ASU looks to bounce back versus a struggling CU squad seeking a turnaround
It may be noble to play a more challenging non-conference schedule than your league foes, but that approach has seemingly backfired in Colorado’s case. As they enter the Pac-12 slate, beginning with a road game in Tempe, the Buffaloes, who have been outscored 40-7 in their last two games, are still in search of answers to remedy shortcomings. On paper, this could be the perfect bounce back contest for Arizona State, although the Sun Devils have to fix their own inconsistencies.
Colorado Offense
Following the transfer of Second-Team All-Pac-12 quarterback Sam Noyer to Oregon State, Brendon Lewis earned the starting quarterback position for the Buffaloes this season.
The results have been, in a word, bad, as Colorado has one of the absolute worst pass offenses – and offenses overall – in the entire FBS.
Through three starts, Lewis has completed 31-of-56 passes (55.4%) for 246 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
On a game-by-game level, Lewis had a season-high (term used lightly) of 102 passing yards with his only touchdown thus far in the opener against FCS opponent Northern Colorado. Against Texas A&M, he completed 13-of-25 passes for just 89 yards, and last week against Minnesota, he completed 8-of-16 passes for 55 yards.
Lewis has shown the ability to escape the pocket, as he had eight carries for 44 yards against Northern Colorado and nine carries for 76 yards against Texas A&M. For the third consecutive week, Lewis presents a dual-threat challenge ASU’s defense must monitor.
Last season, Lewis’ primary minutes came in Colorado’s Alamo Bowl loss to Texas when he completed 6-of-10 passes for 95 yards and rushed nine times for 73 yards with a touchdown.
Backup quarterback Drew Carter has appeared in two games, completed 4-of-8 passes for 27 yards, and may see some time on Saturday.
The 2020 Pac-12 Conference Offensive Player of the Year, Jarek Broussard, has quite a bit of work to do in order to earn a repeat trophy as he averages just 51.0 rushing yards per game through three contests – nearly one-third of his per-game average last season. In total, Broussard has 153 rushing yards on 32 carries (4.8 avg.) with two touchdowns. He also has three catches for 11 total yards.
After rushing for 94 yards on 15 carries in Colorado’s opener versus Northern Colorado, Broussard has just 59 yards on 17 carries in the past two games.
Last season, Broussard had at least 100 rushing yards in four of Colorado’s six games, including an incredible 301-yard performance against Arizona. Altogether in his star-studded 2020 campaign, Broussard had 985 yards on 156 carries (5.7 avg.) with five touchdowns in six games, averaging 149.2 rushing yards per game.
Backup running back Alex Fontenot has 83 yards on 23 carries (3.6 avg.) with one touchdown.
At wide receiver, Arizona product Brenden Rice, Daniel Arias, and Dimitri Stanley are listed as the starters for this week.
Arias leads Colorado in receiving yards, albeit for just 45 yards on four catches. Rice ranks second on the team in receptions (five) and third in receiving yards (35). Stanley has four catches for 26 yards.
Last season, Stanley was the team leader with 20 catches for 335 yards with one touchdown.
Backup receiver Montana Lemonious-Craig has the team’s only touchdown catch so far this season.
Brady Russell is slated to start at tight end and leads the team so far with six catches, totaling 37 yards.
The Colorado offensive line figures to start tackle Jake Wiley and guard Kary Kutsch on the left side, guard Casey Roddick and Frank Fillip on the right side with Colby Pursell at center.
The Buffaloes had a significant offensive line shuffle last week, as three changes were made from the previous two games. So far, Wiley and Kutsch are the only two offensive linemen to start all three games for Colorado.
In 2020, Fillip and Roddick were named Honorable Mention All-Pac-12 selections.
Colorado Offense Summary
The Colorado pass offense is flat-out awful, as the Buffaloes rank next-to-last among all 130 FBS teams (only behind Navy) by averaging 91.0 passing yards per game.
Naturally, this has impacted Colorado’s ability to put points on the board, as the Buffaloes have the poorest scoring offense not only in the Pac-12 but the worst among all Power Five teams as CU averages just 14.0 points per game (126th nationally). Colorado also has the poorest total offense output among all Power Five programs (235.3 yards per game, 126th nationally).
Broussard proved on many occasions last season to be an elite rusher, but this season his hot streak has undoubtedly cooled down. It doesn’t take a football scientist to tell you that ASU will dare Colorado to throw the ball on virtually every down and stack the box against Broussard as well as Lewis in the run game.
