BOULDER — After giving up 361 yards on the ground Saturday against Oregon, Colorado got bad news that may make it tougher this weekend against Arizona State.
Starting inside linebacker Kenneth Olugbode will be out four to six weeks because of a leg injury suffered in the Oregon game. The Buffs already were missing their other first-string inside linebacker, Addison Gillam, injured in the second game of the season.
“It’s going to be a big loss,” said defensive tackle Justin Solis. “It starts up front with us, the D-line. Not having K.O. out there is a huge loss, but it’s definitely something we accept as a challenge as a D-line. We’re going to step it up while he’s out.”
Rick Gamboa replaced Gillam and has made some big plays. Ryan Severson, one of CU’s best special-teams players, is expected to start in Olugbode’s place against Arizona State. He leads the team in special-teams tackles with eight.
“He’s played a lot of football for us,” CU coach Mike MacIntyre said of Severson. “Now our two starting (inside) linebackers are out, but we’ll keep going along. The good thing is, I think we’re putting guys in that can definitely play.”
Oregon’s Royce Freeman rushed for 163 yards in Oregon’s 41-24 victory,averaging 6.0 yards a carry. Taj Griffin added another 112.
“It’s unacceptable what happened against Oregon,” Solis said. “We can’t be allowing that many rushing yards.”
Freeman scored on a 29-yard run for the first score of the game, five plays after CU running back Phillip Lindsay fumbled.
“On the first touchdown run, we busted (coverage),” MacIntyre said. “Royce bounced outside. We screwed up. A couple runs, he made some really good runs. He ran through some people and made some good plays. They made some good blocks.”
On a second-quarter scoring drive, Griffin reeled off a 62-yard run.
“He just made us miss in the hole and then took off,” MacIntyre said. “Our safety had a bad angle, and then we got him down finally. That happens sometimes. We’ve got to rally (to the ball). We’ve got to have more guys there.”
MacIntyre said his defense needs to create more turnovers. CU lost the turnover battle 3-1.
MacIntyre pointed to two pivotal plays: a third-quarter fumble by CU quarterback Sefo Liufau that stopped a promising drive — Liufau was scrambling to avoid a sack — and a fourth-quarter Oregon reverse on third-and-3 that Bralon Addison took for 13 yards, barely eluding CU safety Tedric Thompson in the backfield. On the next play, Oregon scored on a 43-yard touchdown pass to take a 38-24 lead.
“One of the big plays in the game, they run the reverse on third-and-(3),” MacIntyre said. “Nice run by the guy. Tedric had a great chance. That was a big play. If we get his heel, they’re punting to us. It’s anybody’s ballgame at that time.”
MacIntyre said the Buffs failed to pick up on a blitz on the play when Liufau fumbled.
“That gave them a short field, and that was a huge turning point,” MacIntyre said. “Honestly, if you take those two plays out, and they go the other way — we get Addison, we pick up that blitz — it’s a different game. That’s not coachspeak, that’s reality. It used to be nine or 10 plays. Now it’s down to one or two or three. I look at that as progress.”
MacIntyre expects the run defense to be tested again this week. Senior Arizona State quarterback Mike Bercovici was named the Pac-12 offensive player of the week after throwing for 273 yards and rushing for 37 in an upset victory over UCLA.
“They’re a good running team,” MacIntyre said. “Last week their quarterback ran the ball more. He was a little bit more of a dual-threat guy. I know that’s what they’ll do again. We’ve got to be able to account for the quarterback and the running back. We’ve got to cause turnovers, make some stops on third downs.”
Footnotes: Liufau, who had a sore throwing shoulder the past two weeks after being injured in the Colorado State game, is much improved. “It’s feeling great,” Liufau said Tuesday. “It’s not a factor right now. I think I did a lot better against Oregon than I did the week before.” … The Buffs expect to get injured running back Patrick Carr back this week, but it’s too early to say when running back Michael Adkins will return from a hamstring injury. He has been out since early in the CSU game. … Left offensive tackle Sam Kronshage is in the concussion protocol, and the Buffs are preparing in case he is unavailable.
John Meyer: jmeyer@denverpost.com or @johnmeyer
