Colorado
3-4-0 , 0-3
Arizona
5-2-0 , 2-2
Brooks: Buffs Fail To Finish, Fall Short Against Wildcats, 38-31
October 18, 2015 | Football, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER – On Friday night, Mike MacIntyre boldly ventured onto a limb. One night later, his Colorado football team did its best to not leave him stranded there – but did.
At the Buffaloes' Pearl Street Stampede, their regularly scheduled pep rally before home games, MacIntyre guaranteed a win Saturday night against Arizona. But the Buffs couldn't back him up. Although they rallied to take a lead after falling behind early, their now-familiar nemesis – a failure to finish – cost them a 38-31 Homecoming loss at Folsom Field.
Dropping its 14th consecutive Pac-12 game – tying a school mark set in the 2012-13 seasons – and eighth straight Homecoming contest, CU slipped one game below .500 (3-4 overall, 0-3 league) at the midway point of the season.
"It's frustrating for everybody," MacIntyre said of his team's difficulty in finishing. "I'm trying to hit every button I can to figure it out, and I haven't figured it out yet. Our kids are, too. We'll just keep fighting along and keep pushing at it . . . we feel like we're closer, we're getting near it, we're just not there."
But, said CU quarterback Sefo Liufau, "It sucks . . . we just have to go out there and finish a game. It's as simple as that."
The Buffs overcame a 10-0 deficit, tied the score 17-17 at halftime and took a 24-17 lead into the fourth quarter. But instead of finishing, the final quarter (and the Wildcats' running game) finished them.
Reemphasizing his belief in his players in Saturday night's postgame news conference, MacIntyre said Friday night's comment was based on that belief as well as the entire Pearl Street pep rally scene.
"You're up there trying to get them fired up, get them going," he said. "It was a pep rally, excite 'em-type comment, that's what it was . . . ya'll have been to pep rallies, things (like that) are said all the time."
His "guarantee" might have held up had his defense held up in the fourth quarter after Arizona changed quarterbacks. Jerrard Randall replaced starter Anu Solomon and promptly directed touchdown drives of 97 and 94 yards that pulled the Wildcats back into the game. They hadn't scored since midway through the first quarter.
Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said he "had to" make a QB change: "We were off. Solomon was off a little bit off. We weren't executing well. The way they were playing us, we thought it fit Jerrard's skill-set a little bit and would help our running game get going. He gave us a lift."
When Randall was injured and sat out one play, Solomon returned and threw a 25-yard scoring pass to running back Jared Baker, giving Arizona the lead (31-24) again. Randall returned on the next series and engineered a 35-yard scoring march. He finished with 81 yards rushing on 11 carries and scored the Wildcats' final touchdown that sent them ahead 38-24 with 4:40 to play.
The Buffs pulled to within 38-31 on a 30-yard Liufau-to-Shay Fields pass with 2:19 to play but the night had already gotten away from them.
MacIntyre said the Buffs had prepared for Randall – Arizona's running QB who was averaging 12.2 yards a carry. But freshman linebacker Grant Watanabe, who made his first start, said Randall's presence posed "a different game plan . . . it changes the game a little bit.
"We knew what they were doing but again it came down to discipline and the little things that we need to work on."
Arizona (5-2, 2-2) amassed 616 yards in total offense, 291 on the ground and 207 of that total coming from Baker, who started in place of leading rusher Nick Wilson (foot injury). Baker had scoring runs of 79 and 45 yards.
Solomon completed 22-of-37 passes for 283 yards and two TDs, while Liufau was 28-of-43 for 339 yards and two scoring passes to Fields, who was injured (high ankle sprain) on his final TD catch. Liufau also ran for a pair of touchdowns. The Buffs finished with 467 yards in total offense, with Phillip Lindsay gaining 91 of CU's 128 rushing yards on 23 carries.
