Colorado Buffaloes Hold Stanford Without a Touchdown, Win 10-5 at "The Farm"

The Colorado Buffaloes traveled to Stanford and beat the Cardinal for the first time since joining the Pac-12. It was the second consecutive home loss for head coach David Shaw, who came into the game with a Stanford record of 58-16 (with only five home losses) since taking over as head coach in 2011.

The five points scored by Stanford represented the fewest that Stanford has scored in the Shaw era, and the fewest since they scored only 3 points against Arizona State in 2007. More importantly for the Cardinal this year, the team has scored only FOUR offensive touchdowns in the last 5 games.

Colorado, on the other hand, shook some monkeys off their backs with the win. California, one of their prime recruiting grounds, has not been kind to the Buffs over the years. The Buffs came into the game having won only TWO out of 23 games in the Golden State.

The Buffs also managed to win despite some serious problems. Two drives with "first and goal" ended with the Buffs missing chip shot field goals. Another field goal of slightly longer also missed the mark. Things were so bad that punter Alex Kinney attempted a field goal after Chris Graham missed his first two attempts. Kinney's attempt missed as well.

It was a sign of how things have changed for the Buffs. Over the years since joining the Pac-12, a major breakdown in any aspect of the team usually led to yet another big loss. 

That is not the case now. Jim Leavitt's defense played lights out, causing multiple turnovers and keeping last year's Heisman runner-up Christian McCaffrey under wraps for the most part. A full 40% of Stanford's points came on a safety when the Buffs opted to give up the two points with 8 seconds remaining rather than try to punt out of the end zone. 

Mike MacIntyre's Buffaloes now leave California with a 6-2 record, bowl eligibility, and first place in the Pac-12 South heading into their "bye-week" before hosting UCLA on national television on Thursday, November 3. Things have most definitely changed for the Colorado Buffaloes.

The way things have been going, Folsom Field should be packed to the hilt for the game. The Buffs are marching inexorably toward their goal of playing for a Pac-12 championship, and at this point they control their own destiny with three of their last four games being played at the most beautiful stadium in the country, Folsom Field.

More posts to come as stats and info becomes available.