BOULDER — In a long season of dark days and a darker night Friday at Folsom Field, the downtrodden Colorado Buffaloes found a bright spot in their 42-17 loss to 21st-ranked Southern California.
Receiver Toney Clemons lived up the hype that followed him with his transfer from Michigan. Playing in the shadow of flashy Paul Richardson this season, Clemons responded to Richardson’s return from a knee injury with five catches for a career-high 112 yards and two touchdowns.
“I’m glad Tyler (Hansen) has enough trust in me to throw me the ball,” Clemons said.
Despite Richardson’s long absence, Clemons entered the game only third on the team in receptions with 26, behind Richardson’s 29 and tailback Rodney Stewart’s 28.
But Clemons looked like one of the better receivers in the Pac-12, beating cornerback Tony Burnett for a 37-yard TD pass to open the scoring.
“Toney has played well the last few weeks,” CU coach Jon Embree said. “He’s stepped up and made big plays.”
Red-zone struggles.
Colorado struggled again inside the opponent’s 20, coming away with only 10 points on four trips.
With first-and-10 at the 15 in the second quarter, Tyler Hansen threw two incomplete passes, and Stewart gained 1 yard. Will Oliver then had his third kick of the season blocked.
After Jason Espinoza returned his first career interception to the USC 8 with 36 seconds left in the half, Stewart lost 2 yards, Hansen threw an incompletion and defensive end Nick Perry sacked Hansen. Oliver kicked a 30-yard field goal for a 28-10 halftime deficit.
Oliver had another 37-yard kick blocked in the third quarter.
“There’s no excuse not to get more than what we have,” Embree said. “We’ve got to get better in the red zone and overall be smarter with some of the stuff we’re doing.”
Clemons did catch a 10-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter. On the season, Colorado has made 26 trips to the red zone with 13 touchdowns and five field goals.
McDonald misses first half.
Colorado hoped to exploit the absence of USC’s all-conference safety, T.J. McDonald, suspended for the first half for an illegal hit the previous week against Stanford.
However, his replacement, Drew McAllister, did fine in his place. The junior, coming off a redshirt season in which he had surgery on torn cartilage in his hip, made his second career start for USC and made three tackles in the first half.
Tyler Hansen picked on USC’s cornerbacks with limited success. He finished with 250 yards on 17-of-37 passing.
Oliver pulled.
Oliver had his third and fourth kick blocked after kicking his 10th field goal of the year. Embree replaced him with sophomore Justin Castor to kick an extra point in the fourth quarter. It was Castor’s first career point.
“He’ll be my kicker next week,” Embree said. “I expect him to make the first field goal against Arizona.”
Injury report.
Freshman Brady Daigh, who started at middle linebacker, injured his wrist in the first quarter and did not return. Safety Kyle Washington suffered a possible concussion breaking up a pass in the second quarter and didn’t return.
Short-lived lead.
The Buffaloes’ 7-0 lead in the first quarter was their first lead in 244 minutes and 10 seconds, stretching back to the Washington State game five weeks ago. The lead lasted 2:29.
Fourth and short.
USC has a 6-0 series record against Colorado and has outscored the Buffs 180-41. . . . Cornerbacks Parker Orms and Paul Vigo returned from suspensions this week but worked only with the scout team. They did not play Friday. . . . Matt Barkley’s six touchdown passes broke the USC record of five, which had been accomplished four other times.
