Colorado football is back on the gridiron on Saturday to take on the Stanford Cardinal up north in Palo Alto, California. The Buffaloes are looking to extend their two-game winning streak over their northern opponent.
According to ESPN, Stanford has a 75.3% probability of winning with a -7.5 spread. With over 10 games being either postponed or canceled this week, the game will now be televised on ESPN at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Preview
Colorado football is coming off of a thrilling 48-42 victory over the UCLA Bruins. Head coach Karl Dorrell‘s squad impressed in his first game in Boulder, being only the third game in school history with 250-plus rushing and passing yards with less than 10 yards separating the totals. Dorrell has actually been associated with all three such games.
Meanwhile, Stanford comes off a disappointing 35-14 loss to the No. 12 Oregon Ducks in Eugene, Oregon. Starting quarterback Davis Mills was out due to coronavirus testing results and contact tracing protocols. According to a statement from the Pac-12, the conference apologized to the Stanford football team after Mills’ test results were found to be inconclusive, thereby making a mistake to not allow him to play in the season opener.
“We apologize to the Stanford football team and its supporters, and especially to the student-athletes who were held out of the game as a result of the testing protocol errors,” the Pac-12 said in its statement. “We are working with our game day testing partner to ensure this type of error does not occur in the future.”
Colorado sophomore wide receiver La’Vontae Shenault will suit up and be available to play after serving a one-game suspension last week, which stemmed from an early July incident where he was pulled over and arrested on suspicion of DUI, a license violation and driving without headlights at night.
This game will feature two of the conference’s top Week 1 running back performers. Colorado’s Jarek Broussard had a record-breaking debut rushing for 187 yards and three touchdowns, while Stanford’s Austin Jones went for 100 yards and two touchdowns.
Especially after seeing Colorado’s rushing performance last week, Stanford will have to play much better up front if it wants a chance to win. The Cardinal gave up 269 rushing yards, including 85 yards to quarterback Tyler Shough, to the Ducks. They will have to face another dual-threat quarterback in Colorado’s Sam Noyer, who threw for 257 yards and one touchdown while adding another 64 yards and one touchdown on the ground.
Prediction
Colorado football is coming into the game with all the momentum, and that momentum is going to stampede the Buffs into a third straight win over Stanford.
Stanford’s run defense looked abysmally against Oregon and Dorrell’s Buffaloes want to run the football. Expect the Buffs to feed Broussard and Jaren Mangham regularly throughout the game. The Buffs’ running game could open up the play-action passing game to which tight end Brady Russell can continue to feed off of opposing linebackers in coverage.
With Mills back at quarterback, the Cardinal passing game should be a lot more effective and could cause quite the issue for an average at best Colorado secondary. This will be Mills’ first game against the Buffs as now current Mississippi State quarterback K.J. Costello started in the matchup last year.
The Buffs defensive front will struggle against Stanford, who easily boasts the conference’s best offensive line. After not getting to the quarterback once against UCLA, expect Mills to have a clean pocket for the majority of the game.
Even with the extra time in the passing game, the Colorado ground game will be enough to chew the clock to keep the ball out of Mills’ hands and propel the Buffs to a 2-0 start to the season.
FINAL SCORE: Colorado 24, Stanford 20
Photo courtesy of CUBuffs.com
My name is Colin Bailey and I’m a Los Angeles native and currently a Journalism Major/Sports Media Minor at the University of Colorado Boulder.