2017:
- @UCLA - 2 dropped TD passes, a TD run on a QB read option called back, a botched fake field goal try, a long pass late in the game for UCLA seals the loss. Score: UCLA - 27; CU - 23. Conclusion: one of the most winnable road games in recent years ends up in a loss.
- Arizona- Easy win, then stupidly hit starting QB out of bounds. In comes Khalil Tate who never once touches the ground on a single carry and misses just 1 pass as UA scores on 6 consecutive possessions. Score: UA - 45; CU - 42. Conclusion: 1 stupid out of bounds hit turns the season upside down and makes UA the darling team of college football and Tate becomes a household name.
- @Arizona State - Dropped 2 TD passes. Up by 10 late in the 2nd half. Defense gasses. Score: ASU - 41; CU - 30. Conclusion: Not a bad loss, but a very winnable game we were winning easily despite a ton of mistakes.
- USC - Missed easy sack on Darnold for a USC score. Pout and throw a pick 6 right before half puts game out of reach. Storm back 2nd half. At the 1 yard line late in the game before team botches goal line play. Could have easily been within 1 score making that end of game sequence a big deal otherwise. Score: USC - 38; CU - 24. Conclusion: Already stated. Don't throw the pick 6 and this game might have been decided in OT. Not a bad loss but a winnable game as so many against USC have been.
4 games that were very winnable that ended up being losses keeps us away from 6 wins. The UA game being the big dropped game. At home, homecoming, and all you have to do is not destroy the starting QB on a late hit and the game is an easy win and team goes to the 2nd bowl in 2 years. Program changing loss.
2018:
- @USC - The start of a painful season that looked so promising. Pick Daniels twice and get nothing for it. Viska gets hurt after getting the lead. Playing 2 freshmen tackles proves unproductive. Throw the dreaded pick 6... again vs. USC. Game out of reach afterward. Score: USC - 30; CU - 21. Conclusion: Our first test as a ranked team against non bowl qualifying USC and we fail partially due to injuries, partially due to USC having 2 weeks to prepare for CU's scheme and get healthy.
- Oregon State - The game that would end a coaching regime. Up 34-3 late in the 3rd, the biggest collapse at home in CU history ensues. Even still, game tied at 34 going with seconds left. CU in position for a long field goal. CU sends out punter who shanks the attempt. Game goes to OT where CU fails to keep them out of the end zone and loses in a home coming shocker (again). Score: OSU - 41; CU - 34. Conclusion: Outside of Montana State, the most embarrassing home loss I've ever seen. So much wrong to discuss in a conclusion, but moral of the story, should have let your freshman place kicker attempt end of game kick. Never use the punter no matter how big the leg.
- @Cal - OK, we had no head coach and our QB lost his Grand Father. Still, we hold an opponent to barely over 200 yards of offense on the road and still lost. 2 pick 6's and a 3rd almost pick 6 sealed the deal. Never mind 2 late hits out of bounds that extended a drive allowing Cal another score. A dropped interception for an easy TD by our fastest defender didn't help. CU stunk offensively but still put up over 350 yards and was easily the better team. Scoreboard didn't reflect it. Score: Cal - 33; CU - 21. Conclusion: This game was almost as bad of a loss as Oregon State. Situation added to the craziness, but should have easily beaten Cal. Team looked like they were almost trying to lose with the drive extending defensive penalties and easy pick 6's.
I didn't include the Zona game because I didn't envision us beating Tate whom set another UA record with 5 TD passes against a secondary lacking Isaiah Oliver. The last part was probably the season killer. When Isaiah Oliver went down, the defense was horribly exposed in the secondary. Put a healthy Oliver in the losses against OSU and Zona and we're probably a bowl team again. Season ended on the decision to trot out the punter for the game winning kick against Oregon State though. That decision cost the regime IMO. Trust an adrenaline fueled kicker over a shank worthy punter on such a task. That leads to injury conclusion #2. Losing both #1 and #2 kickers really hurt the season and forced the offense to do things it couldn't. Injury 3, losing starting punter put defense in bad positions for most of the year (except the Cal game when he came back). Injury #4 of course being Viska and a healthy Viska probably gets us several more wins. Either way, the kicker deal ended up being the difference between bowling and not bowling.
