Colorado Buffaloes Team Grades After Loss to Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

WestCoastCFB on X graded teams’ performance in Week One. Here were some of there grades for teams on the west coast. Colorado finds themselves right in the middle with a close loss.

Oregon Ducks: A+

USC Trojans: A+

Utah Utes: A+

BYU Cougars: A+

California Golden Bears: A

Arizona Wildcats: B+

Washington Huskies: B

Colorado Buffaloes: B-

Arizona State Sun Devils: C-

Washington State Cougars: D

Oregon State Beavers: D

Boise State Broncos: D

UCLA Bruins: F

Buffaloes Fall in Season Opener 

The Colorado Buffaloes dropped to 0-1 on the season in their loss to Georgia Tech. Colorado got out to a fast start, forcing a Georgia Tech fumble on the first drive then scoring a touchdown minutes later to take a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. Georgia Tech battled back and took a 13-10 lead into halftime. 

Midway through the fourth quarter, the Buffaloes found themselves trailing 20-13. Quarterback Kaidon Salter then engineered a 15 play 75-yard drive capped off with him rushing for a seven-yard touchdown to tie the game up at 20-20.

A couple possessions later, Georgia Tech went on a five play 61 yard touchdown drive ending with quarterback Haynes King running it in for a 45-yard touchdown with just over a minute remaining in the game.

Colorado came up short on their final drive. There was some questionable clock management that resulted in Colorado resorting to a hail mary as time expired even though they had two timeouts in their back pocket.

Kaidon Salter Makes Colorado Buffaloes Debut 

Kaidon Salter was 17/28 for 159 yards passing with one touchdown and zero interceptions in his first game as a Buffalo. He added another 13 carries for 43 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground. 

It was an up and down night for Salter who put his dual-threat ability on display. Salter played his previous four seasons of college football with the Liberty Flames before he transferred to Colorado this past offseason.

This offense looked much different than the offense Colorado ran the previous two season with Shedeur Sanders at starting quarterback. With Sanders at quarterback, it wasn't uncommon for the Buffaloes offense to look a little bit "pass happy" with the skillset of Sanders through the air and his abundance of weapons; Travis Hunter, LaJohntay Wester, Jimmy Horn, and Will Sheppard.

All of these players are now in the NFL.