Published Oct 12, 2019
10 takeaways from Colorado's 45-3 loss to No. 13 Oregon
Justin Guerriero  •  CUSportsReport
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Colorado hit the road for Eugene for a Friday night, FS1-broadcasted showdown with No. 13 Oregon. What early on began as a contest that despite early penalties and chunk plays allowed through the air turned into a slaughter near halftime.

Winding down towards halftime, Colorado trailed 17-3 but appeared close to getting back into it, as a late second quarter drive placed CU at Oregon's 3-yard line. 2:21 remained in the second quarter.

But soon after that, thanks to two goal line penalties on the Buffs and a tipped ball in the endzone that resulted in an Oregon pick, the Ducks capped a calamitous turn of events for the Buffs by securing a late-quarter TD drive, going up 24-3 at the halfway point.

Steven Montez threw two more interceptions on CU's ensuing first two drives of the second half and in the span of about six minutes, from late in the second quarter to a bit under 11 minutes in the third, Oregon had scored 21 unanswered points and put the game away.

Below are 10 takeaways from the Buffs' blowout 45-3 loss.

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1. A culmination of Colorado's already known deficiencies cost them.

***For starters, it was clear heading into this game that Colorado, injury plagued at CB, minus Mustafa Johnson, with Jalen Sami playing banged up and a total of 5 true freshmen starting, was going to need to play immaculately on offense.

Discipline in terms limiting boneheaded, shot-to-the-foot penalties were going to need to be kept to a minimum, and the D was going to have to do its normal thing — fine, give up 30 points, but get some timely stops / turnovers and ultimately put the ball in the offense's court to keep the team in the game.

And that would have been the minimum prerequisite for success.Needless to say, this everything-must-go-100-percent-our-way strategy Colorado has been employing to try to win games in recent weeks blew up in the Buffs' face tonight in front of a very talented team, a team that ruthlessly makes you pay for mistakes and stagnation.

2. The penalties.

***14 penalties for 114 yards? Merciful lord above...granted, that a decent amount of the penalties came during garbage time, but I'm honestly not sure if that makes things worse or slightly better? Jalen Harris' ejection after throwing a punch was the cherry on top of it all. K.D. Nixon's redzone hold was hard to watch.

And how about the false starts? Those were arguably the most infuriating penalties all night, because they hurt the team when it mattered and served as an embarrassment when the game was far gone.

What is going on with this team in terms of discipline? For the second week in a row, a plethora of penalties really hurt Colorado.

3. Offensive playcalling seemed conservative at the minimum, ineffective at the maximum

***I have to say, I was all around displeased with Jay Johnson's playcalling. I don't need a flea flicker or some extravagant trick play called once a quarter, but something of that sort sure could have been nice to see as an attempted spark to get the O going.

I thought throughout the game playcalling was conservative and ultimately bad on short yardage situations.

I do find it hard to criticize him that much for the botched goal line possession near halftime...penalties on that one derailed things beyond repair but still. That said, on CU's 1st and goal from the 3-yard line, why not .insert the power back Jaren Mangham and try to punch it in?

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