Athens, Ga. – Ten minutes after Colorado’s most heartbreaking loss of the past few seasons, after coach Dan Hawkins spilled his guts – again – to the team in a fiery postgame speech, he was tired of talking.
The game pretty much said it all.
So, with the hurt still easy to read in his eyes, Hawkins stood in front of several reporters as a shell of his usual, jovial self. He was as stern, short and quiet as he’s been in a press conference since arriving in Boulder.
It’s irritating to lose. It’s even more irritating to lose in the final minute, as Colorado did in a 14-13 defeat to No. 9 Georgia at Sanford Stadium.
And it’s irritating to talk about why.
“This loss tears your guts out,” Hawkins said.
Martrez Milner is to blame.
Had the Georgia senior tight end not made the game-clinching 20-yard touchdown catch with 46 seconds left, Colorado might have left with an upset, and Hawkins’ talk with the media would have lasted longer than seven minutes.
But Milner did, beating CU linebacker Brad Jones on the play. Georgia place-kicker Brandon Coutu added the go-ahead extra point. The Buffs’ last-second, desperation drive failed, they dropped to 0-4 for just the eighth time in school history, and the Bulldogs breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“We dodged a big bullet today,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “Like dodging a big bazooka.”
The game will be known as much for curious decision-making as its outcome. Georgia (4-0) went for it on two fourth downs in the red zone during the fourth quarter. CU stopped them both times. Three points on both occasions wouldn’t have made the Bulldogs’ final drive so frenetic and so necessary.
Colorado could have run more time off the clock late in the fourth quarter had it elected to run the football instead of pass. But the Buffs, on a third-and-13 at their own 9-yard line with less than three minutes remaining, passed the ball. It was incomplete, the clock stopped, and Georgia got the ball back with 2:29 left to navigate 43 yards with two timeouts.
The Buffs played what was easily their best game of the season, but didn’t have the points to show for it. Their rushing total (173 yards), passing (140), total yards (313), first downs (17) and time of possession (34:09) were season highs.
For what it’s worth, the points were, too.
But Colorado left many more points unclaimed. Its opening drive covered 68 yards in 11 plays and ended with a blocked Mason Crosby field-goal attempt. Nine penalties for 81 yards did their part to stall drives and take points away as well. On CU’s second drive, quarterback Bernard Jackson hit wideout Dusty Sprague on a 4-yard touchdown pass, only to have it called back because of a false start. CU settled for a Crosby field goal.
“We didn’t knock them out when we had the chance,” Hawkins said. “You come down here and you play this kind of a football team in this kind of a place, you find out you have a good football team and got to learn how to finish.”
Defensively, the Buffs held Georgia scoreless for so long, the stat on the last time Georgia was shut out was announced in the press box. Staying in a cover 2 defense most of the time, CU forced two turnovers, held the Bulldogs to 54 yards rushing and rendered UGa starting quarterback Matthew Stafford so ineffective he was taken out of the game.
“As a defense, we showed that we can stop anyone in the country if we do our job and stay with the game plan,” defensive tackle George Hypolite said.
But backup quarterback Joe Cox entered and rallied the Bulldogs, leading them on two touchdown drives.
Meanwhile, Colorado is left once again to wonder “what if.”
“We’re never down,” Hawkins said. “We’re fighters, we’re winners. You can take that to the bank, make that the headline.”
THE GRADES
Offense
C: Evidence the Buffs are ironing out the details came Saturday in their most effective game of the season. Bernard Jackson played the best game of his career, though he still made some mistakes. Penalties stopped CU from putting more points on the board.
Defense
A: Spectacular most of the day, holding Georgia scoreless through three quarters. The Buffs forced two turnovers and hounded heralded freshman quarterback Matthew Stafford to the point he was removed from the game.
Special teams
C: Punter Matthew DiLallo had an up-and-down day, and didn’t punt the ball well late when CU needed it most. The return game was iffy. Mason Crosby had a field goal blocked, but made two others.
Overall
B: Colorado controlled the game for three quarters, but didn’t have the finishing touch. No one likes moral victories, but the Buffs played well in pushing the ninth-ranked Bulldogs to the limit.
Staff writer Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
