Isaiah Oliver expected to play against California

With all that went wrong in Colorado’s shutout loss to Washington State, it would be easy to forget Isaiah Oliver was injured and had to leave the game.According to Adam Munsterteiger of BuffStampede, he will be healthy to play barring a setback this week.

It was on Washington State’s first touchdown that Oliver was injured, presumably when he dove to tackle Tay Martin to try and stop what would be a 50-yard score. After leaving in the second quarter, Oliver was replaced by freshman Trey Udoffia, who was recently a starter until sophomore Dante Wigley surpassed him on the depth chart. Udoffia and Wigley, and the rest of secondary in general, played exceptionally well against the best passing attack in the Pac-12.

Oliver has been one of the best cornerbacks in the nation — good enough to have considerable draft hype as a potential first round pick. Oliver has had 20 tackles, 9 pass deflections and two interceptions, and as impressive as those stats are, he’s putting that up why the opposing offense is practically avoiding his side of the field.

Colorado has proven to have solid backups to fill in for Oliver, but with a must-win game against a solid California offense, the Buffs will be relieved to have their best defender.