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We are able to sell out the opener this year - good to see after we had 3,000 empties for Minnesota last year.
Morris runs for 8 on the opening play of the new year.
Rattay completes his 2nd attempt of the year to Palmer - 15 yards on his first college catch.
31 yards and a TD on his second college catch - blown assignment and he takes it to the house. 7-0, 12:04 left in the quarter.
Gain of 22 to the FB on the first play for Colorado. Uh-oh.
12 to Herring on the next play.
Looks like Buffalo is going to pound it on the ground.
After 4 straight runs they hit a 13 yard pass. Down to our 24.
And Joe Herring runs it in from 22 yards out. 7-7, 8:38 left in the quarter.
They threw like nuts last year but have re-invented themselves as a smash-mouth team. And we are making them look damn good at it.
J.R. Jackson takes the kick out to the 41.
21 yard pass to Thelwell.
Morris gets freaky on a 20 yard run, eluded several defenders with Barry Sanders-like moves.
Rattay is sacked.
Thelwell runs for 15 on 3rd and 16.
Ellis comes in and kicks a 25 yard field goal. 10-7, 5:43 left in the quarter.
Joe Herring has 69 yards on 7 carries after getting the ball on the first four touches of the next drive.
But they fall back to pass on 2nd down and Elijah McAllister makes them pay. Interception on a deep route, we take over at our 15.
Rattay is sacked again. Hope this doesn't become a theme ...
3 and out.
26 yard return for the Buffs, who start at our 41.
Back to back 15 yard completion for QB Johnny Zukauskas bring the ball to the 5.
FB Ron Williams takes it up the gut to give Colorado the lead. 14-10, end of one quarter.
A 15 yard facemask on the return puts us at the 48.
Morris is almost as effective as their back - 60 yards on 8 carries.
Gain of 3 to Martin on 3rd and 4.
We go for it this time from their 28. Morris picks up 3.
And Gannon Dawson runs it in from 25 yards out on the next play. 17-14, 11:28 left in the half.
Colorado is whistled for holding on 1st down - finally!
They punt on 4th and 1 from their 16.
18 yards to Palmer - nice debut for him so far.
Morris runs for 20 more.
Rattay is sacked on 1st down, loss of 2.
But we are stopped at the 7. Ellis has his 2nd 25 yard field goal of the day. 20-14, 6:37 left in the half.
3 and out, as Zukauskas can't quite get on the same page with his receivers.
Rattay is sacked for the 4th time this half.
Morris picks up 10 on 3rd and 5.
Morris gets 6 more on a screen pass on 3rd and 6.
20 yards to Woodley Martin, down to the 3.
And another TD pass for Rattay, to TE Gene Fortunato. 27-14, 1:50 left in the half.
Time to find out if we worked on our nickle/dime packages to stop the 2 minute offense.
3 and out, the defense hits the wideout hard on 3rd down to break up a pass.
Pass to Morris for 10, to the 46.
17 yards to Palmer. Timeout!
We are whistled for holding on a sack.
2nd and 14 at the 33.
16 yards to Morris. We spike it.
Ellis kicks a 35 yard field goal. 30-14, 0:10 left in the half.
Halftime Notes:
The offense was just as good as we hoped it would be. Rattay is 15-18 for 189 yards and 2 TDs. Morris has 14 carries for 98 yards.
The defense is struggling to stop the run.
We just need to keep controlling the ball and not commit turnovers and we will put this one away.
We get a stop on 3rd and 6 and force a punt after one first down.
Good punt, we are stuck back at the 9.
OT Paul Glover has his first penalty - tripping on a 7 yard run.
Rattay finds Martin for 17 yards on 3rd and 15.
We have to punt after a pair of first downs.
But we force a turnover on punt coverage and take over at the 24.
Ugh - Rattay throws an interception immediately. Martin was open and probably would have scored.
27 yard run for Herring, he is now over 100 on 13 touches.
DE Phil Patten records a sack on 1st down.
Colorado punts from the 49.
3 and out as Morris is stuffed on 3rd and 2. Punt.
We are called for a 5 yard facemask to give Colorado a 1st down.
Colorado is immediately called for holding - makeup call?
There is a new QB in the game, Eric Suggs. He completes a pass for 23 yards, to our 41.
But CB Curry Thompson introduces himself to the new QB, by way of interception.
Voight catches a short crossing route and turns it into 19 yards on 3rd and 14.
27 more for Voight, who is just a tough man to bring down after the catch.
Rattay again can't connect with Martin in scoring territory. Ellis puts up 3 more on a 44 yard kick. Nice start for him. 33-14, 13:46 left to play.
We get a 3 and out. Suggs was knicked up on 2nd down and had to scramble again on 3rd. He wasn't moving very well.
21 more yards to Voight. He didn't have any receptions in the first half, but has made his presence felt in the 2nd half.
And Nicolas Morris puts the game away with a 46 yard run! The Rose Bowl crowd is on their feet after the electrifying run! 40-14, 10:56 left to play.
Morris now has 22 carries for 159 yards.
17 yard run for FB Ron Williams. That guy looks like an All-American today. 4 carries for 52 yards.
The defense forces a fumble.
One play drive - Rattay to Thelwell for 54 yards. Colorado is throwing in the towel. 47-14, 9:11 left to play.
Another Colorado fumble after a catch, but they recover this one.
That delays the change of possession for one play. Anderson, who forced the fumble last possession, goes down low for a shoestring grab and runs it back 36 yards to the 50.
Rattay is just drilled. He fumbles, but Perryman recovers.
Rattay is pissed. He gets up and fires a 29 yarder to Voight for a first down.
3 yard TD pass to Martin. 54-14, 5:07 left to play.
Hope we bring in the reserves, don't want our line letting Rattay get hurt.
Colorado brings in a 3rd QB to wrap this up. We force another turnover - again a fumble. The safety Brock lowers the boom and DE Dickerson runs it back for 36 yards. 61-14, 4:12 left in the slaughter.
DT Jack Farmer knocks the ball loose and recovers it at the 34.
Ellis misses a 43 yard field goal. I'm not too upset over this.
Colorado is whistled for holding. Not surprising, they can't believe what has hit them in the 4th quarter.
They are called again for holding on 3rd down, but we decline.
We are whistled for roughing the passer on an incomplete pass on 4th and 20.
But we are awarded the ball? Boo ... still some stuff that needs to be fixed in the game.
And Gannon Dawson hurts his foot on a carry we should not have had - 0:32 left on the clock there when he got the ball.
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