BOULDER — First, the topic of the midnight hour Sunday morning: Was that a moral victory for Colorado, being tied with Oregon at halftime and being only one touchdown behind early in the fourth quarter?
“If this was two years ago, I would say this was a moral victory,” running back Christian Powell said after Oregon’s 41-24 triumph in a game that began at 9:08 p.m. Saturday and ended at 12:31 a.m. Sunday. “But we felt like we were capable. We just had too many mistakes. We can’t take this as a moral victory. We lost the game, and that’s what it is. We just have to work at it and keep moving forward.”
Oregon stopped CU’s running game and punished CU for turnovers while rolling up 537 yards of offense. Oregon’s Royce Freeman rushed for 166 yards, and Taj Griffin contributed 112.
“I don’t know when it was 17-17 at the half with Colorado and Oregon (before), but in no way, shape or form do we take any kind of moral victory,” said CU coach Mike MacIntyre. “I do believe our program is growing, and I do believe we are going to win our fair share of Pac-12 games. But we do have to take care of the football.”
Quarterback Sefo Liufau fumbled on a sack in Oregon territory early in the second half with CU trailing 24-17, snuffing out a promising drive. Running back Phillip Lindsay fumbled deep in CU territory in the first quarter, giving Oregon the ball on the CU 34. Two plays later, Oregon had the first touchdown of the game.
Liufau also threw an interception deep in Colorado territory on CU’s first possession — his first interception since the second quarter of the season opener at Hawaii — but that one didn’t cost the Buffs because defensive back Ahkello Witherspoon intercepted Oregon quarterback Jeff Lockie in the end zone five plays later.
“We just can’t make mistakes,” Lindsay said. “I made a costly one with the fumble. That turned into points. Coach Mac stresses that the one with the least turnovers is going to win the game, and they had the least turnovers. That’s on us.”
There was a sense among the Buffs that they let a big opportunity slip away. They were in it in the fourth quarter.
Then it turned into another Oregon victory, although it was only a 17-point loss to a team that had beaten CU by six touchdowns per game since the Buffs joined the Pac-12.
“The energy was great,” said defensive end Leo Jackson. “It was live. We had the fans, we had Folsom rocking. Everything seemed like it was going our way. It was just those mistakes that ended up costing us.”
Announced attendance was 46,222, the biggest Folsom Field crowd since 2012. Many left after Oregon took a 31-17 lead with 2:12 left in the third quarter. The start of the game was delayed an hour because of lightning in the area, and it rained much of the evening.
Defensive back Ken Crawley said the Buffs were confident they could beat Oregon and will continue to be confident going forward.
“It’s been there, absolutely,” Crawley said. “We changed as a whole group, and we believe that we can beat anybody. We come out here and play and challenge these guys. We let one slip away from us, but we’re not going to let that bother us. We’re going to just keep on keeping on and prepare for the next game.”
CU’s next game is Saturday at Arizona State.
“You want to win every game, but we are kind of looking at it like we need to learn our lesson from this one,” said wide receiver Nelson Spruce. “This team has a different feeling about it, and we feel like we can be competitive in every game, so we can’t let a loss like this carry on into our week of practice and affect next week. We are going to watch film, learn what we can, shake it off and get ready for ASU.”
John Meyer: jmeyer@denverpost.com or @johnmeyer
Eye on …The Sun Devils
Colorado at Arizona State, 8 p.m. Saturday, Pac-12 Network
For the record: ASU is 3-2 after upsetting UCLA 38-23 at the Rose Bowl.
Streaking: ASU won two of its first three games but lost to Southern California 42-14 two weeks ago at home.
Who’s hot: DJ Foster had four receptions for 57 yards and a touchdown against UCLA. He is playing wide receiver full time after playing running back his first three seasons. He entered the season as the only current FBS player with at least 2,000 rushing yards and 1,500 receiving yards. Foster set the school record for consecutive games with a reception at 45 on Saturday, moving into second all time in career receptions with 189.
Who’s not: ASU’s offense struggled in the red zone vs. UCLA, failing to score on three of its trips there.
Key stat: ASU’s defense limited Heisman Trophy candidate Paul Perkins to 63 yards rushing. He went into the game averaging 128.5. And how about an odd stat to go with this: ASU scored twice on safeties against UCLA.
FYI: Colorado has never beaten ASU in six meetings. The Sun Devils have outscored the Buffaloes 191-68 in four games since CU joined the Pac-12 in 2011.
John Meyer, The Denver Post
