The No. 21 Colorado Buffaloes trail the UCLA Bruins 10-7 at the half.
Perhaps the biggest thing that’s going to happen the entire four quarters has already happened. Quarterback Sefo Liufau went down with an injury. There’s no indication whether he’ll return in the second half or not.
The quarterback was playing his least inspiring football of the year. After not having thrown a pick all season, which was a school record 152 straight pass attempts without an interception, he threw two in the first half. The play that injured him saw Liufau get hit as he was throwing. UCLA recovered the fumble.
Steven Montez came in to relieve Liufau. But his performance was underwhelming as well. Montez threw a pick on a long ball.
The officiating has played a large role in this game. To paraphrase Jerry Maguire, they have said, “Show me the penalties!” Colorado has already been called for a season high eight penalties, which has given UCLA 78 yards.
This has certainly affected Colorado’s flow, but the defense has kicked up all its tricks. The team is only down three points, but the offense committed four turnovers.
The defensive 11 has also been without Jimmie Gilbert, who was ejected early in the game with a targeting penalty. One can only imagine how much differently the game would be going if the team had his pass rushing ability to add to their arsenal.
Colorado was ranked the 15th team in the country in the first College Football ranking. That was a lot higher than the 21 ranking given to them by the AP Poll. If they want to keep that ranking, they’re going to have to put together a much more consistent second half.
Contact CU Independent Copy Editor Jake Mauff at jacob.mauff@colorado.edu.
The CU Independent will have a full game report once time expires.
