Another change at quarterback provided a small dose of excitement for the Colorado football team on Saturday.
It wasn’t enough to keep the fans in the Folsom Field stands for the fourth quarter, however.
CU opened the Pac-12 portion of the schedule just like it played the nonconference slate, with a blowout loss. Zach Charbonnet ran for 104 yards and three touchdowns to lead UCLA to an easy 45-17 victory in the conference opener for both teams.
The Buffs (0-4, 0-1 Pac-12) have lost all four games by at least 25 points, the longest stretch of such losses for a CU team since a seven-game stretch in 2012.
True freshman Owen McCown got the start at quarterback and had mixed results, completing 26-of-42 passes for 258 yards, a touchdown, an interception and a lost fumble. It was a season-high in passing yards for the Buffs, who had played Brendon Lewis and JT Shrout for most of the first three games. This is the first time since 2012 that CU has started three different quarterbacks in a season.
In pregame, fans cheered the decision to start McCown, the talented freshman who made his collegiate debut in mop-up duty a week earlier against Minnesota. The overall result wasn’t any different, however, as UCLA (4-0, 1-0) had no trouble rolling past the Buffs.
In addition to Charbonnet, UCLA was led by Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who threw for 234 yards and two touchdowns. The Bruins reached the end zone on their first three possessions and four of their first five. Laiatu Latu led the Bruins’ defense with three sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss.
McCown gave the Buffs some life on offense from the start, even if it didn’t immediately result in points.
On the opening drive, McCown led a 12-play drive – matching the longest of the season for CU – but it stalled at the UCLA 40 and Cole Becker was wide left on a 54-yard field goal, his first miss of the season.
CU crossed midfield on its next possession, as well, before punting.
Unfortunately for the Buffs, UCLA responded to both of those possessions with quick touchdowns. Thompson-Robinson threw a 24-yard scoring strike to Matt Sykes and Charbonnet had a 35-yard run to make it 14-0 by the end of the first quarter.
McCown led the Buffs to a field goal on the third possession, but UCLA answered with yet another touchdown, this one a 13-yard run by Charbonnet.
After the Buffs’ defense finally got a stop, stuffing the Bruins on a fourth-and-2, McCown and the offense went to work again.
Aided by a roughing the passer penalty on UCLA, CU drove 74 yards on nine plays, capped by a 2-yard touchdown run from McCown.
That score, which pulled CU within 21-10 at the half, was only the second first-half touchdown for the Buffs in the last six games.
Whatever momentum was gained by that score was quickly squashed in the third quarter. On the fourth play of the quarter, Charbonnet went 46 yards through the middle of the Buffs’ defense for his third touchdown of the game and a 28-10 lead.
UCLA kept the foot on the gas and went up 45-10 on the first play of the fourth quarter.
McCown tossed an 8-yard touchdown pass to Jordyn Tyson with 2:59 to play.
