Deion Sanders must go back to the drawing board after terrible Northwestern loss
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Is this what the Colorado Buffaloes offense will look like the remainder of the season?
The Buffs traveled to Northwestern and left with their first loss of the year in a 41-7 blowout. It's clear the Wildcats weren't afraid of the moment. They didn’t shrink because of the different offensive alignments that were shown in the game, and they maintained gap integrity to keep the Buffs' offense off balance all game.
After watching Micah Welch become the first Buffs running back to rush for over 100 yards since the Coach Prime era started four years ago, this week was a different story. He found himself on the bench early in the game because of a fumble which led to a Northwestern touchdown. Another fumble by Damian Henderson II gave the Wildcats a 21-0 lead in the first half. That deficit became too much for the Buffs to overcome.
Julian Lewis showed a little more comfort in the offense but made bad decisions with the ball, throwing two interceptions with both being costly. Just when the Buffs were beginning to have success with the Go-Go offense. Lewis did make a few plays with his feet early in the game. But he also tried to spend more time in the pocket than he needed. Deion Sanders tried to find a way to get his offense to make a play. Anything that would spark some excitement and get them to believe they could beat Northwestern. However, they couldn't convert on three fourth downs.
The Go-Go offense is a simplistic offense that puts stress on opposing teams' defense based on formations and fresh legs rushing the ball. Northwestern just gave the Big 12 a blueprint on how to stop Colorado from having success. And that is having a defense that is aggressive and forces turnovers.
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The success Colorado anticipated against Northwestern came in the fashion of Lewis throwing a touchdown pass to Joseph Williams for 50 yards. He completed 19-of-28 for 168 yards, a touchdown, and 2 interceptions. The Buffs as a team rushed the ball for 188 yards on 33 carries. But they'll need to go back to the drawing board to get ready for Baylor on Saturday. They'll be looking to hand the Buffs their first Big12 conference loss of the season.
Northwestern was able to take advantage of the Buffs miscues by scoring points, which is something that Georgia Tech and Weber State were unable to accomplish. The Northwestern offense showed how inconsistent the Buffs' defense is with their quarterback, Aiden Chiles, who completed 17-of-22 passes for 241 yards and five total touchdowns. The key to beating the Buffs' defense was the Wildcats' running backs catching passes out of the backfield and getting to the edges of the defense to keep moving the ball downfield.
Colorado had an opportunity to beat another Power Four team and fell short in this game. Brennan Marion will need to go back to the drawing board because the competition will be a bit fiercer each week until the end of the season.
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