Karl Dorrell's full post-Alamo Bowl remarks

Following Colorado's 55-23 loss in the Valero Alamo Bowl at the hands of Texas, Buffs head coach Karl Dorrell joined reporters on Zoom to review the game.

Disappointment was the obvious theme in what Dorrell had to say, as the Buffaloes allowed 638 yards of total offense to the Longhorns, whose 55 points scored set a new record for points allowed by CU in a bowl game.

Below is a transcript of Dorrells' full postgame remarks.

Dorrell's opening statement:

“I think defensively, they did some positive things in the first half and, unfortunately, we know both sides of the ball weren’t working well with each other, we didn't have enough continuity and maybe some drives and scoring some points offensively. I think our defense had a lot of plays and they started the second half in a tough spot with a couple of plays, and in a series that went for a touchdown. We did not play well. There's no sugarcoating it at all.”

Dorrell on missing over 30 scholarship players due to COVID, contact tracing, injury and opt-outs:

“Yes, we were short a lot of people but you know me now and I don't make any excuses. We got to play and figure out how to do it with what we got. And I was expecting us to play better than that. I was expected to be more competitive. I was expecting a lot of it to be better than what it looked like so it just shows me I got a tremendous amount of work to do. And really, that is what it is- there are no excuses.”

Dorrell on the reality check that this loss provides:

“This game tells me how much further we have to go. Our tackling was poor and our inefficiency on offense and we didn't take care of the football. These are the things we’ve been preaching and talking about and we didn't improve in those areas. It's unfortunate and we have got a lot of work to do.”

Dorrell on a non-call for targeting on Sam Noyer in the third quarter:

“From my understanding, I felt Sam was sliding. At the time of where he was giving up himself on the gain and usually when you slide like that feet first, he's showing that he's given himself up, so I thought that was definitely a foul. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. Some people saw differently.”

Dorrell on any excitement he feels about the foundation of the program that was set in 2020:

“It is hard for me to imagine any excitement right now. I'm just being honest. I'm not feeling excited about anything. Even the games that we won this year, it's really what did we do last and what’s the final impression. Those are the things that I have my mind on right now. The way I look at it is we got a tremendous amount of work to go. We got development; we have a number of issues that we got to get cleaned up. Both coaches and players. I'm gonna have a lot of work to do this offseason.”

Dorrell on Noyer's issues at QB (he went 8-of-23 for 101 yards and two interceptions in the loss:)

“I think he had a great week of practice. He was hitting all those throws in practice. It just didn't happen today. He wasn't sharp and it was unfortunate because we felt he was going to be. He had one of those weeks of practices that kind of showed the performances that he was making in the first couple games of the season. Unfortunately, it just didn't work out that way."

"We have just a tremendous amount of work to do. Not to take anything away from Sam because he's come a long way. Like I said, he was a former safety that we moved back to quarterback and he did some really good things for us, but for us to be a program that we're expecting ourselves to be, we got to be better in a lot of areas and our execution on offense has to be better and defensively we have to do a lot of things better. We just did not play at a level that I was expecting this team to be today.”

Dorrell on true freshman QB Brendon Lewis' performance vs. Texas. Lewis was 6-of-10 for 95 ayrds through the air and ran the ball seven times for 95 yards and a TD:

“He was probably the bright note of tonight, I would believe. I think he came in in some difficult circumstances and engineered a couple of good drives. He's been doing a lot of that stuff in practice and it's good to see him gain some experience, gain some confidence, knowing that he belongs at this level and to play against a good program and to have the kind of success that he had. I'm very encouraged by his performance today, no question."

"I'm sure he'll learn from this, in terms of putting that feather of confidence in his hat that he can move forward and continue to develop and feel like he's a very qualified quarterback at the college level. It was great, he was kind of the bright light of the offense. He kind of engineered a couple positive drives and I think it kind of engineered the team a little bit, so hopefully that'll be something that's good for him to carry into the offseason and keep building on going into spring practice.”

Dorrell on the health of Jarek Broussrd:

“I think that he’s fine, he had a little bit of a shoulder issue, with a little stinger, but I think that he was able to come back into the game and play. He is fine, like you said he had a nice touchdown. I think it was tough getting a consistent run game tonight, and I think he worked hard. He did as best as he could given what was out there for him tonight.”

Dorrell on how close Colorado is to a program like Texas:

“We still have a ways to go, there is no question about that. We have got to get a couple good recruiting classes in, which we have started to do. It is going to take probably two or three years to get at the level that we need to be. We feel like we are the type of program that should be on the national level. This was a good measuring stick on how far we need to go, that is what it is. We did not have as many of our scholarship players here, but we still have so much work to do in a number of ways."

"We just need to put our heads down and get to work this offseason. Keep improving week after week and day after day and continue to build this team. Build their confidence, build their skill sets. There is a lot of things that we need to do but it starts with just working hard and having a good mindset going into this offseason.”

Dorrell on what he expects out of the impending quarterback position battle beginning next spring:

“I think that we are going to work through spring practice. Sam (Noyer), I do not know if he is going to be available because he may have to have some surgery, but we are going to develop the whole football team. It is not just his position, we have got to get better in so many different areas, everywhere. I think everything is always open for competition. Everything, every position."

"We want to play with the best players at every spot, every year is a new year. Any starter that is a returning starter has to prove that he’s deserving to be the starter. We need to build the depth of our program to challenge our depth that is in those starting positions. I think that every year is always a different year. We are going to build it the best way we can, with the best guys that we think can help us be successful.”

Dorrell if the Buffs were ever at risk of not being able to play, given the lack of available scholarship players:

“I don’t make that decision. That is for the people in the medical facility, and the doctors, and the AD and all those people. I just try to do the best I can with what I have.”

Dorrell regarding if he knows which of CU's seniors plan to come back for an extra year or move on:

“I do not. I will eventually talk to those guys when we get back from the winter break. We will sit down and talk about what their goals are and what our goals are, and we will see how things work out after those discussions.”