If ASU wanted to quickly put their disappointing one-point loss in the rearview mirror, a matchup with this year’s Colorado team should be a favorable prescription. What are some of the opportunities this Buffs squad present, and are there some challenges the Sun Devils should look out for? Here’s a closer look at ASU’s weekend matchup.
Colorado Offense
The ineffectiveness and inconsistencies of the Colorado football team begin – but are far from limited to – the quarterback position, as three players have started games with collectively poor results among the entire group.
Brendon Lewis, Colorado’s starting quarterback in all 12 games last year and the opening game starter, entered the transfer portal earlier this month after appearing in just two games this season.
J.T. Shrout, a former Tennessee transfer, started the second and third game of the season as well as last week’s game against Oregon State, while Owen McCown started the three games prior to last weekend but missed that game due to injury.
McCown is listed as the starter on this week’s depth chart, with Shrout behind him.
McCown, a true freshman and son of NFL journeyman Josh McCown, completed 26-of-42 passes for 258 yards with one passing touchdown, one rushing touchdown, and one interception against UCLA in his first start, then completed 14-of-30 passes for 186 yards with one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown against Arizona and then completed 13-of-21 passes for 104 yards with an interception against California.
If Shrout happens to start, he has completed just 44.8 percent of his passes on the year with 507 passing yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions.
Injury issues and general instability also have surfaced at running back, as four players have between 20 and 46 carries on the season. The production – or lack thereof – has been affected, as Colorado has only registered one instance of a runner surpassing 60 rushing yards in a game this season.
Deion Smith is the team’s leading rusher on the year with 243 yards on 46 carries with one touchdown in six games. He also has nine catches for 71 yards. His 70 yards on ten carries against Minnesota is the team’s individual season-high thus far for single-game rushing yards.
Alex Fontenot, who rushed for nearly 900 yards for Colorado in 2019, has only appeared in two games this season and has 20 carries for 84 yards.
Smith and Fontenot have battled injury issues this season, but either or both could be available Saturday.
True freshman Anthony Hankerson has 38 carries for 148 yards and a share of the team-high with two touchdown runs, while redshirt freshman Charlie Offerdahl ranks second on the team with 160 rushing yards on 35 carries.
Only three players on the Colorado roster have 90 or more receiving yards this season, headed by Daniel Arias, who leads the team with 19 catches for 309 yards and has one touchdown reception. Jordyn Tyson leads the team with two touchdown catches and an 18.2-yard average, as he has 218 yards on 12 receptions. Montana Lemonious-Craig has 15 catches for 198 yards and a touchdown on the year, including a monster day in Colorado’s lone win of the season when he had 119 yards and a touchdown on eight catches against California. This trio accounts for four of the five touchdown receptions Colorado has registered this season.
R.J. Sneed, who caught 133 passes at Baylor from 2017-21 prior to transferring to Colorado prior to this season, is listed as a starter for this week and has 12 receptions for 89 yards in 2022.
Veteran Brady Russell starts at tight end and has eight receptions for 58 yards this season.
The Buffalo offensive line figures to start 6-foot-10 Gerad Christian-Lichtenhan at left tackle, Casey Roddick at left guard, Austin Johnson at center, Tommy Brown at right guard, and Jake Wiley at right tackle.
Colorado Offense Summary
Of the many concerning items of note for the Colorado offense is its absolutely horrific scoring offense as the Buffaloes are the worst Power-5 program and rank 129th nationally of 131 teams averaging just 13.7 points per game.
It should be no surprise, of course, that other areas show major struggles, as well as Colorado, ranks 124th nationally in total offense (286.1), 114th in passing offense (176.6), and 113rd in rushing offense (109.6).
Though the Buffaloes may be as healthy as they’ve been in weeks at quarterback and running back, there is no distinct advantage that Colorado should have over ASU in terms of any individual offensive player or position group.
