Thursday, December 29
San Antonio, Texas
7:00 PM
Colorado
10-4
8
vs
38
Oklahoma State
10-3
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Oklahoma State
3
14
14
7
38
Colorado
0
0
0
8
8
Sefo Liufau looks downfield while OSU's rushers close in on him.
Photo by: Joel Broida
Buffs’ Long-Awaited Bowl Experience Ends In 38-8 Loss
December 29, 2016 | Football, B.G. Brooks
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No. 12 OSU upends No. 10 CU in Buffs’ first bowl appearance since 2007
SAN ANTONIO – The University of Colorado's long wait to participate in college football's postseason ended in what seemed to be an even longer night Thursday in the Valero Alamo Bowl.
Making its first bowl appearance since 2007, No. 10 CU was overwhelmed by No. 12 Oklahoma State 38-8, ending the Buffaloes' finest football season in nearly two decades with consecutive lopsided losses.
The Buffs finished at 10-4, having lost to Pac-12 Conference champion Washington 41-10 in the league's title game on Dec. 2. CU, which won the Pac-12 South Division with an 8-1 record, had targeted an 11th win that would make the 2016 Buffs only the fourth team in school history to reach that number.
Instead, OSU – a former CU foe in the Big 8/12 Conferences – decisively won its 10th game (three losses) and undoubtedly will jump the Buffs in the final polls. CU's last bowl win came in the 2004 Houston Bowl, a 33-28 victory over UTEP.
"It didn't end like we'd like it to, but wow, what they've done," CU coach Mike MacIntyre said. "They've set a foundation for us to keep improving. That's the next step in the process."
The Buffs struggled from first whistle to last offensively, temporarily losing starting quarterback Sefo Liufau in the second quarter with a sprained right ankle. He was replaced by Steven Montez, who also started the second half.
CU's secondary also was hampered by injuries to a pair of corners – Chidobe Awuzie (turf toe) and Ahkello Witherspoon (shoulder) – who nonetheless tried to play but had night-long difficulty with
OSU receiver James Washington.(nine catches, 171 yards, one touchdown).
MacIntyre said Awuzie and Witherspoon "played hurt . . . . (they) tried to play as hard as they could. They hadn't even practiced in over a week and a half."
Liufau returned late in the third quarter with CU trailing 24-0 but the offense remained ineffective. He completed 17-of-27 passes for 190 yards, while Montez finished 4-of-9 for 61 and one interception.
In Liufau, MacIntyre said he saw "a bummed up quarterback on an ankle that couldn't throw as accurately as he would like." In Montez, he also saw inaccuracy: "He wasn't where he usually is. I don't know why, so we put Sefo back in and tried to go."
Tailback Phillip Lindsay rushed 14 times for 63 yards and caught 6 passes for 103 yards. Lindsay's rushing yardage was one more than the Buffs' final total, as Liufau carried 13 times for a minus-2 net yards (counting 20 lost sack yards).
OSU quarterback Mason Rudolph completed 22-of-32 passes for 314 yards and three touchdowns. Cowboys tailback Justice Hill carried 19 times for 100 yards and a TD, and Chris Carson ran 11 times for 61 yards and scored once.
OSU out-gained CU 527-318 and converted half of its 14 third-down attempts and its only fourth-down attempt. The Cowboys also scored on four of five trips to the red zone.
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Buffs gave up a 10-play, 64-yard drive on the Cowboys' first possession, but took solace in holding them to a 28-yard Ben Grogan field goal. And by the end of a first quarter that saw the teams almost statistically even, OSU led just 3-0.
CU had a chance to tie the score on its deepest penetration of the first half, but Chris Graham was wide left on a 47-yard field goal attempt with 27 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Throughout the quarter, though, the Cowboys seemed on the verge of breaking the game open – and it didn't take them long in the second quarter to do it.
On their first full possession of the quarter, Rudolph drove them 64 yards in seven plays, completing three of four passes for 27 yards and catching one from Carson for 24 yards.
