Defense, ground game shine in 42-0 victory over the RedHawks
Colorado’s 359 rushing yards on Saturday made last week’s minus 27 rushing yards look more like last year.
The Buffs came together in a 42-0 victory over Miami University (Ohio) on Saturday with a fine display of passing, rushing and defense. And they played the whole game.
“In practice, you know, we talked about putting together four quarters of football that we know we can play, doing our job for four quarters, and it felt like we did that for the most part,” said junior defensive tackle George Hypolite.
Hypolite said even though the defense has been playing well all season, holding the RedHawks from scoring even a field goal meant a lot.
“As a defense it’s a great thing to post a shutout. It’s always good to look up there and have a goose egg,” Hypolite said. “I think in this game it’s more important because a lot of young defensive guys got a chance to play who haven’t played a lot before and when they came in the game we kept it rolling and we kept the zero up there.”
Even though a shut out seems to highlight the defense, it was the offense that really stole the spotlight. For an offense averaging 271 yards through the first three games, Saturday showed the Buffs would not be ranked No. 116 of 119 NCAA teams in rushing for long.
The Buffs gained 359 net rushing yards, in part because of a great effort from Hugh Charles. The senior tailback was held to nine yards against Florida State last week. Charles ran for 123 yards in the game and one touchdown. It was the sixth 100-yard rushing game of his career.
“We ran the ball well, but I think the big part of it was the criticism that we had and we knew what we could do and we showed them,” Charles said.
Tight end Nate Solder had three receptions for 50 yards, which were his first receptions this year.
Solder said as the season progresses, a team with so many young players getting playing time is bound to improve.
“There are a lot of younger guys and I think four games, we are starting to get into it,” Solder said. “Definitely for me, that is a big part of it.”
While the team did have 634 yards of total offense, quarterback Cody Hawkins hit a few snags.
Even though the redshirt freshman finished 19-30 for 275 yards passing, he threw two interceptions. Coach Hawkins said he got greedy, going for the big plays instead of the safe ones.
Coach Hawkins cited one play, a failed fourth down conversion, as an example of the quarterback’s “okay” game.
“When we went for it, you know, on fourth down, we were running a little flat route with Hugh and we had it, we had a flat route, but (Cody Hawkins) had to get greedy and throw it down field and try to hit one to Josh (Smith),” coach Hawkins said.
Cody Hawkins said mistakes are something that are bound to happen in his first season at CU.
“For me, I’ve just got to be smart. It’s a growing process for me and hopefully it comes sooner than later,” Cody Hawkins said. “I’m a freshman, I’m getting used to things. I think (offensive coordinator and quarterbacks) Coach Helfrich is doing a good job with us and even though he knows when I make mistakes, just don’t make the same mistake twice.”
Coach Hawkins said the team improved a lot overall. The second-year coach said after the last week’s Florida State game, the team did not need to use excuses.
“I think our guys really found out last week that we’re there,” coach Hawkins said. “For our guys to come out and do really what we’re supposed to do was a good step for our guys.”
CU now focuses on preparing for the Sept. 29 homecoming game against the University of Oklahoma.
“Football, you know, you’re only as good as your last victory and we want to keep that going as long as we can,” Hypolite said.
Contact Campus Press staff writer Margot Schneider at margot.schneider@thecampuspress.com.
