Beavers And Buffs Meet In Bounce-Back Bowl

Oregon St. (3-1, 0-1) at Colorado (2-3, 0-2) / Folsom Field, Boulder CO / 2 PM MDT (1 PM PDT) / Pac-12 Channel / KEJO 1240 AM / KEX 1190 AM

Game Notes / Colorado Game Notes

Oregon St. visits Folsom Field in Boulder, CO, this afternoon for the first time since Colorado joined the Pac-12, the first time since 1988, and only the 4th time ever.

It's just the 7th meeting ever between Oregon St. and Colorado, and though the Beavers hold a 4-2 edge over the Buffs, including last season's 44-17 win in Colorado's first ever visit to Corvallis, Oregon St. has only won once in 3 previous trips to Boulder, a 14-7 win in 1964. That came on the heels of a 41-6 win in 1963, in a game played in Portland, OR.

Colorado claimed a 38-14 win in 1983 at Folsom Field, and the Buffs won that 1988 contest 28-21 as well. The only other meeting was way back in 1931, when Oregon St. won 16-0, in another game played in Portland.

It's the first time the Beavers have played an actual day game since August, and the first daytime conference road game since the Stanford trip in November of 2012. Hopefully, the glare will not be too bright!

It's also the "Bounce-Back Bowl" for both the Buffs and Beavers, after both lost road games in disappointing fashion last week in California.

The Buffs are trying to overcome the heart-break of a 59-56 loss in double overtime in Berkeley. Colorado had a huge day from their offense against the surprisingly Golden Bers, as Sefo Liufau completed 46 passes for 455 yards and 7 touchdowns, and ran for 72 more. Nelson Spruce caught 19 of them, setting a new Buff team record for catches for the second game in a row, for 179 yards, and 3 of the touchdowns.

Spruce leads the country in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns.

But the Buff defense allowed California quarterback Jared Goff to come up golden, throwing for 458 yards, and 7 touchdowns of his own, which set a record for total touchdown tosses in a game.

Colorado also missed 3 field goals, which not only necessitated overtime, it prompted second year Buffs Coach Mike MacIntyre to gamble on 4th down in the second overtime. When the Bear defense made a rare stop, the decision essentially lost the game, as it only took a modest game to set up a game winning chip shot field goal.

The Beavers had an awful outing offensively against USC, as quarterback Sean Mannion, working with a short and inexperienced WR group and against a variety of creative Trojan blitzes, had his worst career outing, and it wasted a good defensive effort in the LA Coliseum.

The Trojans were only up 21-10 at the start of the 4th quarter, and 2 of the Trojans' 3 touchdowns came from a pick-6 and an unlikely hail-Mary on the last play before half time, a play that shouldn't have happened had clock management been better.

But because the Oregon St. offense only generated 35 net yards in the second half, including 4 3 and punts, the Beaver defense wore out, and USC pulled away to the 35-10 win.

Oregon St. will be thin at DT today, after injuries suffered last week at USC sidelined Jalen Grimble for at least 3-4 weeks, and ended the season for Noke Tago.

The Beavers will have Rahmel Dockery back at flanker, allowing Richard Mullaney to return to his normal split end spot. Whether WR Victor Bolden, who returned to practice Thursday, with his injured hand in a glove, will even play, or whether he will be able to be effective, after missing last week's game due to a dislocated finger suffered against San Diego St., could be a game time decision.

"We're not going to put him at risk," Oregon St. head coach Mike Riley said.

Bolden is "50/50" to play today.

On the other side of things, Colorado will have safety Tedric Thompson, who had to leave the California game with a bruised sternum, back in the starting lineup.

Oregon St. opened as a 6 1/2 point favorite, and the line has remained around 1 touchdown.

Buildingthedam will be back after the game, with complete coverage and analysis.

Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com