Colorado Preview
The Sun Devils look to bounce back from their USC loss, and in their quest to begin the month of November on a strong note they will have to overcome a pesky Buffalo team that has been improving as of late. Here’s a detailed examination of ASU’s next opponent.
Colorado Offense
After filling in admirably for a short period of time last year for starting quarterback Sefo Liufao, heading into 2017 the keys to the Colorado offense were in the hands of sophomore Steven Montez.
Through nine games, Montez has played well for the most part and has showcased highlights of a dynamic skill set. Overall, he has thrown for 2,059 yards with 15 touchdowns and six interceptions and has rushed for 241 net yards, but in Pac-12 play, he averages just 200.2 passing yards per game and has just 28 net rush yards in the past four games.
Montez comes to Tempe on the heels of a standout day against California, as he had his second-highest output of the season with 347 passing yards – second only to the 357 he totaled against FCS opponent Northern Colorado. Only twice otherwise this season has Montez thrown for more than 250 yards, though he exceeded the 100-yard rushing mark with 108 net yards in a loss to UCLA.
The workhorse of the Colorado offense – and perhaps the most heavily worked player in college football this year – is running back Phillip Lindsay, undoubtedly one of the most underrated players at the Power 5 level.
Through nine games, Lindsay leads the nation in carries with 240 – 31 ahead of second-place Rashaad Penny of San Diego State and nearly 60 more than the second-most in the Pac-12 in the 182 by Oregon’s Royce Freeman. Last season, Lindsay’s 244 carries ranked second in the Pac-12 behind the 253 by Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey.
In all, the efforts are paying off as Lindsay ranks third nationally with 1,254 rushing yards and is one of only 20 players with 10 or more rushing touchdowns. Additionally, his 17 receptions rank fifth in the Pac-12 among running backs.
Last season, Lindsay torched the Devils for 219 rushing yards with three touchdowns in Colorado’s win in Boulder, which was and remained his career high until he ran for 281 in a loss to Arizona four weeks ago.
Entering 2017, Colorado boasted one of the league’s best wide receiver trios in Bryce Bobo, Shay Fields, and Devin Ross and thus far the group has performed admirably to help their first-year starting quarterback.
Through nine games, the trio is on a similar collective pace as last year as Bobo leads the team with 45 receptions for 485 yards and five touchdowns, Fields has 39 catches for 491 yards and three scores while Ross has 31 receptions for 419 yards and two touchdowns.
Last year, the trio averaged a combined 158.4 receiving yards per game and through nine games in 2017 the group combines to average 155.0. The trio also has combined for seven games of at least 75 receiving yards this year including four combined 100-yard efforts in 2017.
Jay MacIntyre – head coach Mike MacIntyre’s son – has 19 receptions for 284 yards and two touchdowns in eight games. Last year he had 32 receptions for 412 yards with one touchdown.
Senior George Frazier sees time at both H-back and at defensive end for the Buffaloes.
Colorado’s typical offensive line consists of left tackle Jeromy Irwin, left guard Gerrad Kough, Tim Lynott, Jr. at either center or right guard with perhaps Justin Eggers at center or Brett Tonz at guard and Aaron Haigler at right tackle depending on Lynott’s assignment.
Offense Summary
A unit that appeared to be capable of lighting up scoreboards has been general tame this year as statistically, Colorado ranks sixth in the league in rushing offense (171.4), seventh in total offense (416.9) and pass offense (245.4), ninth in sacks allowed (26) and 10th in scoring offense (27.8).
However, depending on which ASU defense decides to show up, any of the Colorado skill players could have career days or could have their productivity halted.
Lindsay can be expected to touch the ball 30 times at the very least, while the Buffaloes undoubtedly will also look to spread the ball among its stellar trio of starting wide receivers.
Colorado Defense
Colorado’s leading tacklers on the year are linebackers Drew Lewis and Rick Gamboa, followed by defensive back Evan Worthington.
There are major discrepancies in some of the team’s defensive statistics, as Colorado’s website lists Lewis as having 88 tackles and Gamboa having 86, while the Pac-12’s website has the two with 67 and 65, respectively.
Lewis’ name may ring a faint bell with Sun Devil fans as he held an offer from ASU as a member of the class of 2014 before signing with his home state Washington Huskies. After redshirting that season, he stepped down to the JUCO level before joining the Colorado program before last season.
According to Colorado, Worthington has 64 tackles through the Pac-12 has him with 62. Worthington’s three interceptions tie for the third-highest total in the Pac-12 thus far.
Defensive lineman, Leo Jackson III is the team’s top pass rush threat – as the Pac-12 tells it, Jackson has 8.0 total tackles for loss including 3.5 sacks, but Colorado has him credited with 10.5 stops for loss including 5.5 sacks.
Defensive back Ryan Moeller is an odd case of the Pac-12 giving him more credit than his own school, as the league has him credited with 50 total tackles to Colorado’s listing of him having 38 on the year.
