When Nate Landman came to Colorado as a freshman in 2017, he joined a program coming off a Pac-12 South title and a trip to the Alamo Bowl.
He never expected it would take nearly four years to achieve bowl eligibility again.
On Saturday, Landman had a career-high three sacks to lead a dominating defensive effort in Colorado’s 20-10 victory against San Diego State at Folsom Field in a game that was scheduled less than 48 hours earlier.
In this COVID-19 pandemic-shortened season, the Buffs (3-0) have guaranteed themselves of at least a .500 record in the regular season, thus achieving that elusive goal of bowl eligibility.
Projected by many to finish at or near the bottom of the Pac-12 South, the Buffs snapped an 11-game losing streak in games where bowl eligibility was on the line, dating back to 2016, when Landman was a high school senior.
“It’s huge,” Landman said. “I was part of the 2017 class and seeing 2016 accomplish everything they did, they kind of set the bar for us. We’ve been working towards bowl eligibility for the last three or four years and we fell short every time. Given the circumstances, it’s great to be bowl eligible.
“We have a lot to do. We’re not focused on a bowl right now. We’re focused on winning the Pac-12 championship and being 1-0 next week.”
Led by Landman and Carson Wells (one sacks, four tackles for loss), the Buffs turned in their most dominating defensive effort in a while and finished 1-0 this week – and that wasn’t easy.
Offensively, the Buffs struggled against one of the top defenses in the country, but Sam Noyer threw for 138 yards and a touchdown and rushed for a touchdown to lead the Buffs. Jarek Broussard added 124 yards on the ground.
It may not have been the prettiest game, but Karl Dorrell will take it, especially because CU didn’t know until Thursday night that it would be playing the Aztecs (3-3), from the Mountain West Conference.
Scheduled to visit No. 19 Southern California (3-0) on Saturday, that game was canceled because of COVID-19 cases at USC. CU quickly replaced that game with SDSU, which had a game with Fresno State canceled.
“It was tough on us, given we haven’t had much time to prepare for this game,” Dorrell said. “But our players did a great job handling the information we did have to get them at least familiar with San Diego State.”
Despite little time to prepare, the Buffs found a way past the Aztecs, who brought their trademark physical style to Boulder.
SDSU came in ranking third nationally in yards allowed (269.4) and eighth in points allowed (15.4). CU didn’t have much success against the Aztecs, either, but it was enough. The Buffs finished with just 272 yards in total offense, the program’s lowest total in a win since 263 yards in a 30-21 win at Kansas on Nov. 6, 2004.
Noyer had a touchdown run and flipped a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jaylon Jackson to build a 14-0 lead with 4 minutes, 50 seconds to play in the second quarter and CU held on from there.
Evan Price added a pair of field goals in the second half.
“Offensively, we had some challenges today against a very good defense,” Dorrell said. “It was tough to run the ball, it was tough to throw it, it was tough in protection. It was a lot of things that I think we need to continue to work on and fix on the offensive side.”
CU’s offense even handed the Aztecs their only touchdown. Less than two minutes after CU took a 14-0 lead, Noyer was picked off by Darren Hall, who returned it 57 yards for a touchdown.
The Aztecs added a field goal before halftime to pull within 14-10, but the Buffs didn’t give up anything else.
SDSU finished with 155 yards and three points on offense.
“It’s a huge confidence booster,” Landman said. “The attitude on the sideline and the energy on the sideline was great the whole game. We knew that our offense was struggling just a little bit and we love being the (phase) to step up and win the game for the team.”
It was a win that didn’t come easy at the end of a wild week.
“We won the game with a day of preparation and I thought our players did a great job of just trying to get a feel of what San Diego State does,” Dorrell said. “I think good teams find ways to win and they’re not always pretty. Sometimes you’ve got to win ugly and it was one of those games given the lack of preparation, I think it was a solid win for us, and I’m very proud of these young men.”
Colorado 20, San Diego State 10
Play of the game: With about 5 minutes to go in the second quarter, Sam Noyer was flushed from the pocket and flipped a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jaylon Jackson. That gave the Buffs a 14-0 lead and would prove to be the winning score.
Turning point: Early in the fourth quarter, with CU leading by just seven, SDSU missed a field goal. CU then responded with a nine-play drive that resulted in an 41-yard Evan Price field goal to give the Buffs more cushion for the final 9:34.
Top 3 Buffs of the game
1. LB Nate Landman: The senior had 11 tackles and a career-high three sacks to lead the defense.
2. OLB Carson Wells: Finished with a sack and four tackles for loss, a key to the defense holding SDSU to 79 yards rushing.
3. RB Jarek Broussard: For the third time in three games, he topped the 100-yard mark, finishing with 124 yards on 32 attempts.
Colorado 20, San Diego St. 10
San Diego St. 0 10 0 0 — 10Colorado 7 7 3 3 — 20
First Quarter: COL — Noyer 1 run (Price kick), 8:17.Second Quarter: COL — Ja.Jackson 3 pass from Noyer (Price kick), 4:50. SDSU — D.Hall 57 interception return (Araiza kick), 3:18. SDSU — FG Araiza 48, :04.Third Quarter: COL — FG Price 36, 6:01.Fourth Quarter: COL — FG Price 41, 9:34.
SDSU COL First downs 10 20Passing 76 138Return Yards 40 36Fumbles-Lost 1-0 3-0Time of Possession 22:32 37:28
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS”
RUSHING — San Diego St., Brookshire 13-50, K.Williams 6-18, Busbee 1-6, J.Byrd 4-6, C.Bell 5-4, Matthews 1-(minus 1), Baker 1-(minus 4). Colorado, Broussard 32-124, Noyer 11-12, Davis 7-10, (Team) 3-(minus 12).
PASSING — San Diego St., Baker 4-9-0-26, Brookshire 7-19-1-50. Colorado, Noyer 17-29-1-138.
RECEIVING — San Diego St., Bellinger 3-38, Matthews 2-13, K.Smith 2-12, C.Bell 1-9, Kothe 1-3, J.Byrd 1-1, Busbee 1-0. Colorado, Shenault 6-64, Nixon 4-26, Rice 2-16, Schmanski 2-5, Broussard 1-14, Stanley 1-10, Ja.Jackson 1-3.
MISSED FIELD GOALS — San Diego St., Araiza 50, Araiza 44.