Colorado Defense
The Buffalo defense operates out of a 4-3 base alignment, with ends Terrance Lange and Carson Wells around tackle Na’im Rodman and nose tackle Jalen Sami.
Lang and Wells were both Honorable Mentions All-Pac-12 picks in 2020. So far in 2021, Lang has four tackles, while Wells also has four, including a sack. Both Rodman and Sami have seven tackles as well as 2.5 for loss with 1.5 sacks on the year.
Backup defensive end Guy Thomas ranks second on the team with 18 total tackles on the year.
At linebacker, Colorado has one of the Pac-12’s most tenured and accomplished defenders in inside ‘backer Nate Landman.
Landman is slated to be joined by Jack Lamb and Quinn Perry in the starting lineup at linebacker. Landman, a First-Team All-Pac-12 pick last season who totaled an incredible 260 tackles across the 2018-19 seasons, leads Colorado with 27 tackles, including 5.0 for loss with three pass breakups – all team highs.
Perry ranks third on the team with 15 total tackles, while Lamb has one tackle on the year.
In the secondary, cornerbacks Mekhi Blackmon and Christian Gonzalez are likely to be joined by free safety Mark Perry and strong safety Isaiah Lewis.
Lewis was an Honorable Mention All-Pac-12 selection in 2020 and ranks fourth on the team with 14 tackles. Gonzalez has 10 tackles, including 2.5 for loss, while Perry also has 10 tackles on the year. Blackmon has nine tackles and the team’s only interception so far in 2021.
Colorado Defense Summary
The Buffalo defense, guided by Landman, has been active through three games with 17.0 tackles for loss with 5.0 sacks. Overall, Colorado allows 131.3 rushing yards per game at just 3.9 yards per carry, and its pass defense permits just 197.0 yards per game through the air.
Colorado ranks 52nd nationally in total defense (328.3), a fairly respectable standing compared to other rankings held by the team at this point – especially on offense.
Colorado Special Teams
So far, kicker Cole Becker is holding the oh-fer, as he’s missed both field goals he’s tried this year.
Punter Josh Watts averages a solid 48.8 yards on 18 punts, an impressive average given the number of punt situations the Colorado offense has forced so far this year. Watts ranks eight nationally and tops in the Pac-12 in punting average and is tied for 11th nationally in total punts.
Though he’s only had two tries, Brenden Rice has proven to be a dynamic punt returner as he has a 44-yard return and a 22-yarder. Last year, Rice only had one punt return, but it was an 81-yard house call.
On kick returns, Dimitri Stanley averages 12.7 yards on seven returns.
Overall Summary
The doormat of the Pac-12 for the first five years of their existence in the conference, ASU had no issues with Colorado prior to 2016 as the Sun Devils had never lost a game to the Buffaloes before that point.
Though Colorado has not maintained the peak it hit in 2016 when the Buffaloes won the Pac-12 South title, CU has been a consistent thorn in ASU’s side as the Sun Devils have dropped back-to-back games in the series and three of the last four, having only won in 2017 from 2016 to the present day.
This is the best possible matchup for ASU on paper and, in theory, after a highly frustrating loss last weekend at BYU.
Naturally, Sun Devil fans expect that Colorado’s pass offense will have a 400-yard day, and the Buffaloes will score more points in this game than they have in their first three combined (which, by the way, is 42).
However, objectively it must be noticed that the Buffaloes are coming to Tempe on the heels of two putrid offensive performances, including a Pac-12 record 20 straight scoreless drives.
Last week, Colorado was blanked by Minnesota by a score of 30-0 while being outgained by a measure of 441 to 63 by the Golden Gophers. The previous week, though against a premier program in Texas A&M, Colorado managed just seven points – but, to the team’s credit, allowed just 10.
Things don’t always go as planned for Sun Devil fans, but this week’s matchup presents as good of a bounce-back opportunity as ASU could ask for at this point. However, any legitimate struggles against Colorado – especially on defense – could stir further concerns for more deeply rooted issues with this year’s ASU squad.
Familiar Faces
· Colorado head coach Karl Dorrell was an assistant coach at ASU in 1994.
· Colorado LB Zion Magalei (Chandler HS), TE Jared Poplawski (Scottsdale Saguaro HS), and WR Brenden Rice (Chandler Hamilton HS) are Arizona natives. Poplawski was verbally committed to ASU before signing with Colorado.
· Colorado LB Nate Landman is the brother of former ASU TE Brendan Landman
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