Buffs offense 'looked like we should look' in decisive third quarter
When Colorado and Texas State trudged to their respective locker rooms after a lackluster first half offensively by both teams, the Buffaloes had scored just one offensive touchdown in the previous four quarters - none in the second half of the Rocky Mountain Showdown and just one against the Bobcats.
Finally, the Buffs revved the engines in the third quarter, scoring a pair of touchdowns and a field goal to pull away from stubborn Texas State, eventually walking out of sunny Folsom Field with a 37-3 victory that improved Colorado’s record to 2-0 heading into the Week 3 home matchup with FCS foe Northern Colorado next Saturday at noon MT.
In the third quarter alone, the Buffs amassed 173 total yards on 22 plays, an impressive average of 7.86 yards per play. Quarterback Steven Montez was 10-14 passing for 148 yards while Phillip Lindsay had 23 yards rushing (1 TD) and Bryce Bobo had five receptions for 41 yards, including an 11-yard TD grab.
For the first time since the opening two quarters of Week 1 win over Colorado State, the Buffs offense looked like the unstoppable force many people thought it would be when the season began.
“In the third quarter, we looked like we should look on offense,” Mike MacIntyre said afterwards. “Texas State’s linebackers are really good and they stopped our run (in the first half) and we never could break away. But in the third quarter we hit on all cylinders offensively and defensively. Of course, I would have liked to have started out better. But I was pleased we came out in the second half. That showed a lot to me.”
Four third quarter possessions produced two touchdowns (7 yard run by Phillip Lindsay and 11-yard pass to Bobo Bryce),a field goal, one punt and nine first downs.
What was the key to Colorado’s enhanced production in the third quarter? Montez was more patient in the pocket.
“He heard Gary Barnett yelling at him from the press box, ‘Stay in the pocket!’, so he stayed in the pocket,” MacIntyre chuckled. “I heard him through my headsets. The one time (Montez) did scramble in the second half, instead of doing his whirlybird act, he whirly-birded once and then threw it away. I thought he learned a lot in that second half.”
A halftime conversation with MacIntyre and the Buffs offensive coaches convinced Montez he needed to do things a little differently in the second half.
“We talked at halftime and we explained some things to him,” MacIntyre said. “He started to understand that things are a lot easier when you stay in the pocket. We don’t want to take away his playmaking ability, either. There’s a fine line there. He’ll still make plays (with his feet). He just has to know when he can do it and how to take a loss or throw it away. He’ll keep maturing.
“In the second half, Steven sat in the pocket and was able to see down the field better. He made some throws. Our offensive line held up better too. We were able to run the ball and mix things up and play at a high tempo. I thought that was the difference between (the third quarter) and the first half. Steven is still pretty young, but I thought he made big strides in the third quarter.”
Montez finished 19-of-31 for 299 yards and one touchdown. He was sacked twice. Sixteen of his completions went to three receivers - Bobo Bryce (7 receptions for 75 yards), Shay Fields (5 for 110 yards, including a 44-yarder) and Devin Ross (4 for 68).
“We wanted to come out in the first half and be more explosive,” Fields told the Buffs Radio Network after the game. “The second half showed what we can do. But it was just a little glimpse of it. We have to work on the little things for next week. We had a few shots on the deep ball today and didn’t hit them. We have work on those a little more and stay after practice.”
Fields denied the Buffs took Texas State lightly or had an emotional letdown following the hard-fought win in the Rocky Mountain Showdown.
“We come out and take every opponent like it's a Pac-12 game,” Fields said. “We don’t want to lose in Folsom. We have the mindset of not taking any opponent lightly.”
MacIntyre believes the strong third quarter demonstrates the high expectations for the Buffs offense coming into the season were not overly inflated.
“I still think we’re going to be really good,” MacIntyre said. “So far, we’ve shown good glimpses of it. At some point, we’ll put it together for a whole game and do some really good things. We’ll make big plays. We have good players across the board. I saw some positive things. We’re a very good offense and I think we’ll be a very good offense.”
Consistency is important for the Colorado offense to “get rolling,” MacIntyre said.
“We had 430 yards and scored 37 points,” MacIntyre said. “Had we hit a couple of throws here and there, we would have had 50 (points) and 600 yards. It’s just off a foot with a misread here or a missed block there. We’ll get there.”
Colorado had two touchdown drives of 86 or more yards on Saturday. Last week in the Rocky Mountain Showdown, the Buffs had a six-play, 94-yard TD drive.
MacIntyre likes the resilience shown by the CU offense when they are backed up inside the 15-yard line. Panic? Hardly.
“It’s overlooked, but when we’re backed up, we don’t blink,” MacIntyre said. “We take it and go score. We don’t just say, ‘We have to go punt,’” MacIntyre said. “We’ve done a great job when we’re backed up in the last two games. We’ve done it three times in the first two games. That’s pretty good. That shows we can put it together. We just have to do it more often. We have a good offense and we’ll have a better one as the year goes along.”
