EUGENE, Ore. – Opportunities to score against the Oregon defense don’t come around often this season.
When the Colorado Buffaloes got one late in the first half on Friday night, they not only whiffed, but then self-destructed.
Missing a chance to pull within a touchdown before halftime, the Buffaloes fell apart in a 45-3 blowout loss to Oregon at Autzen Stadium.
CU (3-3, 1-2 Pac-12) has lost two in a row and, for the first time this season, played a game that was decided before the fourth quarter. Friday’s loss was CU’s worst since a 59-7 defeat at Washington on Nov. 9, 2013.
Steven Montez, who led the Buffs to a stunning 41-38 upset of the Ducks on this field in his first career start on Sept. 24, 2016, had a disastrous night this time. The senior completed just 19-of-34 passes for 131 yards and a career-high four interceptions.
Coming in as 21-point underdogs, the Buffs had a tough hill to climb against the No. 13 Ducks (5-1, 3-0), who have now held five consecutive opponents below 10 points. But, the Buffs put themselves in a good position late in the first half.
Trailing 17-3, CU put together its best drive of the night, taking advantage of two pass interference penalties against the Ducks to set up a first-and-goal from the Oregon 3-yard line.
Twice, the Buffs got to the 1, but both times had penalties –one for false start, one for holding – push them back. Then, on third-and-goal from the 11, Montez tried to connect with tight end Brady Russell in the end zone, but the pass was tipped and picked off by the Ducks’ Verone McKinley III as he was falling out bounds.
Eight plays, 80 yards and 67 seconds later, Oregon’s Jaylon Redd scored from 3 yards out with 20 seconds to play in the half.
Instead of potentially pulling within 17-10 going into the break (and getting the ball to start the third quarter), the Buffs went into the locker room trailing 24-3.
Two plays into the third quarter, McKinley tipped another Montez pass, which was picked off by Bryson Young. That set up a Herbert-to-Redd 13-yard touchdown pass.
Four plays after that, McKinley picked off Montez again and returned it to the CU 3. That set up Cyrus Habibi-Likio’s 3-yard touchdown run that gave the Ducks a 38-3 lead.
Oregon added another Hibibi-Likio touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to increase the lead to 45-3.
Hibibi-Likio rushed for 47 yards and three touchdowns, while CJ Verdell rushed for 171 yards for the Ducks. Ducks quarterback Justin Herbert threw for 261 yards and two touchdowns.
Other than the drive to end the first half, CU’s best scoring threat came in the first quarter. Trailing 7-0, the Buffs had a 13-play march to the Oregon 9 before settling for a 27-yard field goal by James Stefanou.
In the fourth, the Buffs got deep into Ducks territory again, but Stefanou’s 33-yard attempt hit the upright.
No. 13 Oregon 45, Colorado 3Colorado 3 0 0 0 — 3Oregon 7 17 14 7 — 45First QuarterORE – Breeland 7 pass from J.Herbert (C.Lewis kick), 11:37COL – FG Stefanou 27, 2:46Second QuarterORE – FG C.Lewis 32, 14:10ORE – Habibi-Likio 1 run (C.Lewis kick), 7:39ORE – Redd 3 run (C.Lewis kick), :20Third QuarterORE – Redd 13 pass from J.Herbert (C.Lewis kick), 12:54ORE – Habibi-Likio 3 run (C.Lewis kick), 10:40Fourth QuarterORE – Habibi-Likio 1 run (C.Lewis kick), 7:39
COL OREFirst downs 21 24Rushes-yards 40-168 36-252Passing 131 275Comp-Att-Int 19-34-4 19-35-0Return Yards 127 63Punts-Avg. 4-38.75 2-44.0Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0Penalties-Yards 14-114 10-119Time of Possession 35:37 24:23INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING – Colorado, Fontenot 15-71, Mangham 10-42, D.Smith 7-41, Montez 3-12, Stanley 1-4, J.Davis 2-0, T.Lytle 1-(minus 1), (Team) 1-(minus 1). Oregon, Verdell 14-171, Tra.Dye 3-54, Habibi-Likio 13-47, Felix 3-8, Redd 1-3, J.Herbert 1-(minus 12), (Team) 1-(minus 19).PASSING – Colorado, Montez 19-34-4-131. Oregon, J.Herbert 18-32-0-261, Shough 1-2-0-14, (Team) 0-1-0-0.RECEIVING – Colorado, Brown 5-16, L.Shenault 4-70, Stanley 4-17, Fontenot 3-12, Russell 1-8, Harris 1-5, Mangham 1-3. Oregon, Redd 4-75, Pittman 3-57, Breeland 3-53, Juw.Johnson 2-36, Johnson III 2-24, Verdell 2-8, D.Davis 1-14, Felix 1-4, Addison 1-4.MISSED FIELD GOALS_Colorado, Stefanou 33.