Rudolph's reception and run carried OSU to the CU 10-yard line, where Carson powered in on the next play. Grogan's PAT put the Cowboys up 10-0 with 11:15 before halftime.
And after the Buffs' second three-and-out of the quarter, Rudolph again put the Cowboys on the move again. This time it was a seven-play, 66-yard march that Rudolph saved with a fourth-and-one dive over right guard for 3 yards and a first down at the CU 5.
A play later, he found Washington on a crossing pattern at the goal line and drilled him with a 5-yard TD pass. Grogan kicked OSU ahead 17-0 and Liufau was injured two plays into the next series.
Montez replaced him and right away offered CU hope. Facing third-and-27, he and Lindsay teamed for a 38-yard gain on a screen pass that saw Lindsay doing the legwork.
But on first down at the OSU 38 – CU's second-deepest drive of the half – Montez underthrew running back Beau Bisharat in the end zone on a pitch back to the QB and corner Ashton Lampkin intercepted.
The half ended without either team threatening again – but the Cowboys had a 17-0 lead and the Buffs didn't have their starting quarterback until late in the third quarter.
CU's first two series were three-and-outs, but the Buffs defense forced a 25-yard field goal attempt on OSU's first second-half possession that Grogan pulled wide left.
But the Buffs couldn't contain the Cowboys the next time they had the ball. A 12-play, 71-yard drive ended with Rudolph hitting fullback Blake Jarwin with a 6-yard scoring pass, and after Grogan's PAT OSU was in command, 24-0, with 5:42 left in the third quarter.
Liufau replaced Montez at quarterback with just over 5 minutes left in the quarter but it didn't spark the offense. Meanwhile, in Rudolph, OSU's offense had all the spark it needed.
With 5 seconds remaining in the third, he found Jhajuan Seales in the back of the end zone for a 23-yard TD pass that, with Grogan's extra point, gave the Cowboys a 31-0 lead.
Rudolph entered the fourth quarter having completed 20-of-29 passes for 294 yards and three TDs.
With Liufau leading them, the Buffs marched to the Cowboys' 5-yard line early in the last quarter but turned the ball over on downs. Later in the quarter, he drove them 77 yards in nine plays, scoring his final collegiate TD on a 6-yard keeper.
After he hit Lindsay with a two-point conversion pass, the Buffs trailed 31-8 with 5:28 to play. But the Cowboys weren't done; Hill ran 37 yards for their final score with 3:44 remaining and Grogan's kick put an OSU exclamation point on a 30-point win.
TURNING POINT: Ahead only 3-0 after one quarter, the Cowboys put together a pair of 60-plus yard scoring drives in the second quarter to take a 17-0 halftime lead. And with Liufau sidelined from the 5:30 mark until intermission, the Buffs offense was forced to adjust to the QB change and score before the break. It didn't happen, leaving CU trailing by its largest halftime deficit of the season.
CU STANDOUTS: Lindsay accounted for 166 yards in total offense (63 rushing, 103 receiving) . . . . Shay Fields caught four passes for 38 yards . . . . Punter Alex Kinney averaged 41.3 yards per kick, with a long punt of 52 yards and one inside the 20 . . . . Linebackers Rick Gamboa (11 tackles) and Kenneth Olugbode (10) accounted for 21 tackles between them . . . . Defensive end Samson Kafovalu made nine tackles, two of them for losses.
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs were held to a season-low 62 yards rushing, while giving up 189 to the Cowboys . . . . OSU gained an average of 7.1 yards per play, CU 4.7, including 2.1 per rush.
WHAT IT MEANS: Although there was no statistical happy ending for the Buffs, they made 2016 a thoroughly enjoyable turnaround season. The challenge now will be for CU's underclassmen to take the accomplishments and momentum generated by an elite senior class and build on it.