In the secondary, Arizona native Isaiah Oliver thus far has been one of the most active defensive backs in the league with two interceptions and 10 pass breakups – numbers both the Pac-12 and Colorado agree upon. Colorado has him listed as having collected 20 tackles on the year.
Oliver, however, has been limited due to injury and did not play last week against California.
Defense Summary
After last season, Colorado faced the backbreaking task of replacing seven departed senior defenders that were either first-team, second-team or honorable mention All-Pac-12 last year – including four on the first and second-teams.
Statistically, this has been a subpar defense as the only category Colorado ranks in the upper half of the Pac-12 in is its fifth-place scoring defense (25.0). Colorado ranks seventh in the league in total defense (423.4) and pass defense (244.3), eighth in rush defense (179.1) and third-down defense (43.1%) and ninth in total sacks (16).
Oliver appears to be the only individual defender ASU should game plan around, though his availability is unknown for Saturday due to injuries.
Colorado Special Teams
Colorado kicker James Stefanou has been highly accurate this year by making 13-of-15 attempts, though only three have come from 40 yards and deeper and he is 2-of-3 from that range with a long of 49. Stefanou ranks second in the Pac-12 in kicking accuracy behind Stanford’s Jet Toner and ranks 17th nationally in the category. Stefanou was also recently named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award.
Punter Alex Kinney averages 42.1 yards on 43 punts and ranks sixth in the league in punting average.
In the return game, Ronnie Blackmon averages 10.1 yards on eight returns – though nearly half of his 81 yards came on his season-long 40-yard return. Blackmon also averages 20.4 yards on 12 kickoff returns and K.D. Nixon averages 22.7 yards on six kick returns.
Overall Summary
A series that began with seven consecutive Sun Devil victories, Colorado gained a measure of retribution last season with a large-margin win over ASU on its way to the Pac-12 South title. Though the Buffaloes won’t be competing for the division crown this year, Colorado still has the tools to sneak out of Tempe with a victory.
With just two games ahead after this weekend’s game – first a home game against USC, then a bye, then a road trip to Utah – Colorado needs just one win to be bowl eligible and Saturday could be as good of a shot as the Buffaloes will have at ensuring their return to the postseason.
Though this year’s version of the Buffaloes is a far cry from last year’s in terms of overall talent, it’s still not the Colorado squad from a few years ago. Nonetheless, as a program the Buffaloes have never won in Tempe and ASU would love nothing more than to return to the win column by prolonging that streak.
ASU appears to have a variety of advantages over Colorado in terms of its personnel, as long as the Sun Devils can snap out of whatever funk caused such an unexpectedly flat performance against USC a week ago. That said, if the Devils again sleepwalk onto Frank Kush Field as they did last Saturday, Colorado can capitalize.
Keys to a Sun Devil Victory
Shake off the Funk: Whatever was in the water in the Sun Devil locker room prior to the USC game needs to be flushed out of the team’s collective system. The tenacity, precision of execution and intensity shown in the previous two games has to be the version of Arizona State that steps on the field this weekend to avoid what would be considered a deflating, disappointing loss to Colorado.
Disrupt Montez: Though his passing numbers haven’t been out of this world in Pac-12 play with the exception of last week, Montez hasn’t made a multitude of mistakes as he hasn’t thrown an interception in the past five games after posting two multi-pick games among the season’s first four contests. Since we’re still unsure which Sun Devil defense will show up Saturday, ASU can’t fall back into the habit of allowing good quarterbacks have superhuman efforts against the Sun Devils.
Leash on Lindsey: The catalyst of the Colorado offense, last year Phillip Lindsay dominated the Devils to the tune of his first career 200-yard rushing effort. The senior has already improved upon his stellar junior year and has the ability to carry the team on his back at any time. ASU has had mixed results against superstar rushers this season by limiting the impact made by Royce Freeman and Myles Gaskin while suffering 200-yard explosions by Rashaad Penny and Ronald Jones and in the case of Bryce Love, a 300-yard record-setting day.
Familiar Faces
· Colorado assistant coach Jim Jeffcoat played at ASU from 1979-82 and is a member of ASU’s Sports Hall of Fame
· ASU RB Kalen Ballage and OL Sam Jones are Colorado natives
· Colorado WR Xavier Cochrane (Phoenix Mountain Pointe), DB Isaiah Oliver (Phoenix Brophy Prep), TE Jared Poplawski (Scottsdale Saguaro) and OL Brett Tonz (Peoria Centennial) are all Arizona natives
· Colorado DB Andrew Bergner previously attended ASU but was not on the football team
· Colorado LB Jacob Callier and WR Shay Fields attended Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco High School, as did ASU’s Zach Robertson
· Colorado OL Heston Page attended Highlands Ranch (Colo.) ThunderRidge High School, as did ASU’s Sam Jones
· Colorado OL William Sherman attended Allen (Texas) High School, as did ASU’s Chad Adams and Christian Sam
