Colorado
4-6-0 , 1-5
Stanford
8-1-0 , 7-0
Brooks: Buffs Good For A Quarter, But Cardinal Rolls 42-10
November 07, 2015 | Football, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER – For one hopeful quarter Saturday, Colorado went toe-to-toe with No. 9 Stanford. Unfortunately for the outmanned Buffaloes, quarterly results don't mean much to their – or college football's – bottom line.
Behind Heisman Trophy candidate Christian McCaffrey, quarterback Kevin Hogan and an experienced and powerful offensive line, the Cardinal roared out of a 7-7 first-quarter tie with 21 second-quarter points and proceeded to bury the Buffs 42-10 at Folsom Field.
CU (4-6, 1-5) lost its 21st consecutive game to a ranked opponent while Stanford (8-1, 7-0) won for the eighth consecutive time – the school's longest winning streak since 2012. Stanford leads the series with CU 6-3 and has won the last three meetings by a combined score of 138-17.
 "(Stanford) is a very physical football team . . . the most physical football team we've played since I've been here," said third-year CU coach Mike MacIntyre, who asked former Buffs coach Bill McCartney to speak to the team on Friday night.
MacIntyre said McCartney "did a great job and I'm really glad we did it . . . I'm glad he got to do it." McCartney, said CU insiders, was on top of his game – and his message might have carried the Buffs on Saturday morning for the first 15 minutes.
But they were no match for the muscular Cardinal thereafter, particularly on third down.
"Stanford's a heck of a team," MacIntyre continued. "They are our Pac-12 shot of getting to the playoffs and I sure think they can and I sure hope they do . . . they're big and physical (and) their quarterback is so efficient at what he does. Their offensive line has stayed healthy . . . that's kind of how they controlled the game – their quarterback and that offensive line."
And don't forget McCaffrey, the Colorado high school product (Valor Christian) who leads the FBS in all-purpose yardage (244.3 a game). He rushed 23 times for 143 yards, caught three passes for 15 yards, threw a 28-yard touchdown pass, and had three returns (two kickoffs, one punt) for 58 yards.
His all-purpose output was 220 yards (the 28-yard TD completion doesn't count), which was just below CU's offensive total of 231 yards. Stanford, meanwhile, amassed 472 yards in total offense and dominated every category.
The Cardinal had 25 first downs to the Buffs' 15, had a 75-53 advantage in plays, finished with a 38:01-19:20 advantage in time of possession, converted 10-of-16 third downs and both fourth-down conversion attempts to 2-of-11 and 0-for-1 for CU in the same categories.
MACINTYRE POINTED TO THE GAPING disparity in third-down conversions as the key to the game: "If we could have gotten them out on a few third downs and we could have made a few it would have been a little bit different."
In basically three quarters, Hogan completed 17 of 23 passes for 169 yards and two TDs (one interception), while CU starter Sefo Liufau was 10-of-18 for 125 yards (one pick). Liufau was replaced on the first series of the fourth quarter by backup Cade Apsay (3-of-5, 23 yards, one interception).
With seven carries for 43 yards, Liufau was CU's leading rusher in a running game that netted only 83 yards. Nelson Spruce was the Buffs' top receiver, catching five passes for 75 yards.
Each team scored on its first possession, Stanford capping an 81-yard drive with a one-yard dive by Remound Wright and CU ending a 75-yard march with a four-yard run by Donovan Lee for a 7-7 tie that carried to the end of the first quarter.
But, oh, that second quarter . . . . it was all Cardinal from start to finish – and by halftime the Buffs appeared all but finished.
On what could have been the game's early turning point – maybe at least psychologically for CU – Stanford converted a third-and-18 at the Buffs 43-yard line into its go-ahead touchdown.
Hogan found receiver Michael Rector, who had blown by CU corner Ken Crawley, running free on the sideline and laid the football into Rector's outstretched hands. The 7-7 tie was broken; the Buffs' bubble might have been.
MacIntyre called the Cardinal's third-down success "kind of a back-breaker because they kept happening when you had chances. It was third-and-18 and they score a touchdown. I mean, that's unacceptable. We can't have that happen."
CU tried to answer, driving to the Stanford 19, where Liufau threw incompletions on second and third downs. On fourth down Diego Gonzalez was wide left on a 37-yard field goal attempt, and the Cardinal sensed it was carpe diem time.
Hogan drove his offense 80 yards in 12 plays, getting the Cardinal into the end zone on fourth-and-one from the Buffs 6-yard line with an exquisite fake to McCaffrey in the middle followed by a soft toss to embarrassingly open tight end Dalton Schultz for the score.
Suddenly Stanford was up 21-7 – and CU's skids for another trip downhill appeared to have been greased. Only 1:43 remained before the half when the Buffs lined up on offense. But 34 seconds later they went back on defense when Liufau overthrew Spruce on third-and-nine and was intercepted by strong safety Dallas Lloyd.
MacIntyre called Liufau's pass "a bad throw . . . it sailed on him. I thought we could get a score (before halftime). It was just very unfortunate for us."
Hogan promptly marched the Cardinal from its own 43 to the Buffs one, where after three consecutive timeouts (one by Stanford, two by CU) the Cardinal faced third-and-goal with 10 seconds left before halftime.