2019:
- AFA - Extra point. Make it. Go bowling. Otherwise, AFA throws 2 perfect long TD passes. CU drops 1 and never goes back to it. Lose a starting safety and a CB and things get complicated defensively when we were starting to figure them out. Game goes to OT where the running team usually has the advantage. Score: AFA - 30; CU - 23. Conclusion: Yes, we blocked one of their XPs. So why return the favor and miss one of our own? No miss, no OT, and no staying home in December.
- Arizona - Will we ever beat Tate? Answer: no. A defense without Miller and Blackmon at CB due to injuries and no Mustafa Johnson on the DL struggled bad. Freshmen DTs were not good and the DBs got exposed. Playing a QB at safety due to injury to a starter didn't help. Score: UA - 35; CU - 30. Conclusion: Yes, we blocked one of their XPs. So why return the favor and miss one of our own? No miss, no OT, and no staying home in December.
- USC - Win or stay home game. For the better part of 3 quarters, looked like it was win. Then, the USC magic started working. First, a late hit against Montez isn't called as the QB is lead to the locker room. Second, their offense catches fire after being down by 10 points in the 4th quarter. 3rd, phantom penalties kill us like the holding call that took back a 20 yard run into USC territory (might have been a game clincher). Fourth, 3 easy fumbles were somehow not recovered. 2 kept USC scoring drives going. Fifth, our concussed QB throws us out of the game as the read option that worked so well prior to injury was no longer an option. Score: USC - 35; CU - 31. Conclusion: Still stunned we lost this one. USC is the luckiest team ever. Should have lost a dozen ways but somehow finds the win column. Again!
Each year we got closer and closer to 6 wins. In 2017, a play or two on the field like a called back TD run, dropped TD pass, or a late hit out of bounds lost the season. In 2018, it was a failed kick at the end of regulation against Oregon State where we used the backup punter and not the 3rd string kicker. This year, it was the extra point... easiest play in football and the only one we missed the entire year. Statistically, miss that play in any other game except Nebraska and we win 6. It seems we inched our way towards 6 wins in each and every year but somehow still didn't cross the line. A litany of mistakes kept us away from the goal.
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My question to yawl/you all is, how close are we this year? Can we inch across the line finally? Is the most difficult schedule we've played since 2011 going to add more games to the loss column despite potential improvement across the board? People look at how bad we've been, but we really should be celebrating our 4th bowl in a row. Bad luck and worse coaching have made us look a lot worse than we really were.
- @UCLA - 2 dropped TD passes, a TD run on a QB read option called back, a botched fake field goal try, a long pass late in the game for UCLA seals the loss. Score: UCLA - 27; CU - 23. Conclusion: one of the most winnable road games in recent years ends up in a loss.
- Arizona- Easy win, then stupidly hit starting QB out of bounds. In comes Khalil Tate who never once touches the ground on a single carry and misses just 1 pass as UA scores on 6 consecutive possessions. Score: UA - 45; CU - 42. Conclusion: 1 stupid out of bounds hit turns the season upside down and makes UA the darling team of college football and Tate becomes a household name.
- @Arizona State - Dropped 2 TD passes. Up by 10 late in the 2nd half. Defense gasses. Score: ASU - 41; CU - 30. Conclusion: Not a bad loss, but a very winnable game we were winning easily despite a ton of mistakes.
- USC - Missed easy sack on Darnold for a USC score. Pout and throw a pick 6 right before half puts game out of reach. Storm back 2nd half. At the 1 yard line late in the game before team botches goal line play. Could have easily been within 1 score making that end of game sequence a big deal otherwise. Score: USC - 38; CU - 24. Conclusion: Already stated. Don't throw the pick 6 and this game might have been decided in OT. Not a bad loss but a winnable game as so many against USC have been.
4 games that were very winnable that ended up being losses keeps us away from 6 wins. The UA game being the big dropped game. At home, homecoming, and all you have to do is not destroy the starting QB on a late hit and the game is an easy win and team goes to the 2nd bowl in 2 years. Program changing loss.
2018:
- @USC - The start of a painful season that looked so promising. Pick Daniels twice and get nothing for it. Viska gets hurt after getting the lead. Playing 2 freshmen tackles proves unproductive. Throw the dreaded pick 6... again vs. USC. Game out of reach afterward. Score: USC - 30; CU - 21. Conclusion: Our first test as a ranked team against non bowl qualifying USC and we fail partially due to injuries, partially due to USC having 2 weeks to prepare for CU's scheme and get healthy.
