Colorado got one bit of good news in a Week 11 injury report that still leaves the Buffaloes shorthanded for Houston.
The biggest headline on Wednesday was what did not happen: no new names were added to the out list. For a team that has watched that group grow week after week, that matters. Mitchell, Mathis and Welch were the latest additions, and their absences have already been felt with only three games left in the season.
The Buffaloes are still dealing with a long list of unavailable players, including Scudero and Gadie, who have missed almost the entire year. Scudero’s season has been especially frustrating.
He attempted to come back by playing in Colorado’s first two games, but he was clearly not himself and was later put on the injury report so he could focus on rehab. Unlike Demetrius Hunter, who was removed once the team knew his season was likely over, Scudero has remained on the report every week, a sign that he has been close enough to returning to keep showing up there, even if the needed progress has not arrived.
Edwards is another player whose injury has kept him from helping when Colorado could use him. The Buffaloes are thin at safety, and he had been a contributor there during the fall. He and the team would both like to see him available in relief of Mitchell, but that still appears to be at least another week away from being decided.
The one real upgrade came with Taufatofua, who moved from doubtful to questionable. Colorado could use him badly against one of the Big 12’s top offenses, especially on a defensive line that could use every healthy body it can get.
His season has been interrupted from the start after he missed much of fall camp and the first four games, then got knocked out again after three weeks back. With this being his senior season, any snaps he can grab down the stretch matter for his pro future as much as they do for Colorado’s depth.
Martinez and Arnold also remain questionable, and both situations are worth watching as the week unfolds. If Arnold can’t go, Daniel Gerlach would handle place-kicking duties again, a job he last held in Week 1 against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
That would bring some obvious reliability questions. Martinez, meanwhile, was a key piece of the Buffs’ defense when healthy, and getting him back would be a major boost against Houston’s offense.
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Next up is a trip into a far sterner test against 14th-ranked Houston, a team with stronger national standing and a legitimate playoff path under Willie Fritz. For Colorado, it is the kind of matchup that can quickly expose how far the program still has to go, even as the recruiting momentum offers a reminder that the long view is not entirely bleak. [Read more 🡒]