NOTEWORTHY: Thursday night's attendance was 59,815 . . . CU sold out its allotment of 6,500 bowl tickets. It was the most sold by a Pac-12 team participating in the Alamo Bowl . . . . The Buffs won the coin toss, making them 13-of-14 in that department this season. As usual, they deferred to the second half . . . . Tight end Sean Irwin made his first reception of the season -- a 15-yard catch in the first quarter. It was just the fourth catch by a CU tight end this season . . . . Lindsay's 100-yard receiving game was his second of the year -- a first in CU football history . . . . CU's opponents had failed to score on their first possessions until the last two games (Washington with a TD, OSU with a field goal) . . . . CU's two-point conversion pass from Liufau to Lindsay was the first two-point play in 27 of CU's 29 bowl appearances . . . . CU is 12-17 in its 29 bowl trips and still leads the series with OSU 26-20-1, although the Cowboys have won the last three meetings.
QUOTEWORTHY: "Sefo helped us get to a 10-win season . . . he battled. He was our warrior all the way, helped turn the program around." -- MacIntyre on Liufau and his career
"We weren't complacent at all. We were working. I think we kind of weren't sure what really to expect." -- Center Alex Kelley on the bowl preparation
"We don't know what this is like. This was our first bowl trip and a big bowl at that. But that didn't distract us." -- Safety Ryan Moeller on the bowl experience
"Oklahoma State is a physical team. You could see the experience of them being in a bowl and us just not getting there, getting back to how it was before (in the regular season) . . . we didn't execute, that's what it comes down to." -- Lindsay on CU's lack of bowl experience
"In the locker room after the game it was a really neat, neat time. Those young men will be remembered to me, should be remembered for a long, long time for what they've done for Colorado football." -- MacIntyre on the impact of his seniors
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
Making its first bowl appearance since 2007, No. 10 CU was overwhelmed by No. 12 Oklahoma State 38-8, ending the Buffaloes' finest football season in nearly two decades with consecutive lopsided losses.
The Buffs finished at 10-4, having lost to Pac-12 Conference champion Washington 41-10 in the league's title game on Dec. 2. CU, which won the Pac-12 South Division with an 8-1 record, had targeted an 11th win that would make the 2016 Buffs only the fourth team in school history to reach that number.
Instead, OSU – a former CU foe in the Big 8/12 Conferences – decisively won its 10th game (three losses) and undoubtedly will jump the Buffs in the final polls. CU's last bowl win came in the 2004 Houston Bowl, a 33-28 victory over UTEP.
"It didn't end like we'd like it to, but wow, what they've done," CU coach Mike MacIntyre said. "They've set a foundation for us to keep improving. That's the next step in the process."
The Buffs struggled from first whistle to last offensively, temporarily losing starting quarterback Sefo Liufau in the second quarter with a sprained right ankle. He was replaced by Steven Montez, who also started the second half.
CU's secondary also was hampered by injuries to a pair of corners – Chidobe Awuzie (turf toe) and Ahkello Witherspoon (shoulder) – who nonetheless tried to play but had night-long difficulty with
OSU receiver James Washington.(nine catches, 171 yards, one touchdown).
MacIntyre said Awuzie and Witherspoon "played hurt . . . . (they) tried to play as hard as they could. They hadn't even practiced in over a week and a half."
Liufau returned late in the third quarter with CU trailing 24-0 but the offense remained ineffective. He completed 17-of-27 passes for 190 yards, while Montez finished 4-of-9 for 61 and one interception.
In Liufau, MacIntyre said he saw "a bummed up quarterback on an ankle that couldn't throw as accurately as he would like." In Montez, he also saw inaccuracy: "He wasn't where he usually is. I don't know why, so we put Sefo back in and tried to go."
Tailback Phillip Lindsay rushed 14 times for 63 yards and caught 6 passes for 103 yards. Lindsay's rushing yardage was one more than the Buffs' final total, as Liufau carried 13 times for a minus-2 net yards (counting 20 lost sack yards).
OSU quarterback Mason Rudolph completed 22-of-32 passes for 314 yards and three touchdowns. Cowboys tailback Justice Hill carried 19 times for 100 yards and a TD, and Chris Carson ran 11 times for 61 yards and scored once.
OSU out-gained CU 527-318 and converted half of its 14 third-down attempts and its only fourth-down attempt. The Cowboys also scored on four of five trips to the red zone.
