CU football players take down a player for Minneapolis on September 18th, 2021. (Io Hartman/CU Independent)
The University of Colorado Buffaloes (1-2) will open Pac-12 play against the Arizona State (2-1) on Saturday night in Tempe, Arizona, with kickoff set for 8:30 p.m. MST on ESPNU. The Buffs faired well recently against the Sun Devils, winning the last two matchups and three of the previous four. Colorado’s mission to increase it’s offense continues against ASU as they have lost two in a row and got shutout 30-0 by Minnesota last weekend.
After reflecting on one of the worst performances in CU football history against Minnesota, head coach Karl Dorrell emphasized not to overreact, but the team needed to perform better.
“Unfortunately, that was not a great performance, and we all know that,” Dorrell said after Monday’s practice. “The best thing about it is that our guys took it dead in the eye about understanding what our issues were, and we got everything addressed. It showed today with our first practice of the week with our preparation for ASU.”
The Buffs seem ready to wipe away the abysmal performance of last Saturday and look ahead to the Sun Devils, who before their loss against BYU last week were ranked 19th in the nation. ASU leads the country in penalties this season, which should give Colorado’s offense the opportunity to pick up extra yardage.
After failing to get the running game going last week, the Buffs must go back to the basics, specifically with sophomore Jarek Broussard and junior Alex Fontenot. Once the run game takes off, less pressure will be on freshman quarterback Brendon Lewis and defenses, like ASU, will have to commit to stopping the run.
“That’s exactly what we need to do,” Dorrell said. “We need to get Jarek [Broussard] and Alex [Fontenot] going a little bit. Unfortunately, we were not able to do that effectively last week. We are going to go back to our formula of what has been successful for us.”
Running the football should be the mentality for CU going into Saturday’s contest against ASU, who gave up over 130 rushing yards last week against BYU. The Sun Devils also boast the second most efficient pass defense in the conference making the running game even more critical.
The Sun Devils have two capable running backs in Rachaad White and Daniyel Ngata, both ranking in the top ten of the Pac-12 in rushing. The Buffs run defense will get tested as it was last week by Minnesota. ASU quarterback junior Jayden Daniels has been the most accurate passer in the conference completing almost 73 percent of his throws. The CU secondary is talented and lengthy, which will make life difficult for Daniels.
Colorado wide receiver, freshman Brenden Rice, believes in his offense’s ability to bounce back after a rough week and is looking forward to the battle with a stingy Arizona State secondary.
“We should turn around this weekend,” Rice said. “[ASU] is a man coverage team. It’s about to be a battle at the line of scrimmage.”
Contact CU Independent Assistant Sports Editor Charlie Strella at chst4408@colorado.edu.
