Colorado-Arizona Notes
vs
Wyoming
Sep 20 (Sat)
8:15 p.m.
Sentimental Note: This was CU’s first game on the date that its lone Heisman Trophy winner, Rashaan Salaam, died on in 2016.
Series. Colorado leads the series by a 15-8 margin (9-3 in Tucson).
General. CU is 4-0 for just the second time since opening 5-0 in 1998 (the Buffs were also 5-0 in 2018); the Buffs are 3-0 in league play for the fifth time in the last 30 seasons, the first since opening 4-0 in Big 12 play in 2002 (7-0 in ’96, 3-0 in ’91 and ’94 in the Big 8) and have won three Pac-12 games for just the third time) ... CU is now 13-18 in the month of December (5-7 in regular season games), snapping a five-game losing streak in the Christmas month … Colorado is now one of nine remaining undefeated teams in the country … CU has won three straight wearing all white with gold helmets (4-6 dating back to 2004) … Arizona’s opening score and eventual 13-0 lead marked the largest deficit for the Buffaloes this season … Colorado had a season-high five quarterback sacks, with four on third downs for the second straight game … CU went a school-record 193 minutes and 31 seconds into a season before suffering its first lost fumble … CU has now scored 61 of its last 62 times in goal-to-go situations (50 TD/11 FG) over the course of its last 33 games … CU had scored in the first 12 quarters but was shutout in the first quarter; and then scored in the next three.
FIRST CAREER STARTS Sophomore C Joshua Jynes made his first career start. And ILB Jonathan Van Diest was back in the starting lineup as ILB Akil Jones is in New Jersey, where he was for the birth of his son, Adonis, this past Wednesday (Dec. 2). Adonis weighed in at 8 pounds & 15 ounces and is 21.5 inches long.FIRST CAREER ACTION: OL Carson Lee, ILB Devin Grant.
HEAD COACH KARL DORRELL. He is now 4-0 to start his CU coaching career; only Harry Heller (won his first seven in 1894), Willis Kleinholtz (6 in 1905), T.W. Mortimer (5 in 1900) and Rick Neuheisel (5 in 1995) won as many or more to open their CU head coaching careers (and Dorrell was OC on Neuheisel’s staff).-He is the sixth coach to open 3-0 in conference games, but the first since Jim Yeager in 1941.
-He is now 4-2 all-time versus UA (3-2 at UCLA, 1-0 at Colorado).
RUSHING HIGHS. CU’s 407 rushing yards were the most since 427 yards at Kansas on Oct. 12, 2002; it was the second-most in 23 games against Arizona, bested only by CU’s all-time rushing high of 551 yards in the 1958 game.
DEFENSE. Several good defensive notes today:
20<. CU has allowed under 20 points for two straight games for just the second time since the first two games of the 2017 season; it’s the first time allowing just one touchdown in a game since those same two games when CSU and Texas State were each held to a field goal.
51/0. After allowing 51 points in the second half in the first two games of the season, CU has allowed none in the last two.
INDIVIDUAL LINER NOTES
ILB Nate Landman (12,4—16 TT; 1 QBS, 4 TFL, 2 3DS, 2 TZ)
He had the 18th double-digit career tackle game … he had his 10th career quarterback sack (sixth among inside linebackers at Colorado).
OLB Carson Wells (7,4—11 TT; 1 QBS, 4 TFL, 4 3DS, 1ITZ)
If the numbers hold in coaches reviews, he had a career high 11 tackles, topping the 10 he had against Arizona last year … for the second straight game, he recorded four tackles for losses.
QB Sam Noyer (19-12-2, 92, 0 TD, 82.8 rating; 6-67 rushing, 1 TD; 3,6—9 FDE)
He has now scored a touchdown in four straight games, the first QB to do since John Hessler scored in five in a row 1997.
His 54-yard run in the third quarter was the longest by a CU quarterback since Bernard Jackson scored on a 62-yard TD run against Kansas State in Boulder on Nov. 4, 2006.
He is now the seventh quarterback to win his first four games as the starter since 1959 (51 different players have started at the position), joining Ken Johnson (1971) and Kordell Stewart (1992) with four; Darian Hagan won his first 11 (1989), and Bobby Anderson (1967), Bill Solomon (1978) and Mike Moschetti (1998) all won their first five.
The fourth 300-yard rushing game in Colorado history (last: TB Chris Brown at Kansas, Oct. 12, 2002 (25-309); also the 26th 200-yard game in Colorado history (last: TB Phillip Lindsay vs. Arizona in Boulder on Oct. 7, 2017 (41-281).
His 75-yard run tied for the 24th longest run in school history, and tied for the longest since Tony Jones had an 84-yard TD run at Washington State on Sept. 21, 2012 (Travon McMillian had two 75-yard runs in 2018 and Phillip Lindsay one in 2016).
His 155 yards in the second quarter (on eight carries) is a CU record for rushing yards in a quarter, breaking the old mark of 131 (on nine carries) by HB Eric Bieniemy in the fourth quarter against Oregon State in Boulder on Sept. 24, 1988. It is also a school record for all-purpose yards in a quarter, topping WR Laviska Shenault’s 139 on three receptions against Colorado State in Denver on August 31, 2018.
His 184 rushing yards in the first half is the second-most for a half, behind 206 by TB Charlie Davis against Oklahoma State in Boulder on Nov. 13, 1971. He topped the 176 TB Rashaan Salaam had in the first half at Texas on Oct. 1, 1994.
Set the school record for most 50+ yard rushes in a game with three (75, 72, 59); several had two.
He is the first player to rush for 100-plus yards in his first four CU career games (TB Charlie Davis was the only other one to do it in the first three in 1971). He is the second player to rush for 700 yards in his first four games, the third for 600 or more and the sixth for 500-plus).
He is now just the fourth player since 1996 in the FBS to rush for 100-plus yards in his first four career games.
With 733 yards and 183.3 yards per game, he is second in nation through games earlier today in rushing yards per game.