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The eight-game winning streak that Washington State had coming into their game against Colorado on Saturday Afternoon did not get extended into a nine-game winning streak. After having a halftime lead of 17-14 Washington State saw the lead evaporate in the third quarter and they failed to get anything going in the fourth quarter to see their undefeated conference record go right down the drain.
After the Buffaloes jumped out to an early lead on a Phillip Lindsay touchdown run Washington State scored the next two touchdowns in the first quarter. One on a Robert Lewis touchdown catch from Luke Falk and then on another touchdown pass to Jamal Morrow on a 46-yard touchdown connection. The Buffs opened the scoring in the second quarter about halfway through the quarter on a Sefo Liufau touchdown run, one of his three on the night. The Cougars got a field goal by Erik Powell later in the quarter to take their 17-14 lead into half.
Not long into the third quarter Liufau ran in his second touchdown to give the Buffs a lead, but a few drives later Falk hit John Thompson for a touchdown, but those were the last points that Washington State would score, and with 30 seconds left in the third quarter Liufau gave the Buffs the lead they would not give up for the rest of the game on his third touchdown run of the night. A field goal put the Buffs up by a touchdown in the fourth and the Cougars offense started to sputter putting more pressure on their defense to try and keep making stops to give them a chance to tie the game, but eventually the Buffs broke the Cougs on a 13-yard Phillip Lindsay touchdown run and Colorado could start to see a rivalry game next week against Utah that will give them a chance to win the South.
The Washington State defense had played pretty well during the teams eight-game winning streak, but they didn’t have their best game yesterday surrendering just over 600 yards to go along with the 38 points and they let Colorado be really balanced yesterday. Washington State was fairly balanced as well but they lost the turnover battle and sputtered in the second half for the most part against a pretty good Colorado defense. This loss is not ultimately a big deal for Washington State because the Apple Cup next week will still be to determine the Pac-12 North and we could see a potential rematch of this game in the conference championship with a trip to the Rose Bowl on the line. The rushing touchdowns given up is a concern because Washington next week can really run the ball and they have two very good running backs and have the ability to also be very balanced.
Washington State also picked up a few recruits this week: