Brooks: Buffs End 2014 With Familiar, Frustrating Script

Saturday, November 29

Boulder, Colo.

11:00 AM

Colorado

2-10-0 , 0-9

Utah

8-4-0 , 5-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Utah

Colorado

Photo by: Associated Press

Brooks: Buffs End 2014 With Familiar, Frustrating Script

November 29, 2014 | Football, B.G. Brooks

Box Score Quotes Notes Final Game Book

By: B.G. Brooks, Contributing Editor

BOULDER – A Colorado football season earmarked by coming close and leaving frustrated ended that way on Saturday for the Buffaloes. Once again, they were just good enough to be heartbroken.

Leading 24-16 at halftime and 34-31 entering the fourth quarter, they saw their chances for their first 2014 Pac-12 Conference win evaporate on a Sefo Liufau interception that propelled Utah to a 38-34 win at Folsom Field.

"We played hard," CU coach Mike MacIntyre said. "We just came up a little short . . . again."

The latest coming close, falling short scenario was evident across the board for the Buffs. And it made for a downer of a CU Senior Day, as the Buffs lost their 12th consecutive Pac-12 game and their eighth straight this season. CU lost four of its conference games by a combined 15 points, two of the defeats dealt in double overtime.

Utah now has won three straight in the series and leads 3-1 since it joined the Pac-12 with CU in 2011, but the Buffs still lead the overall series 31-27-3. The Utes' 5-4 conference finish was their first above .500 since joining the Pac-12.

The loss made for a bittersweet afternoon – but obviously leaning more to the bitter side – for Liufau. Needing 274 yards in the Buffs' final game to set the CU single-season passing yardage record, he finished the game with 317 yards on 20 completions in 31 attempts and the season with 3,200 yards. He broke Koy Detmer's former single-season mark of 3,156 set in 1996.

But Liufau's lone turnover – his 15th pick of the season – was returned 20 yards for the game-turning touchdown by Utah cornerback Dominique Hatfield. It gave the Utes their third lead of a back-and-forth afternoon and doomed the Buffs to an 0-9 Pac-12 finish (2-10 overall).

Liufau misfired on a screen pass, said MacIntyre: "He missed our guy to the outside, their guy saw it and picked it . . . it was very unfortunate for us."

Said Liufau: "I couldn't burn it at his feet because there were three or four guys around him (tailback Christian Powell) and I led him too far outside. And that was what cost us the game."

ON ANOTHER RECORD-SETTING DAY in a record-setting season for Liufau, MacIntyre said his heart went out to his talented sophomore quarterback. "It's really tough," MacIntyre said. "He's a young man that battles. I really feel for him. He's made a lot of plays for us."

Liufau also called the loss and his part in it "tough. You never want to lose a game . . . but we've been losing a lot of close games this year."

Two more Buffs – junior receiver Nelson Spruce and freshman receiver Shay Fields – added their names in other sections of the CU record book. Spruce (5 catches, 91 yards) caught his 12th touchdown pass of the season, a 66-yarder in the third quarter, making him the school's single-season career leader in that category. Fields (4-69) finished his first season with 50 receptions – a CU freshman record.

But the only numbers that would have sent the Buffs away satisfied didn't show up on the scoreboard. CU also got a three-touchdown performance from Powell (10 carries, 75 yards) and two key field goals (29, 46 yards) from senior Will Oliver, yet those numbers – like Liufau's, Spruce's and Fields' – were unfulfilling.

"It's tough because as a player and being part of this team the wins count first," said Spruce. "If you're not achieving the ultimate goal, it's hard to enjoy anything else. That's been tough for me."

And once again, close also was completely unsatisfactory for CU. Utah (8-4, 5-4) had 6 more yards of total offense than CU (439-433) and three more first downs (21-18). The Utes converted 10 of 18 third downs, the Buffs 9 of 16. Utah had three QB sacks, CU had two.

"I don't know how we didn't win these close games," said CU senior safety Terrel Smith. "I feel these younger guys will know how to win these next year."

Behind Powell's three first-half touchdowns and Will Oliver's 29-yard field goal, the Buffs led 24-16 at halftime. They scored on their first possession, driving 75 yards in 12 plays, with Powell, who had scored only one rushing TD this season, bulling in from the 2-yard line for the first of his three scores.

