Denver, CO
Keeler: CU Buffs, Travis Hunter overcome trashy Texas Tech fans, Big 12 refs, tortillas to control College Football Playoff destiny
Is that a tortilla in your pocket, Travis Hunter?
Texas Tech threw everything it had at the CU Buffs. And we do mean everything. Shallow crosses. Wheel routes. Flatbreads. Water bottles.
With 12:12 to go in a bizarrely played and even more bizarrely officiated 41-27 CU victory on Saturday, things devolved to the point where Red Raiders football coach Joey McGuire grabbed the public-address microphone at Jones AT&T Stadium.
“Hey … students!” McGuire shouted. “Stop throwing stuff on the field! Please!”
Early in the first quarter, Hunter picked up a tortilla that had drifted onto the field. The best player in college football, who apparently also hates littering, promptly stuck it in his pants.
With 1:18 left in the third quarter and his Buffs up 31-20, Shilo Sanders spotted a water bottle thrown his way. The CU safety grabbed the thing and lofted it back into the stands.
Big 12 refs had about as much control of that tilt as Mr. Toad did his Rolls Royce. CU and Tech combined for 23 penalties and 186 yards in sins. It was the kind of afternoon where, if McGuire and CU coach Deion Sanders weren’t such good friends, someone would’ve started swinging fists or folding chairs by the fourth quarter.
The Buffs’ cooler heads prevailed. Despite the chaos, CU (7-2, 5-1 Big 12) moved into sole possession of second place in the conference with three games left to play. The Buffs extended their road win streak to four straight for the first time since 1996. They survived a 13-0 deficit in the first quarter, and shook off 15 minutes straight of getting punched in the kisser.
But more impressively, they endured a barrage from some of the trashiest fans in college football.
Throwing tortillas? That’s cute.
Throwing a water bottle? That’s assault.
Lubbock didn’t like the refs, so it lost its cool. It didn’t like the scoreboard, so it lost its dang mind.
“I had a vape given to me, (a) water bottle given to me and a beer bottle given to me,” McGuire said later, according to KTXT-FM. “I’m shocked we didn’t get a penalty.”
Tech officials were lucky someone wasn’t seriously hurt. While Red Raider fans struggled to grasp common decency and sportsmanship, Tech’s offensive and defensive lines struggled mightily with CU in the trenches.
Tech tailback Tajh Brooks, who was averaging 5.3 yards per carry at home before Saturday, was limited to 4.4 per tote on 31 attempts. CU piled up 10 tackles for loss and sacked Raiders QB Behren Morton six times.
Just like the road demolitions of UCF and Arizona, the Buffs had several players take turns with the crowbar. Amari McNeill, a transfer from the Tennessee Volunteers, racked up 1.5 sacks, along with three stops for losses. Linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green, another transfer, picked off a Morton pass, while edge rushers Arden Walker (two sacks) and Keaten Wade (1.5 sacks) combined to take the Tech QB down 3.5 times between them.
This one didn’t feel like so much of a game as it did in installments of a mega-bucks movie franchise. Each quarter had a tone, a big bad and emotional twists all its own.
The opening stanza belonged to the hosts. Tech came out of the gates doing its best North Dakota State. How do you mess with a Robert Livingston defense early? Attack the safeties with crossing routes and make those downhill linebackers have to cover receivers leaking out of the backfield.
Down 13-0, CU didn’t force a three-and-out until the first play of the second quarter. Offensively, the Buffs were just 1 for 7 on third downs at the half.
Eventually, though, both teams reverted to type.
The Buffs outscored the Red Raiders 10-0 in the second quarter and 21-7 in the third. Tech came into the weekend leading the Big 12 in penalties per game (7.8). After just three flags over a relatively peaceful first and second quarters, the hosts committed four penalties in the first 12 minutes of the second half.
Back-to-back face-mask and holding flags late in the third stanza took a CU drive from first down at its own 38 to a fresh set of downs at the Tech 27. Shedeur took care of the rest, hitting Will Sheppard for 17 yards and then from five yards out on a perfect lob to the back right pylon — a score that put CU up 23-20 with 4:25 to go until the fourth period.
At the same time, Kansas was busy doing CU a giant solid against Iowa State. The Jayhawks’ 2-6 record as of Saturday morning was deceptive — KU entered the weekend ranked No. 36 nationally in ESPN’s Football Power Index, better than Arizona State (38th), Wisconsin (39th), Cincinnati (40th), UNLV (42nd) and Michigan (46th). Five of those six Jayhawks losses had come by six points or fewer.
KU took it out on Cyclones at Arrowhead Stadium, holding on for a 45-36 win that wrested control of second place, and an inside track to the Big 12 Championship, out of ISU’s sweaty palms.
Rock Chalk in Kansas City will be the Buffs’ problem in two weeks, although it’s a delicious one. Because CU controls its own destiny now. And said destiny is on the express lane to Dallas, Coach Prime’s backyard, and to a berth in the Big 12 title game.
Anything this league’s thrown at CU, the program’s found an answer for. Bottles included.
On Saturday, the Buffs handled trash the way a College Football Playoff team should.
They took it out.
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