If Pac-12 Network’s Yogi Roth is correct, college football fans will be in for quite the game when Colorado travels to Stanford on Saturday.
“I think this game is going to be one separated by inches,” Roth said in his preview of this battle between Pac-12 stalwart Stanford and surprise success story Colorado.
Roth calls the Buffs and Rams, “two of the more well-coached teams in the entire country with David Shaw [at Standford] and the resurgence for the Buffs under Mike MacIntyre.”
This game will come down to much more than two excellent coaches, however, according to Roth.
“When I look at this matchup,” Roth says, “first and foremost with the Buffs, I think what they do on offense – it’s called the run-pass option, R-P-O is kind of the slang that everybody’s using – they do it as well as anybody in the country. The big reason is [quarterback] Sefo Liufau … For Colorado to beat Stanford, they’re going to have to beat Stanford in the run-pass option game.”
That will be no small task against the player Roth says is the Defensive Player of the Year in the Pac-12 so far, Cardinal defensive end/tackle Solomon Thomas.
“He’s an absolute game wrecker – a nightmare for offensive coordinators,” Roth says about the 6-foot-3, 273-pound junior who boasts four sacks, one forced fumble and 30 tackles through six games.
Colorado, meanwhile, will lean on its secondary to slow down Stanford, who may still be without standout running back Christian McCaffrey. The Colorado native and last year’s Heisman Trophy runner-up missed last week’s game against Notre Dame with an undisclosed injury. Reports from earlier in the week list him as “questionable” against the Buffs.
“Bottom line, there’s going to be a lot of isolation, man-to-man coverage. Colorado loves to do that on that side of the ball and their corners are as good as anybody in the Pac-12 South – and other than UW [Washington], anybody in the conference. They are big. Isaiah Oliver is 6-foot-1, you’re going to see a lot of man coverage.”
Will that extra inch of Oliver’s be the difference? We find out soon.
Colorado and Stanford kick off at 1 p.m. MDT from Palo Alto on the Pac-12 Network.