Santana Hopper has a simple word for the chances a defensive lineman gets on game day: ops.
“We call them ops, like, short for opportunities,” the Colorado defensive lineman said.
On Saturday night against No. 12 Texas Tech, Hopper treated plenty of them like they mattered.
He piled up 10 tackles, including five for loss, in Colorado’s 29-7 defeat at Folsom Field. The Buffaloes didn’t get the result they wanted, but Hopper said the coaching message this week about staying locked into the moment stuck with him.
“My coach talked about being in the moment a lot, and I had a lot of moments out there,” he said.
For most of the night, Colorado’s defense did enough to keep the Buffs in striking distance. Texas Tech entered Boulder averaging 429.5 yards per game and left with 315, its lowest output of the season. Will Hammond was held to 134 passing yards, also a season low, and the Red Raiders converted only 3 of 12 third downs.
The first half was the best of it. Texas Tech managed just three points before the break, and Colorado came up with the two biggest fourth-down stops of the game.
One came after the Buffs’ fake punt failed near midfield. Texas Tech went for it on fourth-and-1 at the Colorado 41, but safety Naeten Mitchell - the same player who had been stopped short on the fake - dropped J’Koby Williams for a 4-yard loss. Later in the quarter, the Red Raiders faced fourth-and-1 at the Colorado 7, and linebacker Gideon Lampron met Quinten Joyner at the line for no gain.
Lampron finished with 10 tackles. Randon Fontenette added nine and also had an 11-yard sack on Tech’s first drive of the second half, a play that helped force a punt. Toby Anene chipped in with a sack late in the first half.
Hopper said the line keeps feeding off those moments.
“So it’s like we just feed off each other,” he said.
The game tilted hard once the turnovers started piling up. Twelve of Texas Tech’s points came after Colorado interceptions on drives that began in favorable territory. Another seven came on John Curry’s pick-six, with the defense stuck watching from the sideline.
Isaac Wilson, who threw three of Colorado’s four interceptions, said afterward he needed to own that burden.
“I’ve still got to go apologize to them,” Wilson said. “They’re getting stops within our own 30-yard line.”
Even with the late collapse, Hopper said the defense was strong for most of the evening.
Three days earlier, he had said the unit wanted to play four full quarters. After this one, he pointed to the final stretch.
“I feel like we played good ball up to like the last five minutes of the fourth quarter,” Hopper said.
Deion Sanders echoed the praise. He said Colorado’s defense “did some phenomenal things.” When asked about his confidence in the team, he made sure to call out that side of the ball.
“I’m confident in them as a unit, as a group, particularly the defense,” Sanders said.
Colorado also had to do it without linebacker Tyler Martinez, whom Sanders called “a tremendous leader.” Sanders said the linebackers filling in “are doing a good darn job.”
Hopper refused to put the offense on blast. Instead, he said he was caught off guard by how the night unfolded for that group.
“I’m very surprised because those guys are hard-working guys,” he said. “I believe in everybody.”
Colorado is now 2-3 overall and 0-2 in the Big 12, with a bye week before hosting Utah on Oct. 17.
Hopper said some players are banged up and could use the break to get healthy. As for the loss, he already knows the approach.
“My mentality is to flush this loss,” he said.
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