Ducks pull away from Buffaloes
E U GENE, ORE . » Through the first five games of the Mel Tucker era, the Colorado football team had won more than it had lost, and the losses left the Buffaloes feeling they were oh-soclose to being a great team.
On Friday night, the Buffs were thoroughly beaten and reminded that they’ve got a long way to go.
“Obviously very disappointed with how the game turned out tonight,” Tucker, the Buffs’ firstyear head coach said after a 45-3 loss to No. 13 Oregon at Autzen Stadium. “It’s a really kind of heated situation (in the locker room). Guys are frustrated; they want to win, but the answer is with the simple truth and that’s what I told the team.
“We’ve got to take this time on the way back to really look within ourselves individually — and you can’t lie to yourself — and just figure out what I have to do to get better. Don’t try to justify something that’s not real. And just let’s face it up. As long as we do that, we’ll have an opportunity to get better from this. Sometimes as we’re trying to get to where we know we need to get to, unfortunately, sometimes we got to go through it. And that’s what we’re doing right now. We’re right in the middle of it. We’re going through it.”
Just six days earlier, CU (3-3, 1-2 Pac-12) was playing for sole possession of first place in the South division and fell just five excruciating points short against Arizona, 35-30, at Folsom Field.
Friday was vastly different, as Oregon (5-1, 3-0) handed the Buffs their worst loss since a 59-7 defeat at Washington on Nov. 9, 2013.
Quarterback Steven Montez, who led the Buffs to a stunning 41-38 upset of the Ducks on this field in his first career start on Sept. 24, 2016, had a disastrous night this time. The senior completed just 19-of-34 passes for 131 yards and a career-high four interceptions.
Montez had thrown 115 passes without an interception before his first one, and then threw four in a span of nine throws. Those turnovers were huge, but they were hardly the sole reason for this beat down.
CU was flagged a season-high 14 times for 114 yards, including a personal foul against tight end Jalen Harris that led to his ejection from the game for throwing punches.
Defensively, the Buffs gave up 527 yards, including 252 on the ground. Cyrus Habibi-likio ran for 47 yards and three touchdowns, while CJ Verdell rushed for 171 yards for the Ducks.
Oregon’s star quarterback Justin Herbert, a candidate for the top pick in the 2020 NFL draft, threw for 261 yards and two touchdowns – extending his nation-long streak to 34 consecutive games with at least one TD pass. It was a solid performance in front of two dozen NFL scouts.