The University of Colorado Buffaloes (5-2, 3-1 Pac-12) soundly defeated the Arizona State Sun Devils (5-2, 2-2 Pac-12) 40-16 Saturday night at Folsom Field in a near must-win situation.
After a tough loss at Southern California last weekend, losing to ASU before a sure-to-be challenging road game against Stanford next week would have been back-breaking.
“I thought tonight was a breakthrough win,” head coach Mike MacIntyre said.
The Buffs came to win. The crowd of 48,588 Buffaloes diehards that packed Folsom Field was the largest crowd in five years, according to reports in the press box.
The stage was set, and the Buffs delivered. The return of senior quarterback Sefo Liufau was a big contributing factor — Liufau started for the first time since spraining an ankle on the road at Michigan.
Liufau hardly made any mistakes. He completed 23-of-31 passes for 265 yards and rushed for a touchdown in the second quarter. But don’t let his lack of passing touchdowns fool you — Liufau was electric in his return. He looked rested and calm in the pocket.
Plus, it’s not like Colorado even needed Liufau to toss a few touchdowns.
The Buffs’ run attack devastated the Sun Devils. Colorado put up 580 total yards of offense against ASU’s defense, with 315 of those yards coming on the ground.
Junior tailback Phillip Lindsay rushed 26 times for 219 yards. He scored three touchdowns in the win and averaged 8.4 yards per carry.
“They ran the ball unlike anybody [that we’ve played in] the whole time I’ve been at Arizona State,” Sun Devils head coach Todd Graham said.
Lindsay, who brought the entire offensive line with him to his postgame press conference, was frank about his success on the ground.
“When you can get past the line five yards without being touched, that’s a running back’s dream,” he said. “The offensive line made it happen for us. All I had to do was run.”
Colorado’s opening possession was the Kyle Evans show, though. The sophomore tailback rushed three consecutive times late in the drive, the final run a 16-yard burst in which he found the end zone, scoring the first points of the game. He finished with 59 yards on 11 carries.
The Buffs forced ASU to punt on its first three offensive drives of the game, but the Sun Devils tied the game at 7-all late in the first quarter on a 5-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Manny Wilkins.
Colorado’s freshman placekicker Davis Price would kick a 20-yard field goal with just less than three minutes left in the first quarter to put the Buffs up 10-7. After that, the Buffaloes seized control of the game. Colorado outscored the Sun Devils 33-9 in the final 45 minutes of play.
To say Arizona State had a lousy performance would be an understatement. The Sun Devils came into Saturday’s game having averaged 39 points per game. Offensively, the team was averaging 183 yards on the ground per contest and 251 through the air.
It was a very different story against CU. The Sun Devils mustered just 108 yards through the air and rushed for 50. Colorado’s defense held ASU to an average of 1.8 yards per rush.
“[Colorado] was the better team tonight, no doubt,” Graham said.
ASU tied the game at 10 in the second quarter after its star kicker Zane Gonzalez nailed a 51-yard field goal. He would go on to hit a 50-yarder in the third quarter and a 59-yarder in the fourth.
But Colorado answered quickly, as Liufau capped a four-play, 75-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown run. The touchdown was set up by a 66-yard reception by junior wide receiver Bryce Bobo, who was the team’s leading receiver — he caught six passes for 110 yards.
“I want to be a contributor to a big win, and I’ll do that by any means possible,” he said.
On the Buffs’ next possession, they upped the score 23-10 when Lindsay found the end zone on a 15-yard run. Price missed the PAT, as it hit the right upright and bounced off.
From that point, the Colorado defense really started to wear down ASU’s offense. It was thanks in part to the efforts of senior outside linebacker Jimmie Gilbert, who recorded six tackles. He was a constant nuisance to Wilkins, sacking him twice and forcing a fumble in the process.
“We just really wanted to make a statement that when you play us, you’re going to get hit,” Gilbert said.
Senior linebacker Kenneth Olugbode led the team with 10 total tackles. As the halfway point lingered, the two teams traded some punts, which wound down the quarter.
Colorado won the opening coin toss and deferred. The Buffs received the ball to begin the third quarter and within a blink of an eye, put a win even more out of ASU’s reach. On the first play, Lindsay took a handoff to the left side and cut upfield for a 75-yard touchdown run.
At that point, all the Sun Devils could do was rely on Gonzalez’s foot to make the score a little more respectable. ASU failed to score another touchdown after the first quarter.
Halfway through the third, junior linebacker Addison Gillam burst through the ASU offensive line and delivered a nasty hit on Wilkins, forcing a bad throw that was picked off easily by junior defensive back Afolabi Laguda.
Gillam would be a constant terror to Wilkins during the game, as he recorded one sack on Wilkins and delivered three monster hits on the Sun Devils’ quarterback.
“It’s just awesome to see him out there doing that,” MacIntyre said. “This was his best week of practice. He gives me a lot of confidence when he’s out there.”
Despite the win, it all wasn’t sunshine and rainbows for Colorado on Saturday night. Special teams miscues continued to persist. Price missed an extra point attempt as well as a short field goal, and was replaced by junior Chris Graham.
Additionally, sophomore wide receiver Jay MacIntyre struggled on punt returns. He fumbled the ball as he attempted to catch a punt in the first quarter, which was recovered by ASU and left to its only touchdown. Then in the fourth quarter, he repeated the sin again, with ASU recovering the fumble.
MacIntyre was hit hard trying to recover the ball and was escorted off the field. At this time it has been confirmed that he is concussed. More details will likely be released next week.
The Buffaloes travel to Palo Alto next week to face the Stanford Cardinal. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. MST.
Contact CU Independent Head Sports Editor Justin Guerriero at justin.guerriero@colorado.edu.