AFTER A SHAKY DEFENSIVE START THAT saw the Wildcats score 10 points in 91 seconds and go ahead 10-0, the Buffs collected their wits, a couple of Arizona turnovers, and forged a 17-17 halftime tie.
On two possessions that required 59 and 32 seconds, respectively, Arizona got a 48-yard Casey Skowron field goal and 79-yard scoring run by Baker – the Wildcats' longest of the season – and shot ahead 10-0.
But Liufau and the Buffs had a quick answer – a 72-yard touchdown pass to Fields that might have been Liufau's most perfectly thrown long ball of the season. In outracing Arizona corner Jace Whittaker on a post route, Fields never broke stride in running under Liufau's rainbow.
"It was the perfect call and Sefo made a great throw," Fields said.
Not on target in the past several games, Liufau was sharp in the first quarter, completing eight of nine attempts for 146 yards and the TD to Fields. For the half he was 13-of-17 for 183 yards. And after being sacked eight times last weekend (13 in the last two games), Liufau wasn't hauled down once in Saturday night's first half, twice for the game.
Diego Gonzalez's PAT brought the Buffs to within 10-7, and the score stayed that way – but only briefly. The Wildcats answered with a six-play, 75-yard march capped by Solomon's five-yard TD toss to tight end Josh Kern, sending the visitors up 17-7 with Skowron's extra point.
The Buffs began their comeback with a 20-yard Gonzalez field goal (17-10) that was set up when defensive lineman Jordan Carrell snatched the ball from Solomon after the QB fumbled when caught unaware by the snap. An official review showed Carrell taking possession of the ball before Solomon could, and the ruling on the field was overturned.
Four series later, CU committed its lone turnover of the first half but survived it. Fields caught a Liufau pass in front of the Buffs bench and had the ball stripped away, with linebacker Paul Magloire recovering at the CU 22.
But aided by a holding penalty against the Wildcats, the Buffs allowed an advancement only to the 28, where Skowron's 45-yard field goal attempt banged off the right upright.
CU's next possession appeared to end in a three-and-out, but Alex Kinney's punt grazed Arizona's Trey Griffey and was recovered by Jaleel Awini, who opened at outside linebacker, at the Wildcats' 24-yard line. Five plays later, Liufau powered in from two-yard line, Gonzalez kicked the PAT and CU was going to its locker room with a 17-17 tie.
"We have to come out and finish the second half," MacIntyre said before leaving the field. "We haven't done that in a Pac-12 game yet, and it's time to do it. Those kids will be ready to do it; I can't wait to get in there and get them going."
That's what he must have done, but the momentum didn't last.
THE BUFFS TOOK THE SECOND-HALF KICKOFF and drove 75 yards to take their first lead of the night. The big play: a 47-yard Liufau-to-Sean Irwin completion to the Wildcats' 15. Liufau scored his second TD of the night, this one on a four-yard run, and Gonzalez's point after sent CU up 24-17 with 11:51 left in the third quarter.
That seven-point lead lasted three plays into the final quarter. On its last series of the third, Arizona made a quarterback change, subbing out Solomon for Randall. Primarily a runner, Randall promptly got the Wildcats out of a precarious position with a 15-yard first-down carry from his own three-yard line.
The Buffs should have gotten the message. Randall ran twice more for 30 yards before handing off to Baker for a 45-yard scoring run. The Wildcats were back on the scoreboard for the first time since midway through the first quarter, and Skowron's extra point tied the score at 24-24 with 14:24 to play.
If the Buffs were to follow MacIntyre's halftime message and finally finish a Pac-12 game, now was the time to start. But the starting point was slowing Randall, and CU did that by forcing him to the sidelines after he had engineered a drive from his own 6 to the Buffs' 25.
But in came Solomon, and on his first play – second-and-three from the 25 – he found Baker running out of the backfield and uncovered near the left sideline. After he ran untouched into the end zone, the Wildcats were back ahead (31-24) and on the verge of closing this one out.
