Bobo’s one-handed catch was no fluke
Colorado wideout says he practices spectacular move
After he had already leaped up and flung his body at the football, Colorado wide receiver Bryce Bobo realized he needed to adjust. The ball was on the backside of his body. He’d have to reach back and catch it with one hand — a tall task for many college receivers, but not this one.
“All I’m thinking is, ‘I have to make that catch,’ ” Bobo told USA TODAY Sports this week.
And, somehow, at the same time his right foot came down in the end zone and he stretched his right hand out away from his defender, Bobo did just that. He caught the ball, one of the craziest catches of the season and the touchdown that would be the game winner, giving Colorado a victory against Oregon for the first time since 1998.
“We always tell the quarterback, ‘Put it in an area where we can get it or no one gets it,’ ” Buffaloes offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren said. “I thought (Steven Montez) did a nice job of placing the ball in there where Bryce had a chance to get it or it was an incompletion.”
Colorado had been trying to set up this particular slant-and-go play — they call it “Sluggo” — throughout the game. With just less than nine minutes left, the Buffs decided it was time to try it out.
“We were down five points, and we were on the high end of the red zone,” Lindgren said. “It was third-and-10, and we said, ‘You know, this is probably a good situation to maybe just take a shot.’ We knew we were on the borderline for field goal range, and we thought we needed a touchdown there, so let’s go take a shot and maybe get a pass interference or maybe you get a touchdown.”
Bobo had practiced that particular route a few times in the week leading up to the Oregon game with Montez, who was about to get his first career start in relief of injured senior quarterback Sefo Liufau.
Montez focused on his footwork: one step, pump, then a reset step.
He had messed up a few times in practice but kept going, working on figuring out how best to use the differences between two of his primary targets. Shay Fields was faster than Bobo, but shorter; Bobo, who is 6-2, made for a bigger target who could stretch out and make big plays — even if he had to do it onehanded.
Bobo had made a gorgeous one-handed touchdown grab against Colorado State in the season opener, and he practices onehanded catches as part of his daily routine.
“It’s kind of his thing now,” Montez said with a chuckle.
What Montez and Bobo knew heading into that fourth-quarter play call was that as long as the cornerback bit a little bit on the slant and “if he’s even, he’s leaving ” afterward — meaning if Bobo was close in the footrace, he could get into a position to make a catch the defender couldn’t.
“It’s a three-step slant — one step in to sell the slant route, and the defender starts to come,” Bobo said. “Then I plant my foot and run.”
Just before the drive, Bobo was one of the receivers trying to lift Montez’s spirits. He had thrown two interceptions in the second half. Liufau had pulled him aside and told him to brush off past mistakes and win the game. Bobo had come over, too.
“Bobo was one of those guys who said, ‘Look, man, I need you to just give me a shot. Put it where I can get it,’ ” Montez said. “Then he went out and made a huge play for us.”