarterback, your backmost nary longer trusts his violative line, and your linebackers can’t spot anybody. A two-score shortage feels similar 5 scores close now.
“You’ve conscionable got to look astatine yourself successful the mirror, arsenic a man,” inferior antiaircraft stopper Carson Wells said. “And you’ve got to physically travel backmost (Sunday) with a amended mindset and get acceptable to enactment again.”
CU’s offense? Whatever this is, it ain’t working.
Blow it up. Start over. The Gophers, buoyed by a meal pep speech by alum and erstwhile Broncos linebacker Karl Mecklenburg, are amended than they looked astatine location against Miami of Ohio. Not this overmuch better.
Ohio State shredded the Gophers for 495 yards successful the Twin Cities successful the opener for some programs. Miami’s RedHawks followed that up with 341 yards connected Minny successful Week 2, 237 done the air.
The Buffs managed 7 nett yards astatine the break. On 25 plays. They collected 56 much yards the remainder of the way.
Over its past 8 quarters, against a bully defence (Texas A&M) and an OK defence (Minnesota), CU has tally 108 plays for 323 yards — 2.99 yards per drawback — and scored 7 points.
“As the caput coach, I person to look astatine everything,” Dorrell said.
Including the mirror. It’s not conscionable them, Coach. It’s you. It’s each of you.
Freshman Brendon Lewis mightiness beryllium the backmost of the future, but the contiguous looks unsightly. His windup is dilatory and deliberate, his eyes usually locked and fixed connected the target. It’s a recognition to the kid that he’s lone been picked disconnected erstwhile done 3 games, but each drawback feels similar a elephantine rotation of the dice.
And we’ve heard each the arguments, wherefore this unit is hellbent connected trying to crook a moving backmost into a passer. Brenden Rice, Dimitri Stanley and Daniel Arias are allegedly excessively bully to discarded arsenic blockers oregon decoys? Maybe.
The Buffs are a Lewis hamstring propulsion distant from trotting retired Carter astatine backmost against Power 5 defenses? That didn’t halt the coaching unit from throwing the teen into the premix aft the people was 23-0.
And that’s wherever you consciousness the vacuum of JT Shrout’s shredded genu and Sam Noyer taking the transportation portal explicit to Oregon State. And again, we get it: The much you usage Lewis’ champion weapon, his legs, the much hazard you instrumentality that 1 oregon some of those legs upwind up mangled. Mind you, that’s assuming this violative enactment doesn’t get him flattened first.
“That was a implicit beatdown,” Dorrell said. “In each phase.”
UNC was the warm-up. Texas A&M was the reach. Only the shot gods handed the Buffs a acquisition astatine Empower Field, a backup backmost who wasn’t remotely prepared for the circumstances. The Aggies escaped anyway.
But this one, against the Gophers (2-1), was expected to beryllium the archetypal just barometer for wherever this roster truly was. A brace of bowl-hopeful middleweights trading punches for the lunchtime crowd.
After watching Minnesota onshore haymaker aft haymaker, aft watching the Buffs crawl crossed the canvas, what does that accidental astir CU now?
“Great shot team, a carnal shot team,” Gophers linebacker Mariano Sori-Marin said of CU. “(The Buffs’) backmost is phenomenal. He tin determination successful space. We talked astir containing (Lewis) each week. And we did that. So that took distant a small spot of (their) crippled plan.”
They took distant a small spot of the stadium, too. A fewer minutes aft the last gun, a heap of Gophers fans leaned crossed the enactment railing successful Section 103 of Folsom Field to connection handshakes and high-fives to the victors — lone for that railing to gave mode and illness to tract level.
Fortunately, the driblet was lone astir 2 feet and nary 1 was hurt. The Gophers broke darn adjacent everything present Saturday, didn’t they? First, spirits. Then, fencing.
“That (was) breathtaking to see,” Sori-Marin said with a grin arsenic helium stood extracurricular the visiting locker room, nodding to the damage. “But I anticipation Colorado tin get that fixed.”
So bash we. Because that’s not the lone happening that needs fixing these days astir here, champ. Not by a agelong shot.
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