Colorado Fails To Protect Late Ten Point Lead, Falls To Washington State

A patchwork Colorado Buffaloes secondary, that included two players who were on the offensive side of the ball until recently, couldn't hold onto a 10 point lead with less than three minutes to play as the Washington St. Cougars completed the comeback with a 63 yard touchdown from Marshall Lobbestael to Marquess Wilson. Former running back Brian Lockridge and former wide receiver Jason Espinoza, who have been practicing with the defense for 2 days and 2 weeks respectively, played significant minutes against one of the better passing attacks in the Pac-12. The 31-27 loss leaves the Buffaloes with a 1-4 overall and 0-1 in the conference.

Bob is out tonight and I'm still too bummed to write a full recap, so consider this your late night venting thread. Stay tuned for more tomorrow. This one stings.

You can also check out the recap from SB Nation Denver.

It all looked good for the Colorado Buffaloes midway through the fourth quarter. The Buffs led the Washington St. Cougars, 27-17, after a strong drive. Rodney Stewart had a 52-yard run on 2nd-and-18 and eventually punched the ball in from the one-yard line.

However Cougars, quarterback Marshall Lobbestael hit Isiah Barton for a 19-yard gain on the following drive to make it just a three-point game, 27-24. The Buffs just needed to manage the clock to maintain the lead, but Tyler Hansen threw under pressure to Paul Richardson on 3rd-and-6. It went for an incompletion.

The Cougars took advantage of that when Marshall Lobbestael threw a 63-yard strike to Marquess Wilson for the go-ahead touchdown. The extra point made it 31-27 in favor of the Cougars. The Buffs had 70 seconds to take back the lead, but Paul Richardson fumbled the ball on his 24-yard reception. The Cougars took over and put a knee to the ground to end the game.