Buffaloes rip away a victory
BOULDER, Colo. — Central Arkansas was less than 15 minutes away Saturday night from earning its biggest victory since moving to NCAA Division I in 2006, but Colorado had other plans.
The Buffaloes scored 21 points in the final 14:56 to hold off the Bears 38-24 at Folsom Field.
Wynrick Smothers’ sneak on fourth-and-1 put the Bears ahead 24-17 on the first play of the fourth quarter, but after that it was all Colorado.
The Bears led 24-17 and were driving deep into Buffaloes territory when Smothers’ pass went through his receiver’s hands and into the hands of Jered Bell. He returned it 79 yards, diving over the goal line just as Smothers was bringing him down, to tie the game at 24-24.
On the next series, Chidobe Awuzie ripped the ball from Jatavious Wilson’s arms at the Bears 30, and two plays later Connor Wood found Pual Richardson all alone over the middle for the go-ahead touchdown that gave Colorado a 31-24 lead.
Nelson Spruce capped the comeback when he turned Wood’s short screen pass into a 39-yard touchdown that made it 38-24 with less than five minutes remaining.
Kenneth Crawley sealed it with an interception in the end zone at the two-minute mark.
“It’s a game of big plays, and we had an opportunity to make some in the first half and we didn’t make them,” UCA Coach Clint Conque said. “Then we literally gave them 21 points with the turnovers. You can’t do that against an FBS team on their home field. There were dropped balls,
tipped balls, and we left our defense on the field way too long. But our kids kept playing.
“We played very hard. We’re very disappointed. We had a touchdown lead with an opportunity to go up more and the pick six changed the entire momentum of the game.”
Richardson finished with 209 yards on 11 catches, which followed his 10-catch, 208-yard performance in Colorado’s 4124 victory over Colorado State in its opener, which earned him Pacific-12 player of the week honors.
The Buffaloes ended a six-game losing streak at Folsom Field in Coach Mike MacIntyre’s home debut and improved to 2-2 against lower-tier schools.
In their first game against a Pac-12 school, the Bears (1-1) were in line for their second victory over a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent to go with their victory against Western Kentucky in 2009 before things fell apart in the final 11 minutes. UCA travels to Tennessee-Martin on Saturday.
Smothers completed 33 of 55 passes for 280 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Wood finished 23 of 36 for 341 yards and 3 touchdowns. He threw two interceptions and fumbled twice on sackstrips by Markeith Gaines, both of which led to touchdowns by Central Arkansas.
Gaines’ first sack-strip was recovered by Derek Floyd and Smothers capitalized with a 22-yard TD toss to Dezmin Lewis (nine catches for 89 yards) to get the Bears on the board. His second sack-strip led to UCA’s early fourth-quarter score.
Colorado cornerback Greg Henderson, who returned a fumble for a score a week earlier, stepped in front of Courtney Whitehead to intercept Smothers’ pass and raced 46 yards for a touchdown that put Colorado on top 14-0.
Smothers’ 11-yard pass to Chase Dixon followed Bobby Watkins’ interception at the Bears 24 to tie the game at 1414 going into halftime.
Dillion Winfrey returned the second-half kickoff 88 yards but the Bears settled for substitute kicker Jace Denker’s 28-yard field goal that gave Central Arkansas its first lead, and Will Oliver’s 31-yarder tied it back up at 17.
The Bears also lost defender Aum’Arie Wallace to a dislocated left ankle in the second half.