MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A Colorado program in need of a few gifts found a virtual Welcome Wagon in the form of the West Virginia Mountaineers on Thursday night. They gave the Buffaloes a few bricks and a little plaster, just enough to build a nice foundation heading into Big 12 play.
Instead, the Buffs couldn’t hammer a nail when they needed to and wound up watching another game crumble around them as West Virginia and tailback Noel Devine rolled 35-24.
The Mountaineers (3-1) have developed a rep as being more charitable than some United Nations agencies. They came in with 10 turnovers, all in the previous two games. But while Auburn thanked them for six of them in a 41-30 win, the Buffs couldn’t take advantage of all that charity.
Four West Virginia lost fumbles in the first 23 minutes turned into a whopping three Colorado points, a mere footnote in the wake of Devine’s career-best 220 yards. Before a national TV audience still saying “Holy Toledo!” every time they see a Colorado helmet, the 1-3 Buffs blew a realistic shot at redemption.
“Could we have won the football game? Sure,” Colorado coach Dan Hawkins said. “I’ll leave it at that. We didn’t make enough plays to win the football game. That’s one side of it. The other side of it, I was proud of the way we battled. That was our best effort, by far.”
While the effort improved, the number of weapons didn’t. A wide receiver other than Scotty McKnight, who had a game-high nine catches, didn’t make a catch until 6 1/2 minutes remained. Tailback Rodney Stewart had 105 yards rushing, but his 36-yard TD run to tie the score 7-7 was one of only two of more than 7 yards.
It was this kind of grinding that transformed those four Mountaineer fumbles into a missed field goal, a three-and-out, an interception and a 39-yard field goal.
“It’s tremendously frustrating, as an athlete, as a defensive player,” linebacker Marcus Burton said. “But you’ve got to roll with the punches.”
Devine, all 5-feet-8 and 176 pounds, had the knockout blows. He gave Colorado its “here we go again” moment with a 77-yard TD romp on the Mountaineers’ second play. The junior from North Fort Myers (Fla.) High had spurned the likes of Alabama and Florida for West Virginia, and was way too much for a Colorado defense facing speed issues. His 56-yard run to the CU 24 set up the go-ahead touchdown in the second quarter.
“I told him afterwards I hope I never see that guy again,” Dan Hawkins said. “That’s why you coach. It’s fun to compete against those guys.”
Fun? His defense wouldn’t say that. What was fun for them was watching Hawkins eschew a 46-yard field goal on fourth-and-7 and down 21-10 in the third quarter. Quarterback Cody Hawkins threw down the left sideline where McKnight outjumped cornerback Brandon Hogan for a 29-yard TD.
Kicker Aric Goodman had already gone only 1-for-3, but that wasn’t the only reason Dan Hawkins threw the dice on offense.
“We need some big plays,” Hawkins said. “That comes from confidence. That comes from personnel and getting into a rhythm. Yeah, we kind of knew that coming into the season, that we’re going to have to be machine-like.”
The only machine on this night was Devine. When the 60,055 gold-clad fans started getting nervous, ahead only 21-17 entering the fourth quarter, Devine carried nine times for 51 yards, in a 14-play, 69-yard drive that chewed up 6:48.
When freshman Ryan Clarke scored from the 1, West Virginia had a 28-17 lead with 9:17 left. And Colorado must pick itself up to continue a death march to No. 2 Texas on Oct. 10, then home against No. 18 Kansas.
But an improved effort has given Colorado an improved outlook.
“We’re going to be in good shape,” said Cody Hawkins, who was 27-for-52 for 292 yards, two TDs and three interceptions. “I don’t think we’ll play anybody as athletic as these guys all season.”
As he spoke, dying off in the distance were ironic verses blaring out from the stadium speaker. As a long season became longer, no Buff hummed along to “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver.
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
