UCLA blows lead, escapes against Buffs

Four trips to the red zone in the first half resulted in 13 points, but seven of those went to UCLA.

In the first quarter, the Buffaloes had a 16-play drive, in which they methodically drove down the field, end in a missed field goal, worst case scenario, right? The defensive lineman made four tackles, including two behind the line of scrimmage.

UCLA kept its Pac-12 South hopes alive with a win over Colorado.

The head coach pretty much summed up the game in four words, though.

Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre is coaching his son, Jay, who is a redshirt freshman wide receiver. UCLA needed a comeback to counter a comeback by Colorado in order to win this game and we get into the many factors that contributed to it.

Colorado enters play with a 4-4 record and is 2-5 against the spread, while UCLA is 5-2 straight up and 3-3 at the betting window.

The Buffaloes dominated possession to an extraordinary degree, forcing UCLA’s depleted defense to stay on the field for 55 more snaps than its Colorado counterpart. The freshman completed 19 of 33 passes for 262 yards and a touchdown, marking the second straight game in which he didn’t toss an interception. While Colorado quarterback Sefo Liufau had posted back-to-back 300-plus yard passing games before his 140-yard performance last week versus Oregon State, he won’t be able to hang with Rosen today.

Paul Perkins had an 82-yard touchdown run among his 118 yards and two scores for UCLA, and Ishmael Adams returned an interception 96 yards for a second-quarter touchdown.

It was frustrating because, once again, the Buffs failed to make enough plays when it mattered most. “It’s just like a proud dad”, MacIntyre said, explaining his post-game emotions at his weeklyTuesday news conference.

While this one came down to the final minute, it was really the first half that will eat at the Buffs. It was six points the Buffs lost, and six points the Bruins gained.

“I changed my mind last second”, Liufau said. “I was going to throw it to Devin and I couldn’t follow through. I think he’s powerful and fast”. Thanks to several quick drives, UCLA ran just 59 plays.

NOTES: UCLA led 21-6 at halftime and now is 30-0 under Mora when leading at the half…. He’s a great back and he’s a lot faster than I think people think he is. They’re a ranked team and they found a way to stop us. “We feel like we can dictate the game”.

In the second half, they did.

At that point, it felt that this day might be a little different for CU.

“I was like, ‘Man, stuff like that never happens to us, ‘ ” Spruce said.

Patrick Carr rushed for 110 yards, and his 6-yard touchdown run put Colorado ahead with 12:04 to play.

While it didn’t turning the game in the Buffs favor for good, Samson Kafovalu’s scoop and score was the key play that turned this thing into what ended up being a heck of a game. “We’ll learn from this and we’ll move on next week”.