Colorado Defense
Operating out of a 3-4 base defense, tackle Na’im Rodman is flanked by ends Jalen Sami and Terrance Lang on the defensive line.
Lang, an Honorable Mention All-Pac-12 selection in 2020, has been the most statistically productive player of the group this far as he has 25 tackles, including a sack on the year. Sami, an Honorable Mention All-Pac-12 pick in 2021, and Rodman both have 16 tackles this season.
Starting inside linebackers Josh Chandler-Semedo and Quinn Perry will be joined by Robert Barnes and either Guy Thomas or Jamar Montgomery. Chandler-Semedo ranks fifth in the Pac-12 in tackles-per-game (8.0) and is third in the league in tackles-for-loss (10.0).
Chandler-Semedo leads the team with 2.5 sacks and ranks second on the squad with 55 tackles, while Perry ranks third on the team with 49 tackles on the year. Barnes has 22 tackles this season, while Thomas has 28, and Montgomery has eight tackles this season.
In the secondary, cornerbacks Nikko Reed and Kaylin Moore will be paired with free safety Tyrin Taylor and strong safety Trevor Woods, with Simeon Harris as the top nickel defensive back.
Woods leads the team with 60 tackles and ranks fourth in the conference in tackles-per-game (8.4), while Reed has 28 tackles and a team-high four pass breakups. Moore has 23 tackles and two pass breakups, while Taylor has 12 tackles with two pass breakups. Harris has four tackles on the season.
Colorado Defense Summary
As expected, Colorado firmly stands in the basement of the Pac-12 in several key defensive categories, such as scoring defense (38.7, 129th nationally of 131 FBS teams), total defense (473.3, 125th nationally), rush defense (253.7, 130th nationally) and interceptions (two, tied for next-to-last nationally).
Regardless of which quarterback is picked as the starter for ASU, the Sun Devils should rely on heavy doses of X Valladay and Daniyel Ngata on the ground against what is nearly the worst rush defense in major college football.
Colorado Special Teams
Kicker Cole Becker has connected on 7-of-8 field goal attempts on the year and is perfect from inside 50 yards, while punter Trent Carrizosa averages 42.9 yards on 20 punts.
In the return game, three players have each returned two punts on the year, while Nikko Reed leads the team with a 30.2-yard average on five kickoff returns. Reed is one of the three to have returned a punt thus far, averaging 7.5 yards on two returns in that department.
Overall Summary
Colorado’s division title in 2016 now seems like a lifetime ago, and even its surprising surge during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign now must feel like a distant memory.
The Karl Dorrell experiment that began in impressive fashion when he was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year for that 2020 season ended in early October after he was dismissed after having only coached 23 games at Colorado.
Prior to that, Colorado had a mass exodus of its top talent to the transfer portal, including names such as WR Brenden Rice and DB Mekhi Blackmon to USC, DB Christian Gonzalez to Oregon, RB Jarek Broussard to Michigan State, and RB Dimitri Stanley to Iowa State – all of whom were all-conference caliber players during their time in Boulder.
The third straight game for Arizona State that carries a very abnormal streak to it, ASU has not won in Boulder since Sept. 13, 2014 – the game Taylor Kelly hurt his foot in a 38-24 Sun Devil win. Among Pac-12 opponents, only California has a longer losing streak in Boulder (measured by time, not necessarily by consecutive losses), as the Golden Bears haven’t won at Colorado since the inaugural season of the Pac-12 Conference in 2011.
Both teams are enduring highly challenging seasons that have included head coach dismissals in the first month or so of the season, and ASU must cut the bleeding of a deeply frustrating loss at Stanford in order to prevent a catastrophic loss to arguably the worst Power-5 team in college football.
Join your fellow Sun Devil fans on our premium message board, the Devils’ Huddle, run by the longest-tenured Sun Devil sports beat writer, to discuss this article and other ASU football, basketball, and recruiting topics. Not a member yet? Sign up today and get your daily fix of Sun Devil news!