Out of timeouts, Stanford entrusted third down and the final 10 seconds to Hogan, who took the snap, looked right for an open receiver, then pulled down the ball and sauntered left into the end zone.
Cardinal coach David Shaw said the play "was supposed to be a quick play-action pass with the halfback in the flat and the tight end in the corner . . . (Hogan) is a fifth-year senior quarterback; I trust him, his decision-making, and I trust his legs."
The Buffs' first-quarter buoyancy from their 7-7 tie had quickly dissolved into a 28-7 halftime deficit.
Stanford dominated the first-half stat sheet as much as it did the scoreboard, outgaining CU 285-147 in total offense, 16-7 in first downs, and 22:21-7:39 in time of possession. Plus, the Cardinal converted 8-of-11 third downs and both of its fourth-down conversion tries. McCaffrey got 103 of his rushing total in the first half – and that was 59 more than the Buffs managed as a team.
RECEIVING THE SECOND-HALF KICKOFF, CU showed a brief spark by positioning Gonzalez for a 29-yard field goal that brought the Buffs to within 28-10. But an on-sides kick attempt didn't produced the desired result, with the Cardinal recovering at the Buffs 47.
On the first play, No. 3 running back Bryce Love took a handoff from Hogan and weaved his way through the Buffs for a 47-yard score. Not yet five minutes into the second half, the Cardinal was back in control 35-10.
Buffs fans might have seen a glimmer of a possible comeback when safety Tedric Thompson intercepted Hogan and ran it back to the Cardinal three-yard line. But that possession resulted a two-yard loss by Patrick Carr on first down followed by three consecutive Liufau incompletions.
Thompson, getting his first pick of the season, lamented not scoring on the play. "I was upset with myself for that," he said, adding that the loss was "demoralizing. Every team we've lost to doesn't have any more talent than we do . . . they aren't doing anything we aren't preparing for. I'm not sure what it is but it hurts to keep losing these games."
Of the four unsuccessful down from the Cardinal 3-yard line, Liufau said, "You have to finish off drives; we didn't. We just didn't execute (and) I'll take the blame for that."
He also indicated the Buffs went flat after their opening drive: "You put in a week's worth of preparation then go flat against a team like that, it's not going to work out in your favor."
Following that missed chance, CU remained 25 points behind with time (and the Buffs' hopes) quickly draining from the third quarter. "It would have been 35-17 there if we score," pointed out MacIntyre. "And then you never know . . . but they stuffed us there. It was a downer."
And after stalling out, the Buffs couldn't stop Hogan and his offense from cruising 95 yards for a final touchdown. On the march's 13th play, McCaffrey took a quick toss and hooked up with tight end Austin Hooper for a 28-yard TD pass – McCaffrey's first attempt of the season. Kicking specialist Conrad Ukropina's sixth PAT of the afternoon ended the scoring at 42-10 with most of the fourth quarter remaining.
Stanford's Shaw credited MacIntyre for his three seasons of work at CU: "They're fighting everybody, they're really close. You can see it by the way we played offense . . . they made a lot of things very difficult. The score doesn't look like it, but we had to come with reverses and trick plays because we thought they were sound, fought very hard and were very physical."
CU faces a short week before its next game, hosting USC on Friday (7 p.m., ESPN2) in its final 2015 home game. The Buffs close the regular season with games at Washington State (Saturday, Nov. 21) and Utah (Saturday, Nov. 28). Kickoff times for the pair of road games have not been set.
With four wins and three games remaining, the Buffs now are faced with winning out to become bowl eligible. Their 13-game schedule requires seven victories rather than six to reach the postseason. CU hasn't played in a bowl since 2007 (Independence Bowl).
"It's attainable," claimed defensive end Leo Jackson III. "I know that we can beat anybody that we play. We just need to remedy the mistakes we make and the plays we give to the other team."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU Â
Team Stats
STAN 7, COLO 0
STAN - Wright,R 1 yd run (Ukropina,C kick), 15 plays, 81 yards, TOP 7:11
STAN 7, COLO 7
COLO - Lee, Donovan 4 yd run (Gonzalez, Diego kick), 6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 1:42
STAN 14, COLO 7
STAN - Rector,M 43 yd pass from Hogan,K (Ukropina,C kick) 6 plays, 62 yards, TOP 3:43
STAN 21, COLO 7
STAN - Schultz,D 6 yd pass from Hogan,K (Ukropina,C kick) 12 plays, 80 yards, TOP 6:23
STAN 28, COLO 7
STAN - Hogan,K 1 yd run (Ukropina,C kick), 7 plays, 57 yards, TOP 1:08
STAN 28, COLO 10
COLO - Gonzalez, Diego 29 yd field goal 8 plays, 64 yards, TOP 3:24
STAN 35, COLO 10
STAN - Love,B 47 yd run (Ukropina,C kick), 1 plays, 47 yards, TOP 0:10
STAN 42, COLO 10
STAN - Hooper,A 28 yd pass from McCaffrey,C (Ukropina,C kick) 13 plays, 95 yards, TOP 6:20
