The Colorado Buffaloes dropped their season opener against Georgia Tech 27-20 on Friday night. The three big takeaways for tonight are twofold with coaching and defense having major issues.
No run stoppers with a career game for King
The Buffs defense gave up a whopping 320 rushing yards to Georgia Tech, which is 6.8 yards per carry. Coach Prime was livid at this fact, saying “You are not going to win games like that.” This is a defense that is going to give up a bunch on the ground, it seemed like every run up the middle got at least to the second level. Yellow Jackets quarterback Haynes King had a career-high 151 yards, including a 47-yard game-winning score.
Play calling was questionable.
On offense, the biggest question might not be any player, but the coaching. Namely the play calling and game management. Offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur once again put on a clinic on how to run a conservative offense. The buffs failed to be creative time and time again, refusing to use motions a ton, something the Georgia Tech offense used a bunch against the Buffs defense, which worked. Something CU linebacker Reginald Hughes even admitted confused the buffs defense at times. The Buffs offense, however, used it sparingly.
This was noted in my offensive preview that using Drelon Miller in a Deebo Samuel type role could really bring some variety to the offense. That never happened.
There were, however, plenty of inside zone runs that went nowhere. The last drive is an amazing indictment of what I’m trying to get at. Under 2 minutes left and you need to drive down the field and score, and the offense opens up with a swing pass that goes nowhere. What are we doing? The Buffs on the last drive also had two timeouts, however weren’t used. Coach Prime defended that decision by saying “We didn’t need to take them”. Noting the incompletions on the drive and out of bounds runs by Salter. However, this was something Shedeur Sanders and the offensive last year struggled with as well.
Salter and the Buffs also failed to utilize his elite speed and running ability. Rarely were there options. I would have loved to have seen Drelon in motion, swinging around and behind Salter, leading to a speed option between Salter and Miller. That never happened. The Buffs also found themselves within 10 yards of the goal line on a drive, and failed to run Salter to the outside, something he scored on all the time during his time at Liberty.
The Buffs offense wasn't without some positives. Micah Welch had a solid game, having 11 carries for 64 yards, averaging 5.8 yards per carry. Unlike last season, the Buffs running game seems to be massively improved from last year, and will be the strength going forward.
The early turnovers weren't enough
We cannot talk about this game without mentioning how the Buffs failed to capitalize on Georgia Tech’s turnovers. Tech gave the ball to the Buffs three times on their first three drives. Two bad fumbles, and a gifted interception from Haynes King to DJ McKinney. Honorable mention to punter Damon Greaves. It’s not a good sign to mention punting as a highlight, but dude was out there slanging that foot. He’s a true coffin corner punter and he had a good game.
Ultimately, this is a game that Colorado could have and should have won. Coach Prime said it a few times in his post game press conference. Georgia Tech gave CU ample opportunities to win the game, and the buffs just could not help themselves from snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
The Buffaloes have a very winnable game at home next week against Delaware, and have a lot to clean up on both sides of the ball.
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