- Oregon State - The game that would end a coaching regime. Up 34-3 late in the 3rd, the biggest collapse at home in CU history ensues. Even still, game tied at 34 going with seconds left. CU in position for a long field goal. CU sends out punter who shanks the attempt. Game goes to OT where CU fails to keep them out of the end zone and loses in a home coming shocker (again). Score: OSU - 41; CU - 34. Conclusion: Outside of Montana State, the most embarrassing home loss I've ever seen. So much wrong to discuss in a conclusion, but moral of the story, should have let your freshman place kicker attempt end of game kick. Never use the punter no matter how big the leg.
- @Cal - OK, we had no head coach and our QB lost his Grand Father. Still, we hold an opponent to barely over 200 yards of offense on the road and still lost. 2 pick 6's and a 3rd almost pick 6 sealed the deal. Never mind 2 late hits out of bounds that extended a drive allowing Cal another score. A dropped interception for an easy TD by our fastest defender didn't help. CU stunk offensively but still put up over 350 yards and was easily the better team. Scoreboard didn't reflect it. Score: Cal - 33; CU - 21. Conclusion: This game was almost as bad of a loss as Oregon State. Situation added to the craziness, but should have easily beaten Cal. Team looked like they were almost trying to lose with the drive extending defensive penalties and easy pick 6's.
I didn't include the Zona game because I didn't envision us beating Tate whom set another UA record with 5 TD passes against a secondary lacking Isaiah Oliver. The last part was probably the season killer. When Isaiah Oliver went down, the defense was horribly exposed in the secondary. Put a healthy Oliver in the losses against OSU and Zona and we're probably a bowl team again. Season ended on the decision to trot out the punter for the game winning kick against Oregon State though. That decision cost the regime IMO. Trust an adrenaline fueled kicker over a shank worthy punter on such a task. That leads to injury conclusion #2. Losing both #1 and #2 kickers really hurt the season and forced the offense to do things it couldn't. Injury 3, losing starting punter put defense in bad positions for most of the year (except the Cal game when he came back). Injury #4 of course being Viska and a healthy Viska probably gets us several more wins. Either way, the kicker deal ended up being the difference between bowling and not bowling.
2019:
- AFA - Extra point. Make it. Go bowling. Otherwise, AFA throws 2 perfect long TD passes. CU drops 1 and never goes back to it. Lose a starting safety and a CB and things get complicated defensively when we were starting to figure them out. Game goes to OT where the running team usually has the advantage. Score: AFA - 30; CU - 23. Conclusion: Yes, we blocked one of their XPs. So why return the favor and miss one of our own? No miss, no OT, and no staying home in December.
- Arizona - Will we ever beat Tate? Answer: no. A defense without Miller and Blackmon at CB due to injuries and no Mustafa Johnson on the DL struggled bad. Freshmen DTs were not good and the DBs got exposed. Playing a QB at safety due to injury to a starter didn't help. Score: UA - 35; CU - 30. Conclusion: Yes, we blocked one of their XPs. So why return the favor and miss one of our own? No miss, no OT, and no staying home in December.
- USC - Win or stay home game. For the better part of 3 quarters, looked like it was win. Then, the USC magic started working. First, a late hit against Montez isn't called as the QB is lead to the locker room. Second, their offense catches fire after being down by 10 points in the 4th quarter. 3rd, phantom penalties kill us like the holding call that took back a 20 yard run into USC territory (might have been a game clincher). Fourth, 3 easy fumbles were somehow not recovered. 2 kept USC scoring drives going. Fifth, our concussed QB throws us out of the game as the read option that worked so well prior to injury was no longer an option. Score: USC - 35; CU - 31. Conclusion: Still stunned we lost this one. USC is the luckiest team ever. Should have lost a dozen ways but somehow finds the win column. Again!
Each year we got closer and closer to 6 wins. In 2017, a play or two on the field like a called back TD run, dropped TD pass, or a late hit out of bounds lost the season. In 2018, it was a failed kick at the end of regulation against Oregon State where we used the backup punter and not the 3rd string kicker. This year, it was the extra point... easiest play in football and the only one we missed the entire year. Statistically, miss that play in any other game except Nebraska and we win 6. It seems we inched our way towards 6 wins in each and every year but somehow still didn't cross the line. A litany of mistakes kept us away from the goal.
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My question to yawl/you all is, how close are we this year? Can we inch across the line finally? Is the most difficult schedule we've played since 2011 going to add more games to the loss column despite potential improvement across the board? People look at how bad we've been, but we really should be celebrating our 4th bowl in a row. Bad luck and worse coaching have made us look a lot worse than we really were.
