Junior tailback Rodney Stewart is tripped up by Texas Tech defenders in the first half of the Buffaloes' 27-24 loss to the Red Raiders at Folsom Field on Saturday. (CU Independent/Patrick Ghidossi)
A one-time lead turned itself into a loss. The home team Buffs fell to a Big 12 team who boasts a hurried spread attack. CU head coach Dan Hawkins was forced to answer questions about his team’s failures.
This must be old news, right?
Nope, just recurring news. Texas Tech came back from a ten-point deficit to top CU 27-24 at Folsom Field, on the school’s homecoming weekend. Texas Tech senior kicker Matt Williams’ field goal with two minutes left did-in Hawkins and the Buffs.
A 3-1 start deteriorates into a 3-4 (0-3) overall record. The defeat marks losses in back-to-back home games, and three consecutive conference games.
“We are just going to keep hanging in there,” coach Hawkins said. “And we need them (the fans) to hang in there.”
Junior quarterback Tyler Hansen left the game with bruised ribs in the second quarter and did not return. He started the offense fast, completing nine of ten passes and running in for the team’s first touchdown.
As Hansen limped off to the sideline, senior Cody Hawkins trotted back onto Folsom Field for the first time all season.
It did not take long for the strong sound of cheers to roar down from the rafters. Cody Hawkins drove the hurry-up offense 75 yards and a field goal gave the Buffs a 10-7 halftime advantage.
“Having been here five years –I get used to the no huddle pace,” Cody Hawkins said. “It’s stuff we do everyday in practice.”
After coming back out from the locker room, he and the offense looked even better. In the third quarter alone Cody Hawkins threw for 171 yards and two touchdowns. True freshman Paul Richardson caught both, including one on a 60-yard bomb.
“I knew it was my time to step up so I was just waiting and I was ready,” said 18-year-old Richardson after the game.
The latter of his scores extended CU’s lead to 24-14 by the start of the final quarter. It would not be enough.
Tech scored early in the quarter with a 40-yard field goal. On their next drive, quarterback Taylor Potts took his offense 80 yards in less than two minutes.
More impressively, he did it by challenging both of CU’s senior corners, Jalil Brown and Jimmy Smith, on separate plays.
The drive finished with senior Lyle Leong’s catch over Smith for a seven-yard touchdown and a tie game.
On the Buffs’ prior possession, the offense began with the ball in Texas Tech territory after junior Arthur Jaffee recovered a punt that hit off a Tech player’s helmet.
The golden opportunity to score was painted black when senior kicker Aric Goodman missed a 35-yard field goal.
“You would like to crack the cement a little bit,” Hawkins said. “Try and get one more on the board, try to open up a little bit.”
Sophomore defensive back Deji Olatoye tries to bring down Texas Tech's Detron Lewis during the Buffaloes' 27-24 loss to the Red Raiders at Folsom Field on Saturday. (CU Independent/Patrick Ghidossi)
“They were making enough plays in the first half and they didn’t give us enough first downs to get things going,” said Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tuberville. “Then once we got the run going, our pass opened up in the second half.”
Potts and his receivers leaped on the hampered Buffs secondary in the final thirty minutes. An offense that averages 315 yards passing per game rolled up more than 250 after halftime.
CU freshman Terrell Smith made his first ever start at safety after his redshirt came off this week. His two sacks helped the defense to sputter Texas Tech’s attack early on.
“I tip my hat to him to get out there as a freshman, first game, and make the plays he made,” Brown said.
Other players were not as polite after the latest in a long string of losses. For Cody Hawkins, five years is a long time to have to defend your father’s job.
“The same bad things you guys say about our football team, I’m saying bad things about you guys (the media),” Cody Hawkins said.
Both media and players can agree that this was another winnable game. Like the week before, CU missed out on valuable scoring chances that would have sealed a victory.
“Easily we could have won this game,” Jimmy Smith said. “(We have to) put our foots on their throats and come out with it and make more plays than that.”
In five years of Dan Hawkins, the once dominant program has made enough plays to make only one bowl game. The Buffs have to win three more games to qualify for the postseason.
With only two home games left they will have to steal one on the road, something they have not done since 2007. Looming next week is a trip to Norman, Okla. where the No. 1 ranked Sooners have won 34 straight.
For the 37th time during his tenure in Boulder, Dan Hawkins lost a football game. His memo to all fans is that there is more to come.
“There (are) going to be a lot of games like that, so they’ll get up tomorrow,” Hawkins said. “Half of life is getting up one more time when you’re down.”
Notes:
-Hawkins said Hansen will be the starter next week if healthy.
-Paul Richardson is the first freshman in school history to catch two touchdowns in a single game.
-Rodney Stewart’s 34 rushing yards is a season-low for the junior from Ohio.
-Upon kickoff, the student section revealed virtually no trace of humanity. Fans uttered more yawns than cheers all throughout a hard-to-watch first half in which Texas Tech threw for 28 yards and CU ran for a mere 16.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Michael Krumholtz at Michael.krumholtz@colorado.edu.