And after a three-and-out series by CU, the close out was all but accomplished. Randall reentered the game and promptly took advantage of a short field made possible by a 15-yard horse-collar penalty against the Buffs.
The Wildcats needed to travel only 35 yards for a win-sealing TD – and they did it in seven plays. With Randall scoring on a one-yard run, Arizona shot ahead 38-24 with 4:40 left.
CU answered with an 11-play, 73-yard march and pulled to within 38-31 on Liufau's 30-yard TD pass to Fields, who had to be assisted from the end zone.
Having given up 97- and 94-yard scoring drives on two of Arizona's previous three possessions, CU's best option was to attempt an on-sides kick. Gonzalez did, but the Wildcats' Will Parks smothered the ball at the Buffs' 48 with 2:18 remaining.
Arizona was forced to punt, but Drew Riggleman's kick was downed at the CU 6. The Buffs were left with 38 seconds and no timeouts to miraculously cover 94 yards and tie the score. There were no miracles and again no Homecoming celebration at Folsom Field.
CU defensive lineman Justin Solis said his team's near misses "hurt more than getting blown out the whole game. We all played our hearts out, but to go into that fourth quarter and let it slip away like that really hurts a lot more."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
Here's the first touchdown for @trimshay #GoBuffs #UAvsCU https://t.co/6u7JlkBd1Q
— Colorado Buffaloes (@cubuffs) October 18, 2015
Jaleel Awini was in the right place at the right time. #GoBuffs #UAvsCU https://t.co/XlLPkGNwoI
— Colorado Buffaloes (@cubuffs) October 18, 2015
Chidobe invented the Flight Sack with this play. #GoBuffs #UAvsCU https://t.co/ZRILpp0V7A
— Colorado Buffaloes (@cubuffs) October 18, 2015
This Sefo Liufau TD, his second of the day on the ground, put CU up 24-17. #GoBuffs #UAvsCU https://t.co/JxnSWu8m09
— Colorado Buffaloes (@cubuffs) October 18, 2015
Sefo Liufau's second TD toss to Shay Fields. #GoBuffs #UAvsCU https://t.co/VEAlX6wKlE
— Colorado Buffaloes (@cubuffs) October 18, 2015
Team Stats
ARIZ 3, COLO 0
ARIZ - Skowron, C. 48 yd field goal 6 plays, 44 yards, TOP 0:59
ARIZ 10, COLO 0
ARIZ - Baker, J. 79 yd run (Skowron, C. kick), 2 plays, 82 yards, TOP 0:32
ARIZ 10, COLO 7
COLO - Fields, Shay 72 yd pass from Liufau, Sefo (Gonzalez, Diego kick) 2 plays, 74 yards, TOP 0:37
ARIZ 17, COLO 7
ARIZ - Kern, J. 5 yd pass from Solomon, A. (Skowron, C. kick) 6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 1:38
ARIZ 17, COLO 10
COLO - Gonzalez, Diego 20 yd field goal 12 plays, 48 yards, TOP 5:10
ARIZ 17, COLO 17
COLO - Liufau, Sefo 2 yd run (Gonzalez, Diego kick), 5 plays, 24 yards, TOP 1:55
ARIZ 17, COLO 24
COLO - Liufau, Sefo 4 yd run (Gonzalez, Diego kick), 8 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:04
ARIZ 24, COLO 24
ARIZ - Baker, J. 45 yd run (Skowron, C. kick), 6 plays, 97 yards, TOP 1:30
ARIZ 31, COLO 24
ARIZ - Baker, J. 25 yd pass from Solomon, A. (Skowron, C. kick) 8 plays, 94 yards, TOP 2:44
ARIZ 38, COLO 24
ARIZ - Randall, J. 1 yd run (Skowron, C. kick), 7 plays, 35 yards, TOP 2:40
ARIZ 38, COLO 31
COLO - Fields, Shay 30 yd pass from Liufau, Sefo (Gonzalez, Diego kick) 11 plays, 73 yards, TOP 2:14