HOW IT HAPPENED: The Buffs gave up a 10-play, 64-yard drive on the Cowboys' first possession, but took solace in holding them to a 28-yard Ben Grogan field goal. And by the end of a first quarter that saw the teams almost statistically even, OSU led just 3-0.
CU had a chance to tie the score on its deepest penetration of the first half, but Chris Graham was wide left on a 47-yard field goal attempt with 27 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Throughout the quarter, though, the Cowboys seemed on the verge of breaking the game open – and it didn't take them long in the second quarter to do it.
On their first full possession of the quarter, Rudolph drove them 64 yards in seven plays, completing three of four passes for 27 yards and catching one from Carson for 24 yards.
Rudolph's reception and run carried OSU to the CU 10-yard line, where Carson powered in on the next play. Grogan's PAT put the Cowboys up 10-0 with 11:15 before halftime.
And after the Buffs' second three-and-out of the quarter, Rudolph again put the Cowboys on the move again. This time it was a seven-play, 66-yard march that Rudolph saved with a fourth-and-one dive over right guard for 3 yards and a first down at the CU 5.
A play later, he found Washington on a crossing pattern at the goal line and drilled him with a 5-yard TD pass. Grogan kicked OSU ahead 17-0 and Liufau was injured two plays into the next series.
Montez replaced him and right away offered CU hope. Facing third-and-27, he and Lindsay teamed for a 38-yard gain on a screen pass that saw Lindsay doing the legwork.
But on first down at the OSU 38 – CU's second-deepest drive of the half – Montez underthrew running back Beau Bisharat in the end zone on a pitch back to the QB and corner Ashton Lampkin intercepted.
The half ended without either team threatening again – but the Cowboys had a 17-0 lead and the Buffs didn't have their starting quarterback until late in the third quarter.
CU's first two series were three-and-outs, but the Buffs defense forced a 25-yard field goal attempt on OSU's first second-half possession that Grogan pulled wide left.
But the Buffs couldn't contain the Cowboys the next time they had the ball. A 12-play, 71-yard drive ended with Rudolph hitting fullback Blake Jarwin with a 6-yard scoring pass, and after Grogan's PAT OSU was in command, 24-0, with 5:42 left in the third quarter.
Liufau replaced Montez at quarterback with just over 5 minutes left in the quarter but it didn't spark the offense. Meanwhile, in Rudolph, OSU's offense had all the spark it needed.
With 5 seconds remaining in the third, he found Jhajuan Seales in the back of the end zone for a 23-yard TD pass that, with Grogan's extra point, gave the Cowboys a 31-0 lead.
Rudolph entered the fourth quarter having completed 20-of-29 passes for 294 yards and three TDs.
With Liufau leading them, the Buffs marched to the Cowboys' 5-yard line early in the last quarter but turned the ball over on downs. Later in the quarter, he drove them 77 yards in nine plays, scoring his final collegiate TD on a 6-yard keeper.
After he hit Lindsay with a two-point conversion pass, the Buffs trailed 31-8 with 5:28 to play. But the Cowboys weren't done; Hill ran 37 yards for their final score with 3:44 remaining and Grogan's kick put an OSU exclamation point on a 30-point win.
TURNING POINT: Ahead only 3-0 after one quarter, the Cowboys put together a pair of 60-plus yard scoring drives in the second quarter to take a 17-0 halftime lead. And with Liufau sidelined from the 5:30 mark until intermission, the Buffs offense was forced to adjust to the QB change and score before the break. It didn't happen, leaving CU trailing by its largest halftime deficit of the season.
CU STANDOUTS: Lindsay accounted for 166 yards in total offense (63 rushing, 103 receiving) . . . . Shay Fields caught four passes for 38 yards . . . . Punter Alex Kinney averaged 41.3 yards per kick, with a long punt of 52 yards and one inside the 20 . . . . Linebackers Rick Gamboa (11 tackles) and Kenneth Olugbode (10) accounted for 21 tackles between them . . . . Defensive end Samson Kafovalu made nine tackles, two of them for losses.
