Colorado State dominates in 23-17 upset; Rams skill players shine

BOULDER — There’s an eerie quiet around the University of Colorado campus this evening. There’s no exuberant honking among the line of cars leaving the lots and no smatterings of the CU fight song in the air; those that usually manage to lead groups of fans together for a louder, celebratory rendition.

There also are no overturned cars on fire, no T-shirts being used as bandanas to hide looter identities, and the pungent smell of tear gas doesn’t hang over the Flatirons. Many feared this would be the story after a CU loss.

Tonight, it was different. It was worse than that bad.

Ever been in an argument where you had no leg to stand on? Your spouse/sibling/parent comes at you ready to fight and lays into you with all the reasons you’re wrong and they’re right. Normally, you’d be inclined to get defensive, fight back and tell them what they’ve got confused. But when you know you’ve screwed up and have no ammo, what do you say? Usually nothing, just nod and walk away.

The Buffalo fans recognized this and didn’t cause a ruckus after the 23-17 loss to Colorado State on Sunday. There wasn’t a game-changing call they got hosed on and no single performance that cost them the game. Colorado was simply dominated and looked nowhere near ready to play.

CU failed in all vital aspects of the game. The numbers show the Buffs losing when it comes to third-down efficiency, total yardage, turnovers and more. These aren’t keys to the game. These are the basics. You don’t move the ball, you don’t get more chances to keep moving the ball and you give the ball away — you lose.

But this wasn’t so much a story about Colorado playing far below expectations. Sunday night was about a group of unknowns coming in and playing out of their minds, and a team that refused to listen to anyone but their coach.

In a hostile environment, CSU played exactly the way they needed to. Grant Stucker came out for his first series as a starting college quarterback and hit CU in the mouth. His first pass of the game was an 11-yard dart to running back John Mosure, followed by a 57-yard bomb to Dion Morton two plays later that would set up the first score, an easy 2-yard touchdown run.

The experienced CSU offensive line gave Stucker more than enough time to make that huge throw, and that was the spark of confidence he needed. After his second drive stalled, Stucker capped off a 50-yard drive at the end of the first quarter with a beautiful 14-yard TD pass to Mosure that laced its way past three CU defenders. Then another 43-yard completion on the next series, which may have led to another seven points had there not been a penalty on receiver Ryan Gardner for unsportsmanlike conduct after the play. CSU still managed to secure a Ben DeLine field goal, bringing the score to 17-0 before half.

The game also brought about answers to the Rams’ running attack. Stucker’s big passes were a result of the success both running backs Leonard Mason and Mosure had. The pair combined for over 150 yards, and would probably have put more up had Mosure not been held out due to unspecified injury late in the contest. Mosure beat up the Colorado defensive line with consistent gains up the middle, and then Mason would outrun them on the edges.

All this came down on CU so hard and fast that the boos from the stands felt like more disbelief than anger as halftime started, the Buffs down 20-3. The bright spot in the first half for CU was Aric Goodman’s career best 54-yard field goal. Kicking was the most consistent part of their attack.

Coming into the third quarter, the Buffaloes showed a bit of a flash. It seemed they had made the necessary adjustments when it took only 1:35 and four plays to drive 66 yards for their first touchdown, then played their best defense of the night forcing a three-and-out from CSU.

It ended just as quickly as it started. Driving again, Cody Hawkins connected with Scotty McKnight across the middle of the field, where Rams CB Elijah-Blu Smith was waiting. Smith cracked McKnight accross the face, forcing a fumble. This sucked the air out of the Colorado offense for the rest of the night.

The Buffaloes managed to get one more touchdown, but with only 1:57 left to play, a necessary onside kick failed. By then you could tell the CU players were done with being beaten, just by their body language. After the game, comments from Coach Dan Hawkins and members of the defense reflected this. No one really had anything to say, other than a great sense of disappointment among the squad.

So, after being taken to task, will the Buffs players themselves keep quiet, walk away and put their heads down for the short week of prep? We’ll know more Friday when they play at Toledo.

Editor’s note: Comments have been turned off on football stories involving CU to meet the university’s requirement for giving media credentials to Web site reporters and photographers.