Colorado went into its Big 12 opener looking for a reset after the blowout loss to Northwestern. Instead, the Buffaloes walked out of Baylor with another loss, this one 23-13, and a fresh set of problems that were hard to ignore.
The biggest issue was the same one that has haunted them already this season: the ground game never got going. Colorado finished with only 83 rushing yards on 39 carries, a meager 2.1 yards per attempt.
That came after the Buffaloes had posted at least 180 rushing yards in each of their first three games. Micah Welch led the team with 35 yards, JaQuail Smith added 33, and Richard Young finished with 31.
Even with four different players reaching at least 10 yards on the ground, the offense never found any real rhythm.
That mattered even more because the passing game was forced to do the heavy lifting. Colorado did manage 280 passing yards at 6.7 yards per attempt and threw for one touchdown, but the attack never felt balanced. When the run game stalls like that, the whole offense gets stuck in place, and that’s exactly what happened here.
Quarterback play is now front and center. Julian Lewis started and completed 11 of 16 passes, but the first half was shaky enough that Colorado turned to Isaac Wilson in the second half.
Lewis was repeatedly uncertain about where to go with the ball, made poor decisions, and took sacks that could have been avoided. He was fortunate not to be intercepted.
Wilson’s numbers weren’t eye-popping, but the offense looked better with him on the field. Colorado scored just three points with Lewis at quarterback and 10 with Wilson in the game, which makes next week’s matchup with Texas Tech even more interesting.
At the moment, Wilson appears to have the edge.
If there was one player who kept Colorado’s offense alive, it was Joseph Williams. The wideout took on a bigger role than a receiver usually does, and he delivered.
He finished with 11 catches for 127 yards and a touchdown, marking his second 100-yard game of the season. He also pulled off a 49-yard pass to Quanell Farrakhan Jr. on a trick play.
No matter who is throwing him the ball, Williams has become the guy defenses have to circle.
Colorado’s defense did enough to keep the game within reach, even if the final score doesn’t make it look that way. Baylor quarterback DJ Lagway finished with 221 passing yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
Gavin Freeman was held to 59 receiving yards, and Dawson Pendergrass stayed under 100 rushing yards. The problem was that Baylor kept moving the sticks anyway, helped by more than 80 yards in Colorado penalties.
Special teams also gave Colorado too little and Baylor too much. The Buffaloes allowed a 27-yard kick return and averaged just 13.5 yards per punt return, including a badly timed fair catch at the five-yard line.
On the other side, Baylor averaged 18.6 yards per punt return, with a long of 36. Damon Greaves was the lone bright spot for Colorado in that phase, averaging 49.5 yards per punt with a long of 58 and one punt inside the 20.
Ball security remains a real issue, too. Colorado only lost one turnover in the game, but it was part of a bigger pattern.
Lewis and Wilson both put throws in danger, and running back JaQuail Smith coughed up the ball in the fourth quarter when Colorado was trying to get back within one score. That was the Buffaloes’ third lost fumble from a running back in the last two games, a damaging trend for a team that leans so heavily on that position.
For Colorado, the lesson from Baylor was clear: the offense still doesn’t have enough answers when the run game disappears, the quarterback spot is unsettled, and the supporting details keep breaking down.
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