[Editor’s Note: Bruno Sammartino is stepping in with our Monday game post-mortem. I’ve been in Grand Junction this weekend for a D2 football game, and will have a piece on D2 football later this week.]
On Saturday, a depleted Buffaloes squad — starting a true freshman at quarterback and missing two starting tackles and two starting cornerbacks — fought valiantly but ultimately fell to West Virginia, 29–22, in Morgantown.
While the loss stings, this team showed a level of grit missing in those October blowouts and offered a glimpse of what’s coming:
Julian Lewis is every bit as advertised.
We at BuffsBlog still aren’t entirely sure who’s calling plays, but the offense finally showed signs of life. Insiders say the playbook was cut nearly in half for this game, and the simplified approach seemed to spark improvement in a unit that had been outscored 105–24 in its previous two outings.
After an anemic first quarter that produced just one first down, Lewis lit up the second. He led a 13-play, 70-yard scoring drive powered by physical touches from Dre’Lon Miller (10 rushes for 47 yards; four catches for 37) and precision throws to Sincere Brown (two catches, 27 yards) and Joseph Williams (three catches, 64 yards and a touchdown). Moments later, Lewis engineered a 77-yard, six-play march punctuated by a 24-yard burst from Dallan Hayden (10 carries, 40 yards) and two gorgeous throws — a 22-yard strike to Omarion Miller (six catches, 131 yards, one TD) and a 9-yard touchdown dart to Williams.
Lewis kept the Buffs in it after halftime, turning a John Slaughter interception into another Omarion Miller touchdown to cut the deficit to 16-19. But after West Virginia answered with a field goal, CU stalled late, settling for field goals on two of its final three possessions. A failed onside attempt sealed the result.
Lewis finished 22-of-35 for 299 yards and two touchdowns, with a strong 109.1 passer rating and a 79.4 PFF grade — remarkable poise for a true freshman on the road.
The defense was opportunistic.
Even without starting corners DJ McKinney and RJ Johnson, the Buffs forced three turnovers — their most since Week 1 — and stayed alive because of those takeaways. Early in the first quarter, after CU was stopped on downs deep in its own territory, Brandon Davis-Swain (PFF 71.2) ripped out a textbook forced fumble to prevent points. In the third quarter, back-to-back interceptions by Preston Hodge (PFF 73.4) and Slaughter (PFF 74.8) rattled West Virginia’s freshman quarterback. Slaughter’s pick set up a touchdown drive that brought CU within three.
Jeremiah Brown (PFF 62.1) and Davis-Swain set the tone early. Brown delivered his best game as a Buff with 11 tackles, repeatedly beating blocks on the first three series. Davis-Swain continued his resurgence with a sack, a TFL, and the early forced fumble. Safety Tawfiq Byard (PFF 77.8), who missed the first half due to last week’s targeting call, entered after halftime and promptly stacked up nine tackles and a TFL — a breakout showing that suggests he’s next in CU’s long line of standout safeties.
A makeshift offensive line found its footing.
Playing without all-everything LT Jordan Seaton and starting RT Larry Johnson, CU’s line struggled early. Andre Roye Jr. drew the start but graded out at 28.8 (somewhere close to John Blutarsky’s GPA) as West Virginia consistently won at the point of attack. Once Kareem Harden (PFF 65.1) rotated in, protection stabilized and the run game found just enough space to operate.
Omarrion Miller’s best game of the season.
Despite an early fumble on one of Lewis’ best throws of the day, Miller responded with a statement performance: six catches for 131 yards and a touchdown (69.6). Hayden, Williams, and Dre’Lon Miller rounded out the Buffs’ top skill contributors, each earning PFF marks above 60.
Next week.
After a much-needed bye, the Buffs will look to get healthy before heading into their matchup with Arizona State on November 22 (time TBD).
If you want to read my dad’s favorite piece this year about the Buffs and Denver Broncos, check out:
It was hard to believe that Kareem Harden was behind Roye Jr.
Also, good to see Preston Hodge start to play. He’s been bad this year but had a good game on Saturday.
I’ve heard from several players that coaches need to lay off the contact in practice. There’s a reason we have so many players hurt.
Hopefully we win the bye week.
I’ve heard the same thing re: too much contact in practice FWIW.