The Colorado Buffaloes head into Friday night with their season hanging in the balance. After falling to the Arizona State Sun Devils in Week 10, Colorado needs three wins over its final three games to lock up bowl eligibility, and the first hurdle is a daunting one: No. 14 Houston.
The matchup comes with the Buffaloes installed as heavy underdogs, and ESPN Analytics gives Colorado just a 17 percent chance to win. Still, if the Buffs are going to spring the upset, it figures to start with the players who have carried them most often this season.
On offense, that means wide receiver Joseph Williams. He has been Colorado’s most reliable weapon, piling up 58 catches for 853 yards and six touchdowns on the year.
He was just as dangerous against Arizona State, finishing with seven receptions for 121 yards and a touchdown in the loss. If Colorado can get one of its running backs going to give the offense another layer, Williams could be enough to keep the Buffaloes in the fight.
The challenge, though, is Houston’s offense. The Cougars bring one of the conference’s most productive units into the game, and it runs through quarterback Conner Weigman.
He has put together a quietly elite season, throwing for 2,280 yards and 22 touchdowns against only two interceptions while completing 170 of 257 passes. He’s also been a threat in the red zone on the ground, adding 279 rushing yards and seven scores on 73 carries.
As a team, Houston is averaging 470.2 yards per game, which ranks third in the Big 12, and 35.4 points per game, good for fifth in the league. That puts a heavy burden on Colorado’s defense, which will need a far sharper performance than usual to slow the Cougars down.
For the Buffaloes, the key is pressure. Their pass rush will have to do the heavy lifting, because the secondary has not shown it can consistently handle passing attacks on its own, especially with safety Naeten Mitchell back on the injury report. Santana Hopper, Lamont Lester Jr., Toby Anene and Yamil Talib will be the names tasked with getting to Weigman and disrupting Houston’s rhythm.
If Weigman gets comfortable, Colorado could be in for a long night. But if the Buffaloes can rattle him early and feed off the energy at Folsom Field, they still have a path to making this one competitive.
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Colorado Faces A Late-Season Tight End Question That Could Linger
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DeSouza has appeared in games this season, which keeps him in the conversation as Colorado looks for ways to build toward next year while still trying to compete now. The late-season window could offer a chance for more involvement, and for a program trying to sort out its future pieces, his usage is one of those details worth watching over the final games. [Read more 🡒]
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Tad Boyle has pointed to offensive rebounding and foul trouble as the kinds of details that can swing games the wrong way, and those concerns are tied directly to Colorados defensive consistency and work on the glass. The frontcourt has to hold up better, and the team has to manage fouls more cleanly if it wants to avoid turning winnable nights into tighter battles than necessary. For a team trying to build momentum, those are the kinds of problems that can become costly in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
Colorado Faces Another Tough Home Test Against A Surging Houston Offense
A rough season has left Colorado searching for answers, and the next challenge does not get much easier. The Buffaloes are back home for a Big 12 matchup with No. 17 Houston, a team that has steadily built momentum behind a 7-2 record and a 4-2 mark in conference play.
Houstons offense has been one of the more efficient units in the league, and quarterback Connor Weigman has been central to that rise with sharper passing numbers and fewer interceptions than he threw a year ago. For Colorado, now 3-6 overall and 1-5 in the Big 12, the task is as much about slowing down a surging attack as it is about finding some stability of its own on a difficult November night. [Read more 🡒]