Dorrell turns page after debut victory
After more than eight months of preparing for his first game as the Colorado head football coach, Karl Dorrell got to celebrate a victory in his debut.
He didn’t take long to turn the page.
On Monday, two days after the Buffaloes’ 48- 42 win against UCLA in the coronavirus pandemicdelayed season opener, Dorrell reviewed the win with media, but also turned his focus on the Buffs’ next task. The unbeaten Buffs ( 1- 0) visit Stanford ( 0- 1) on Saturday.
“It’s a good start for us,” Dorrell said. “Definitely have a lot of issues to correct in all phases. … We’re looking forward to another opportunity this weekend.”
Offensively, the Buffs were more productive than expected. Despite having a new starter at quarterback ( Sam Noyer) and missing their top returning rusher ( Alex Fontenot) and receiver ( K. D. Nixon) from a year ago because of injuries, the Buffs hit the 48- point mark for just the fourth time in 83 games against Pac- 12 opponents since joining the conference in 2011.
Noyer threw for 257 yards and a touchdown, Jarek Broussard ran for 187 yards and three scores, and eight different receivers caught passes. The Buffs scored on eight of 15 possessions ( not counting the end- of- game kneel downs) and they were 7for- 7 in the red zone, with six touchdowns.
Dorrell wasn’t surprised the Buffs were so crisp.
“We have a high standard right from the very beginning,” he said.
“We felt that we have good coaches, good players. Our players have done a great job with their training and with their time and studying our systems that allowed us to be productive this past Saturday.”
Dorrell also praised the play calling by offensive coordinator Darrin Chiaverini, who is back in that role for the first time since 2018.
“I think Darren’s had a really good start,” Dorrell said. “I thought he called a really, really good game.”
Defensively, the Buffs set the tone by forcing four first- half turnovers and turning those into 21 points, but it was far from a polished effort.
The Buffs gave up 478 yards and were burned repeatedly by big plays from the Bruins. UCLA got on a roll and scored touchdowns on four of six second- half possessions.
“They got back in the game and we had to settle down, and our players did settle down and executed a little bit better, had a couple of really important fourth down stops in the fourth quarter that helped solidify the game for us offensively,” Dorrell said.
After CU built a 35- 7 lead, UCLA scored on plays of 52, 65, 15, 26 and 9 yards. In the last 35 minutes, UCLA had 14 plays of 10 yards or more.
“I know we had some coverage mistakes in a couple of places that allowed some big plays,” Dorrell said. “We’re going to address those issues and try to get those things fixed for this coming week. There’s no question Stanford has seen all that; it’s on tape. So we have a pretty good agenda in front of us to try to get a lot of things cleaned up.”
There isn’t much time to do that, but Dorrell said he’s happy to return to the in- season routine.
“Now we’re into our normal game season rhythm, so that’s good to have that process going,” he said.
CU kicker retires. Colorado place kicker James Stefanou has decided to retire from the game, the school announced on Monday. The oldest player in the Football Bowl Subdivision, Stefanou, 33, informed head coach Karl Dorrell of his decision on Monday.
“James feels that he can no longer physically perform as well as he would like and has decided to end his career,” Dorrell said in a press release from the school. “He has been a valuable member of the team for three years, and we understand why he has made this choice.”
A native of Australia, Stefanou came to CU in 2017 after nearly a decade of playing professional soccer and has been the Buffs’ primary kicker the past three years, but has continued to battle injuries. He missed time the last two seasons with a hip injury.
Stefanou had surgery on his hip this past offseason and said he was feeling better than ever coming into the season. In Saturday’s season- opening 48- 42 win against UCLA, Stefanou went 5for- 5 on extra points in the first half and handled early kickoff duties. He then missed both field goal attempts — including one that was blocked — and was replaced by sophomore Evan Price.
Stefanou finishes his career with 199 points, ranking eighth all- time at CU and fourth among kickers. His extra point percentage (. 990, 97- of- 98) is the best in school history and his field goal percentage (. 694, 34- of- 49) is fourth.
Stefanou