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs were held to a season-low 62 yards rushing, while giving up 189 to the Cowboys . . . . OSU gained an average of 7.1 yards per play, CU 4.7, including 2.1 per rush.
WHAT IT MEANS: Although there was no statistical happy ending for the Buffs, they made 2016 a thoroughly enjoyable turnaround season. The challenge now will be for CU's underclassmen to take the accomplishments and momentum generated by an elite senior class and build on it.
NOTEWORTHY: Thursday night's attendance was 59,815 . . . CU sold out its allotment of 6,500 bowl tickets. It was the most sold by a Pac-12 team participating in the Alamo Bowl . . . . The Buffs won the coin toss, making them 13-of-14 in that department this season. As usual, they deferred to the second half . . . . Tight end Sean Irwin made his first reception of the season -- a 15-yard catch in the first quarter. It was just the fourth catch by a CU tight end this season . . . . Lindsay's 100-yard receiving game was his second of the year -- a first in CU football history . . . . CU's opponents had failed to score on their first possessions until the last two games (Washington with a TD, OSU with a field goal) . . . . CU's two-point conversion pass from Liufau to Lindsay was the first two-point play in 27 of CU's 29 bowl appearances . . . . CU is 12-17 in its 29 bowl trips and still leads the series with OSU 26-20-1, although the Cowboys have won the last three meetings.
QUOTEWORTHY: "Sefo helped us get to a 10-win season . . . he battled. He was our warrior all the way, helped turn the program around." -- MacIntyre on Liufau and his career
"We weren't complacent at all. We were working. I think we kind of weren't sure what really to expect." -- Center Alex Kelley on the bowl preparation
"We don't know what this is like. This was our first bowl trip and a big bowl at that. But that didn't distract us." -- Safety Ryan Moeller on the bowl experience
"Oklahoma State is a physical team. You could see the experience of them being in a bowl and us just not getting there, getting back to how it was before (in the regular season) . . . we didn't execute, that's what it comes down to." -- Lindsay on CU's lack of bowl experience
"In the locker room after the game it was a really neat, neat time. Those young men will be remembered to me, should be remembered for a long, long time for what they've done for Colorado football." -- MacIntyre on the impact of his seniors
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
Team Stats
OSU
COLO
Total Yards
527
318
Pass Yards
338
256
Rushing Yards
189
62
Penalty Yards
42
35
1st Downs
24
18
3rd Downs
7
6
4th Downs
1
1
TOP
32:24
27:36
1st Quarter
OSU 3, COLO 0
OSU - Grogan, Ben 28 yd field goal 10 plays, 64 yards, TOP 4:43
2nd Quarter
OSU 10, COLO 0
OSU - Carson, Chris 10 yd run (Grogan, Ben kick), 7 plays, 64 yards, TOP 2:36
OSU 17, COLO 0
OSU - Washington, J. 5 yd pass from Rudolph, Mason (Grogan, Ben kick) 7 plays, 66 yards, TOP 2:17
3rd Quarter
OSU 24, COLO 0
OSU - Jarwin, Blake 6 yd pass from Rudolph, Mason (Grogan, Ben kick) 12 plays, 71 yards, TOP 4:29
OSU 31, COLO 0
OSU - Seales, Jhajuan 23 yd pass from Rudolph, Mason (Grogan, Ben kick) 5 plays, 48 yards, TOP 2:03
4th Quarter
OSU 31, COLO 8
COLO - Liufau, Sefo 6 yd run (Lindsay, Philli pass), 9 plays, 77 yards, TOP 2:38
OSU 38, COLO 8
OSU - Hill, Justice 37 yd run (Grogan, Ben kick), 3 plays, 41 yards, TOP 1:44
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
CMP
18
TD
0
YDS
195
INT
0
CMP
4
TD
0
YDS
61
INT
1
Players Mentioned
DB
/ Football
TB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
ILB
/ Football
PK
/ Football
TE
/ Football
DT
/ Football
C
/ Football
P
/ Football
TB
/ FootballQB
/ Football
DB
/ FootballQB
/ Football
ILB
/ Football
DB
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