He carried only five times for 41 yards in the first half, but turned three of those touches into TDs – including a 33-yard run that put CU back into the lead, 21-16. Two series later, Oliver's 29-yard field goal, his 15th successful kick of the season, gave the Buffs their 24-16 halftime lead.

Powell's other scoring run was a 1-yarder early in the second quarter, capping a five-play, 65-yard drive.

All of Utah's first-half scoring was handled by senior receiver Kaelin Clay and placekicker Andy Phillips. Clay caught scoring passes of 34 and 2 yards from quarterback Travis Wilson (25-of-37, 311 yards, 3 TDs). Phillips hit a 41-yard field goal and one of two PATs in the first half and added a 35-yard field goal in the third quarter.

Liufau's first-half numbers: 14-of-19 for 213 yards. Three of his completions went to senior Tyler McCulloch for 83 yards, with two of his receptions in CU's opening drive producing 47 yards. McCulloch's first-half receiving yardage sent him over 1,000 for his career. He finished with four catches for 101 yards – ending his career with his first 100-yard receiving game.

The Utes took the second-half kickoff and marched -- when it wasn't stopped for official reviews – 75 yards to pull to with 24-22 of the Buffs. The drive apparently ended on a Smith interception of Wilson at the CU 37, but the third-down pick was wiped out when replay officials ruled the ball touched the ground as Smith came down with it.

"I had my hand under the ball . . . I don't know how they overturned it," Smith claimed. "It was a game-changer."

After the long replay delay, it was the perfect time for a fake punt – and Utah executed it perfectly. Punter Tom Hackett ran 24 yards around left end to midfield.

MACINTYRE SAID CU'S PUNT COVERAGE team "lacked containment (and) it definitely hurt us. It's a little thing that ended up being a huge thing."

Wilson used tight end Westlee Tonga on the next two plays. The first was a 42-yard throw-and-catch to the CU 8, the next was ruled an 8-yard TD catch at the left pylon.

Until Tonga's TD was overturned.

Instead, the Utes lined up for second-and-goal at the one. Running off left tackle, tailback Devontae Booker (25 carries, 95 yards, 1 TD) appeared to cut back inside and edge across the stripe. The officials didn't see it that way.

Until it was reviewed.

When Booker's TD was upheld, the Utes crept to within 24-22 of the Buffs. Utah ran Booker on a two-point Statue of Liberty conversion attempt, but CU linebacker Ryan Moeller sniffed it out and hauled down Booker in the backfield.

Oliver hit his 46-yard field goal to send the Buffs up 27-22, but Wilson and Tonga answered for the Utes with a 28-yard scoring hookup to turn the lead back to Utah, 28-27. Another two-point try failed, this one foiled by Ahkello Witherspoon's interception of Wilson.

But the second half's back-and-forth tempo had been established. It was the Buffs' turn to score again and they responded with the record-setting Liufau-Spruce connection and their 66-yard TD.

Oliver's PAT put CU ahead 34-28, but Phillips' 35-yard field goal pulled Utah to 34-31 with 1:47 left in the third quarter. The Buffs carried that advantage into the fourth – and it lasted exactly 5 minutes.

On a screen pass designed to go to Powell on the left side, Liufau waited, waited and waited and then tossed a pass that was scooped up low and on the run by Hatfield. He sprinted untouched 20 yards to the end zone, and after Phillips had kicked the extra point the Utes had regained the lead, 38-34, with 10 minutes to play.

Liufau and his offense got two more chances to end this one and the season with a win, but couldn't do it. Utah took over with 3:48 to play and called on Booker to run out the clock. He did, and a final afternoon of anguish was over.

MacIntyre said learning how to win is critical for the Buffs in 2015: "The way that you learn how to win is to have the right fundamentals, the right situations and play through them as well as do your job well in tense situations. We haven't done that all across the board, with coaches and players . . . we'll find a way to do that as we keep maturing and growing, but you have to have focus under pressure."

MacIntyre, whose two-year CU record is 6-18 (1-17 Pac-12), also said he believes a foundation has been set by this senior class: "(They) taught these young men how to fight, fight, fight and keep battling. We're getting closer and eventually we'll pop through."

Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU