Forty times during its three-game losing streak, Colorado’s offense has jogged onto the field to start a possession. Not once has it lined up on the opponent’s side of the 50-yard line.
Northwestern, Baylor and Texas Tech did it 11 times.
The gap goes a long way toward explaining how the Buffaloes outgained Baylor and Texas Tech yet lost each game by double digits. In the three losses, Colorado’s average drive started at its own 22.3-yard line. Its opponents’ average drive started at their own 35.5. Each time out, Colorado had 13.2 more yards to cover than its opponents before running a play.
The Buffs (2-3, 0-2 Big 12) outgained Baylor, 363-337, and Texas Tech, 375-315. They lost those two games by a combined 52-20.
Where the short fields came from
The 11 opponent drives that started in Colorado territory produced 41 of the 93 points the Buffs allowed in the three losses. Tech added seven more on John Curry‘s pick-six, which didn’t need a drive at all.
Most of those short fields trace back to the offense. Nine of the 11 came after a turnover or a failed fourth down, and those nine drives produced 38 points.
At Northwestern, Micah Welch lost a fumble at the Colorado 44, and a Julian Lewis interception was returned to the Colorado 18. Both turned into touchdowns.
At Baylor, the Bears scored a touchdown after taking over on downs at the Colorado 48. And against Texas Tech, an interception handed the Red Raiders the ball at the CU 31, leading to a 27-yard field goal, and a stop on fourth down handed them the ball at the CU 41. They scored a touchdown from there.
The offense, meanwhile, has had to go a long way every time it scores. Colorado has 27 points in the three losses. Every one of its scoring drives started at its own 34 or deeper, including a 95-yard touchdown drive at Baylor that began from the Colorado 5.
The punt game
The special teams toll is less dramatic and more constant.
Against Baylor and Texas Tech, Colorado’s 10 drives that followed an opponent’s punt started, on average, at the Buffs own 14.3-yard line. When the Buffs punted, their opponents started, on average, at their own 31.3.
Part of that is who was punting. Baylor’s Palmer Williams was the Big 12’s Special Teams Player of the Year and a Ray Guy Award finalist last season. Texas Tech’s Will Karoll averaged 55.7 yards on three punts at Folsom Field, and Colorado didn’t return any of them. Two of them, a 67-yarder and a 66-yarder, went untouched and pinned the Buffs at their own 13 and 2, respectively, in the second half. Colorado threw an interception within two snaps of each, and the second was Curry’s pick-six, on the first snap after the 66-yarder.
Asked after the Texas Tech game why special teams couldn’t give the offense better field position, head coach Deion Sanders said he wants his punt returners to secure the ball first.
“If you return it, that’s a bonus,” he said. “Everything is a bonus, but you just want the possession.”
Ironically, Colorado’s returners didn’t fair catch either of Karoll’s long punts, and letting them roll cost the Buffs field position both times.
The other two short fields came on punt returns at Baylor. Jayden McGowan brought back Colorado punts 27 and 21 yards, setting the Bears up at the Colorado 49 and 47. One produced a field goal. Late in the first half against Tech, a Colorado personal foul after a punt and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the next snap moved the Red Raiders from their own 25 to the Colorado 45 — though they missed a field goal.
Kickoffs have been a smaller factor. Two Colorado kickoffs went out of bounds at Baylor, and Northwestern’s Joseph Himon II returned one 37 yards to set up a touchdown. Colorado’s punting at Northwestern was a bright spot. Its four punts there left the Wildcats starting at their own 6, 12, 21 and 30.
What the wins looked like
Colorado’s two wins tell the other half of the story.
At Georgia Tech, the Buffs’ average drive started at their own 31.4, and the Yellow Jackets at their own 22.8. Against Weber State, Colorado’s average start — its own 30.1 — was within a yard of the Wildcats 30.7. Counting all 49 drives in the two wins, Colorado started 2.8 yards better per drive than its opponents. That’s a swing of 16 yards per possession from the wins to the losses.
Good field position wasn’t a cure-all. Colorado started two drives in Georgia Tech territory in the opener. One ended in Welch’s 5-yard touchdown run. The other ended on fourth down at the Tech 1-yard line.
The special teams problems showed up in the wins, too. Georgia Tech’s Rahkeem Smith returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, and the Yellow Jackets blocked a Colorado field goal. Against Weber State, Colorado muffed a punt. Penalties on two of its kickoff returns pushed drives back to its own 10- and 8-yard line. A special teams play also won the opener, when defensive back Boo Carter blocked Georgia Tech’s 45-yard try as time expired.
Fixing it
After the opener at Georgia Tech, Sanders said the special teams issues from that game had already been addressed.
“That wasn’t schematic. That was personnel,” he said Sept. 8. “We fixed it with personnel already.”
Colorado doesn’t have a special teams coordinator this season. Micheal Pollack held that title in 2025.
After the Texas Tech loss, asked about penalties and special teams mistakes that kept repeating, Sanders said he wasn’t putting it on one player. “If we miss a kick, we miss a kick. That’s one guy,” he said. He was more bothered by the preparation.
“I’m upset that we’re not preparing them rightfully to make those type of plays,” Sanders said.
The Buffs have two weeks to close the gap before No. 12 Utah visits Folsom Field on Oct. 17. Forty possessions into the losing streak, Colorado is still waiting to start one on the opponents side of the 50.
