Dancing With The Devils (Week 7)

Boulder, Colorado - The #16 Colorado Buffaloes traveled to Frank Kush Field feeling confident after their win last week against Oregon.  Head coach Arthur Dayne had been stormed by the media once the last seconds ticked off the clock and their win against the #4 Ducks was final.  "What we witnessed here today is a testament to our kids determination on the field and their ability to perform under pressure while the whole nation looked on.......", said coach Dayne before he followed his team back into the tunnel to join in the victory celebration that was no doubt going on in the Buffs locker room.  It is a great time to be a Buffaloes' fan, but the most important thing the coach stressed at his press conference the next day, was that the team doesn't over look the rest of their opponents, including this week's as they faced off against the Arizona State Sun Devils.  The nation is watching and waiting for the Buffs to either continue their undefeated streak and forge their way to their first Pac 12 title or be crushed by the national exposure as teams will now be marking their calendars and not underestimating the Colorado Buffaloes as they did in the past.
 
It was a sold out game at Frank Kush Field as the #22 Arizona State Sun Devils received the kickoff.  After a short return, Taylor Kelley took the field, coming into this game after the nearly perfect game he had against the #2 Notre Dame Irish last week.  The Devils ran the ball for a short gain, but on third down, Kelley elected to dropped back and on his first pass of the game he threw an interception to the Buffaloes freshman middle linebacker Addison Gillam, his 3rd of the season.  The Buffs offense got the ball inside the redzone and scored on a play action pass from Shane Dillon to his backup halfback Tony Jones to put them up 7-0.  The ensuing drive by ASU, they kept the ball on the ground with numerous handoffs to star running back Marion Grice who shredded the Buffs rush defense no matter what formation coach Dayne called.  
 
The second quarter began while the Devils still held the ball and continued their ground and pound drive that ended with a 1 yard goal line run by Grice to tie the score 7 - 7.  The Buffs offense answered with their own touchdown almost instantly.  On the first play of the drive, they called a run formation, but audibled to a pass and Dillon launched a bomb to his junior wideout Paul Richardson who flew past the safety as he caught the ball and reached the endzone.  The Buffs now had the lead 14 - 7 with halftime approaching.  Still, ASU stuck to the gameplan that was working for them and kept pounding the ball into the Buffs defense with success.  Kelley mixed in a few passed to keep the defense guessing and eventually found Grice on a screen that he took to the house to tie the game 14 - 14 with 19 seconds left in the half.  The Buffaloes would be getting the ball at the start of the next quarter, but the gutsy coach Dayne called a pass after a touchback on the kickoff.  The Buffs reached the 50 yard line with 10 seconds left, enough for one more play as they still had one timeout.  The pass was completed near the 20 yard line, well into field goal range.  The chip shot by junior kicker Will Oliver was good and the Buffs led going into halftime 17 - 14 and would be receiving the ball in the 3rd quarter.
 
The quarter began and the Buffs offense played their type of football as they only passed when it was needed and managed to get some first downs by the legs of Shane Dillon as well as by his arm.  They reached the goal line, but were stuffed twice by the ASU defense.  On third down the Buffs chose to trust their captain Christian Powell, who had been quiet all game going the first half without a touchdown.  He took the ball and fought his way into the endzone to put the Buffaloes up by two possessions, 24 - 14, but the Devils knew they were still in the game.  They stuck to their guns as they continued to hand the ball off to Grice, but the Buffs defense made some adjustments during halftime as he was not gaining more than 3 yards a carry.  Kelley was called on to pass more and he delivered.  The steady mix of passes and runs kept the Defense from a couple 3rd down stops and the Devils soon found the endzone on a 3 yard run by Grice to make it 24 - 21.
 
As the fourth quarter began, the Buffaloes recognized that they just had to play mistake free football and kill as much of the clock as they could.  They ran the ball from many different formations to try to keep the ASU defense off balance, but the defense soon forced a 3rd down in the redzone.  Shane Dillon had to get this conversion, or ASU would have a shot at a game winning drive.  Dillon dropped back and threw a bullet to his tight end Vincent Hobbs that he managed to pull in as he was breaking towards the corner of the endzone.  With that score, the Buffs had a ten point cushion, 31 - 21, with under 3 minutes in the fourth quarter.  The ASU offense took the field knowing they had to take chances and score quickly or this game would be out of reach.  All hope disintegrated as a misguided pass from Taylor Kelley was intercepted by sophomore cornerback Yuri Wright to put this game in the books.  Buffs Quarterback Shane Dillon finished the day throwing 11 - 14 for 236 yards and 3 touchdowns as well as 40 yards on the ground.
 
The Buffs head into their second bye week with their heads held high while their fans can only be optimistic about what the rest of this season will bring.  Nothing is certain.......but the long coveted prize of the Pac 12 title will soon be in reach if the Buffaloes can keep their winning streak intact.   From Frank Kush Field, this is your numero uno reporter signing off.......don't party too hard.