By NEILL WOELK
Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
BOULDER, CO. — When Colorado’s coaches watched the game film of Saturday’s 40-16 win over Arizona State, they saw plenty to like.
They saw 219 yards rushing from Phillip Lindsay, part of a 315-yard rushing attack that shredded ASU’s run defense. They saw an efficient 23-for-32 day from quarterback Sefo Liufau for 265 yards, with six of those passes going to Bryce Bobo and six more to Devin Ross.
But perhaps most impressive was a defense that held Arizona State to 199 yards total offense, including just 50 yards on the ground.
To put that into perspective, figure this: now in his fifth year at ASU, head coach Todd Graham had never seen his team held under 200 yards total offense.
Never, that is, until Saturday, when Colorado’s defensive line turned the line of scrimmage into a no-fly zone, leaving ASU’s tandem of Demario Richard and Kalen Ballage with no room to run all night long. While Richard did have one 37-yard run when he bounced outside, it was the only rush of consequence. And, thanks to four quarterback sacks (sack yardage is deducted from rushing totals in college ball), the Sun Devils ended up averaging a measly 1.8 yards per carry.
“They did really well,” MacIntyre said Monday morning of the Buffs’ defensive line. “They were very stout in there. They needed to play like that for us to be successful.”
And, he might have added, they’ll need a similar performance Saturday when the 5-2 Buffs (3-1 Pac-12) play a 1 p.m. game at Stanford (4-2, 2-2), where the Buffs expect to see a healthy Christian McCaffrey.
Colorado’s big men up front — Jordan Carrell, Josh Tupou and Samson Kafovalu — don’t lead the team in any statistical categories. The three combined for just seven tackles against the Sun Devils, three less than CU’s leading tackler in the game, linebacker Kenneth Olugbode.
But what they do is tie up opposing offensive linemen, plug holes and leave the tackles for their linebackers.
“This new defense that we put in under (defensive coordinator Jim) Leavitt, the 3-4, starts up front,” Carrell said. “If you don’t have a good D-line, you’re not going to have a good defense. If you have a great D-line and average ‘backers, your backers are going to be great. But we have both a great D-line and great ‘backers. We know we’re not going to make that many plays, but we’re going to free our linebackers to make a lot of plays.”
While CU’s defensive scheme has definitely had an impact, another factor has been that the Buffs are finally big enough and physical enough up front — CU’s front line averages more than 300 pounds per player — that they can now line up and play with the Pac-12’s best.
“If you watch the sideline shots this year, we do a great job of setting the line of scrimmage,” Carrell said. “We’re not going backwards. This year, we’re shocking them. We’re separating on them and our linebackers are coming up and making plays.”
It means for the first time since MacIntyre arrived at Colorado, the Buffs will be able to physically match up with Stanford in the trenches.
Colorado’s rush defense has been solid all season. CU currently sits fifth in the Pac-12 and 34th in the nation, yielding just 134.3 yards per game on the ground. If that numbers holds, it will be a huge improvement over last year, when CU gave up 198.7 per game.
It’s exactly the kind of effort they’ll need this weekend against the Cardinal. MacIntyre said he fully expects McCaffrey — who missed last weekend’s game against Notre Dame — to play this weekend.
“No doubt,” MacIntyre said. “We watched film on the other guy, No. 20 (Bryce Love), and he’s an excellent runner, too. But Christian, they move everywhere and get him the ball in a lot of different places. We’re definitely preparing for Christian to be there.”
A year ago, McCaffrey ran for a 147 yards on 23 carries against the Buffs in a 42-10 Stanford win. But he’s struggled somewhat this season behind a new offensive line and with a new quarterback at the helm. He still has 520 yards and three touchdowns on 99 carries in five games, but he hasn’t been the force that made him a runner-up in the Heisman Trophy balloting a year ago. He left Stanford’s game against Washington State two weeks ago in the third quarter with an unspecified injury, and watched last weekend’s game in street clothes.
With or without McCaffrey, Stanford’s offense has struggled this year. In the Cardinal’s last four games — two wins and two losses — they have managed just one offensive touchdown per game.
But the Buffs are counting on getting the Cardinal’s best — and they want that to include a healthy McCaffrey.
“I hope he’s back,” Carrell said earnestly. “I want to get a second run at him. Last year he ran the ball quite well on us. I want to have a second shot at shutting him down.”
LINDSAY HONORED: Colorado running back Phillip Lindsay was honored as the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week after his 219-yard, three-touchdown performance against Arizona State.
“It’s a great honor for our whole team, especially the offensive line,” Lindsay said Monday. “It shows that we were physical and moving people out of the way. They created big holes for us to run through all night.”
Colorado has now seen three different players collect Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors (Sefo Liufau-Sept. 5; Steven Montez-Sept. 26) and one Special Teams selection (Davis Price-Oct. 3). The four total conference player of the week awards through seven games this year are already the most Colorado has received since the 2007 season when four Buffs (three special teams, one defense) won the Big 12 weekly award.
BUFFS BITS: CU defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Jim Leavitt was named Coachingsearch.com’s linebackers coach of the week after his defense’s performance against ASU. … MacIntyre said punt returner and wide receiver Jay MacIntyre will continue to go through concussion protocol this week. MacIntyre was injured on a punt return in the ASU game. If MacIntyre can’t play this week, sophomore Isaiah Oliver will be the likely choice to return punts while Dylan Keeney will probably take MacIntyre’s place at the wide receiver slot.
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