Coach Prime and Buffs hit with a reality check following home loss

BOULDER, Colo. — The College football world is quickly finding out what life is like for Colorado without Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, and after game one there are more questions than answers.

Georgia Tech stormed a sold out Folsom Field Friday night, and outlasted Colorado 27-20, which disappointed Coach Prime. After tying the game up at 20 midway through the fourth quarter, there’s no denying the Buffaloes had their opportunities to win, but they couldn’t deliver in the clutch.

A crowd of 52,828 helped with the noise levels, but it wasn’t enough. From play-calling, to mishandling of clock management, there are several issues to contribute this loss to. Losing in that type of fashion was a tough pill for Coach Prime to swallow, but he believes the Buffaloes can swiftly rebound from game one.

“We made some plays, and we should have capitalized off some of the plays we made, but that first half, we didn’t, and now we’re playing catch up esthetically, and it’s not like we were tricked or fooled or anything,” Coach Prime said. “I think we had success running the ball at times as well, but we missed a few plays that we should hit.”

Colorado did get on the scoreboard first with an eight-yard touchdown pass from Kaidon Salter to running back DeKalon Taylor. The Buffaloes played with high energy early on, and even forced a turnover on each of the Yellow Jackets’ first three drives. A couple of field goals from Alejandro Mata pulled Colorado within three points at halftime.

However, there was a glaring issue that Coach Prime noticed, which was the Buffaloes inability to stop the run on defense. Quarterback Haynes King steamrolled through Colorado’s defense for a game-high, 156 yards and three touchdowns on the night. The gunslinger completed 13 of his 20 passes, and sealed the game with a 45-yard touchdown run.

All Coach Prime could do is watch as the Yellow Jackets cut through the thick of the Buffaloes’ defense like a hot knife through butter. Once the smoke cleared, Georgia Tech’s offense finished with 320 yards on the ground, and that was unacceptable to Coach Prime.

“You’re not gonna win with those statistics, and we tried many things,” he said. “We tried blitzing, trying to fill every gap, but we couldn’t get the job done.”

Salter kept Colorado in the game though. The signal-caller looked solid in his debut, and completed 17 of his 28 passes for 159 yards, rushed for 43 and scored the Buffaloes’ only two touchdowns on the evening. Salter tried his best to get his teammates going, but there wasn’t enough execution from his supporting cast. On top of that, the defense was too leaky and fatigued in the second half, which exposed lack of depth on the defensive line.

Georgia Tech led Colorado in first downs, total offense, plays, third down efficiency, and time of possession. The Yellow Jackets even scored a touchdown on each of their three trips to the red zone. Which is why Coach Prime is giving credit where credit is due.

“They were much more physical than we were,” the 58-year old said. “They were much more aggressive at times.”

Coach Prime just wants to focus on the positives, and what the Buffaloes can build on. Some players were able to put together solid outings though. Micah Welch led the team with 64 rushing yards. Linebacker Reginald Hughes finished with a game-high, 11 tackles, including nine solo. Cornerback DJ McKinney added four stops, and picked off a pass. The Buffaloes did average 5.1 yards per play too, which is encouraging.

Still, Colorado’s aerial attack was abysmal, and no player caught more than three passes. Coach Prime is expecting an intense week of practice to correct all of the mistakes that were made. Delaware will be a step down in competition, but will give Colorado some chances to iron out the wrinkles. There needs to be better play-calling, and consistency tackling. Bottom line, there’s still a long season ahead, and if the Buffaloes want to have a second-straight winning campaign, adjustments have to occur.

“After the loss, you focus on what’s bad at first, because it’s still hurting, but then you kind of flip it and focus on what was good and try to build off that.”