Buffs suffer third loss, head to TCU

BY LEOPOLD RIVERA IV | 365 SPORTS

Another undisciplined performance by the Colorado Buffaloes (2-3, 0-2) resulted in a 24-21 loss to the Brigham Young Cougars (4-0, 1-0) at home on Saturday night. 

Heading into the game, there were evident weaknesses in Colorado’s run defense and offensive consistency. Those old nightmares were apparent at the end of a crushing loss. Their defense gave up a whopping 387 total yards of offense while allowing 208 on the ground. 

The Buffs ran out to a 14-0 lead, giving them optimism for a victory. After a successful first two drives, quarterback Kaidon Salter and the offense would go scoreless in the third and fourth quarters. The inconsistency allowed BYU’s offense to take control and tire out the Colorado defense. 

Even with their struggles, the defense gave the offense an opportunity to win or tie the game on the last drive. With two timeouts and under two minutes, Salter and the offense took the field. After a successful first couple of plays, the Buffs found themselves on second down. 

Salter rolled right and slung a ball into the hands of the Cougars’ defender, Isaiah Glasker, which would be the game-ender. The crushing loss epitomized Sanders’ teams: good enough to compete, but not good enough to win. 

What hurt the Buffs’ defense once again were penalties in the secondary. Two pass interference calls and a holding penalty were untimely and helped extend Cougar drives. Even with the team’s struggles, Colorado was able to hang with BYU for four quarters. 

Postgame head coach Deion Sanders felt his team left things out on the field. 

“I can’t say I’m highly upset,” Sanders said. “I’m upset with a few things, but sometimes when it seems like you had more talent, but you didn’t quite win the game, it makes it feel awkward.” 

The Buffs now look toward the Texas Christian Horned Frogs, who have a daunting offense led by quarterback Josh Hoover. His arm has already accounted for 1,242 passing yards and 11 touchdowns in four games. 

On the ground, TCU has three capable backs who have been splitting the workload in Kevorian Barnes, Trent Battle, and Jeremy Payne, who each have 100 yards. Colorado has allowed over 200 yards rushing in every game except Delaware, highlighting a glaring weakness on that side of the ball. 

The Buffs kick off at 6:30 p.m. CST on FOX.