In a game littered with turnovers, the Colorado Buffaloes football team fell to 1-3 as it lost 35-24 to the West Virginia Mountaineers in Morgantown, W.Va.
Buffs junior quarterback Cody Hawkins threw three interceptions and the Mountaineers turned the ball over four times Thursday night.
WVU wore down the Buffs’ defense and all but sealed the game when freshman running back Ryan Clarke scored from 1-yard out to extend the Mountaineers’ lead to 28-17. Clarke’s touchdown punctuated a 14-play, 69-yard scoring drive with nine minutes and 17 seconds remaining in the contest. WVU called stud junior running back Noel Devine’s number nine times in the drive.
CU tried to respond but junior kicker Aric Goodman’s 57-yard field goal came up empty.
After WVU tacked on an insurance touchdown, CU sophomore wide receiver Markques Simas scored his first career touchdown when Hawkins found him in the end zone for a 20-yard scoring strike with three ticks remaining.
Hawkins was 27-of-52 with two touchdown passes.
Had the Buffs capitalized on the Mountaineers’ mistakes, CU could’ve made the game interesting.
On their third possession of the game, Mountaineers senior quarterback Jarrett Brown turned the ball over when he fumbled the football at WVU’s 34-yard line. The Buffs advanced six yards, but Goodman’s 45-yard field goal attempt bounced off the left upright.
WVU turned the ball over again on its next two possessions, but all CU got was a three-and-out and Goodman nailing a 39-yard try to hand CU its first and only lead of the game at 10-7 with 3:51 to go in the second quarter.
Big plays, which have hurt CU all season, once again plagued the Buffs.
On the Mountaineers’ second play from scrimmage, Devine busted through CU’s defense and dashed 77 yards to the end zone 4:33 into the contest to give WVU a 7-0 lead.
Later, Devine reeled off a 56-yard run to set up Brown’s 6-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Jock Sanders to put the Mountaineers ahead 14-10.
Finally, Brown’s 48-yard touchdown strike to sophomore wide receiver Bradley Starks with 13:05 to play in the third stretched WVU’s lead to 21-10.
Devine carried the ball 22 times for a career-high 220 yards. Brown was 12-of-19 for 148 yards and two touchdowns.
CU started off well on its first possession as they moved 45 yards in 10 plays to the Mountaineers’ 23. However, Goodman missed a 40-yarder wide left.
Stewart scored on a 36-yard run to tie the game 7-7 with 8:36 remaining in the first. Stewart finished with 105 yards on 21 carries.
CU’s next game will be on Oct. 10 at 5:15 p.m. MST when they take on the No. 2-ranked Texas Longhorns in Austin, Texas.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Alex K.W. Schultz at Alexander.schultz@colorado.edu.
