Texas State vs. Colorado Review

“They are what we thought they were.”

The late NFL coach Dennis Green’s words rung true Saturday as the spread and predictions against Texas State came to fruition.

Colorado downed Texas State in a 37-3 late surge ranking up 430 yards to Texas State’s 283 total.

For the first half, the Bobcats looked like they had a chance. Texas State’s strong suit is their defense and they stifled the stale Buffalo offense holding them to 2.2 yards per rush the whole game. The Bobcats held the Buffs scoreless in the first quarter. A reliable side of the ball last year, the special teams forsaken the ‘Cats when a James Sherman missed a 32 yard opening drive field goal, Marcus Ripley had a punt tipped for excellent field position for Colorado and a fumbled Colorado punt return was picked back up by the Buffalo for the first score of the game.

Gabe Loyd, Jordan Mittie and Frankie Griffin led the Bobcats on defense with sacks, tackle for losses and roamed the field with confidence with Bryan London adding 10 tackles combining with fellow linebacker Loyd to combine for 22 tackles. Overall, the defense thrived and showed vast improvement pressuring Colorado quarterback Steven Montez the entire afternoon.

Despite this effort, Texas State wasn’t on par with each other on offense and busted two huge yardage plays that led to only three points. Anthony Taylor had another game with a high average on the ground plowing out 66 yards on only eight carries. Receiver Thurman Morbley had 96 yards receiving and 23 yards rushing to lead the ‘Cats in total yardage. Quarterback Damien Williams struggled mightily going 6-for-16 for 95 yards and an interception and four yards on 10 carries and was eventually replaced by freshman Willie Jones III. Jones completed both his passes and added just five yards and had glimpses of both speed and being overwhelmed by the Colorado defense.

After a 14-0 Colorado lead going into halftime, in which Texas State at this point had held their own finally succumbed to the high altitude of Boulder, speed of their opponents and inefficiency of their offense as the second half got out of control. Texas State showed the ability to run, but relied on their rushing attack too much as there was no passing attack to spread the Buffalo defense and there were running plays that Colorado read like kindergarten picture books.

Besides some dazzling acrobatic catches by the Buffs, the powerful Colorado defense held the ‘Cats to just three points and and has only allowed six total points for the season.

Texas State hosts Appalachian State in a rare early season conference game next Saturday in San Marcos.