Reaction: Buffaloes blown out by Huskies, but shouldn’t hang heads

The Colorado Buffaloes were dominated by the Washington Huskies in the Pac-12 Championship on Friday night, putting an end to any aspirations they had of getting into the College Football Playoff.

Colorado quarterback Sefo Liufau went down with an ankle injury early in the first quarter and from that moment, it seemed like the game was already over. Freshman quarterback Steven Montez came in and did an admirable job, but the Buffs just seemed overmatched by a solid Washington squad.

The Huskies took the opening kickoff after Colorado chose to defer and went down the field with ease. They capped the drive off with a 1-yard touchdown run by Lavon Coleman.

The Buffs hunkered down on defense and by the end of the first quarter, had matched that score with a short touchdown run of their own by Phillip Lindsay.

But it was the ground game of Washington that just took this game over. Though the score was just 14-7 at halftime, it seemed as though the Buffs were fortunate to be that close. Liufau returned in the second half and on the first play from scrimmage, a pass he threw went through the hands of Jay MacIntyre and into the arms of Taylor Rapp, who returned it for a touchdown to put Washington up 21-7. Colorado never recovered.

On Colorado’s next possession, Rapp intercepted Liufau again to set up a 24-yard field goal to make it a 17-point margin. The Buffs had no offense, and just couldn’t handle the Washington running game when on defense.

The Huskies finished with 265 yards on the ground. Myles Gaskin accounted for 159 of those as the Huskies had an amazing 54 rushing attempts in which they averaged nearly five yards per carry. Washington quarterback Jake Browning—who has been in the Heisman Trophy discussion for much of the season—needed to complete just nine passes in this game.

Next: Buffs lose to Rams in basketball

Colorado just couldn’t seem to get out of its own way on offense. Liufau finished the game 3 of 13 passing for just 21 yards and three interceptions. That translates into an incredibly bad 0.7 QBR.

Lindsay had just 53 yards on 19 carries and the Buffs completed just four passes to wide receivers. All of the stats favor the Huskies, who had 22 first downs to Colorado’s nine. They outgained Colorado by 220 total yards and had a 17-minute advantage in time of possession.

It was easily the worst performance of the season for the Buffaloes, but when you consider the fact that the team was 5-40 in Pac-12 conference play prior to this season, the team and its fans have nothing to hang their heads about.

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This was still a wildly successful season for Colorado, who will still be invited to play in a big bowl game. On top of that, the school should be setting its sights on being a contender year in and year out in the Pac-12, particularly if it can avoid coach MacIntyre being lured away by another program.

If you would have told anyone who supports the university that the Buffs would be 10-3 in December at the start of this season, they all would have taken it.

Congratulations on a great season, Buffs. We all look forward to your appearance in a bowl game later this year or early next year. Let’s build on this!