Pac-12 Championship Game: 5 reasons Colorado beats Washington

By Brad Weiss | Dec 1, 2016

Nov 19, 2016; Boulder, CO, USA; Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Sefo Liufau (13) celebrates a rushing touchdown by running back Phillip Lindsay (23) (background) in the fourth quarter against the Washington State Cougars at Folsom Field. The Buffaloes defeated the Cougars 38-24. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /

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PALO ALTO, CA – OCTOBER 22: Isaiah Oliver #26 of the Colorado Buffaloes is congratulated by Tedric Thompson #9 and Chidobe Awuzie #4 after he intercepted a pass late in the fourth quarter to secure the Buffaloes victory over the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium on October 22, 2016 in Palo Alto, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

2. Colorado has the No. 1 passing defense in the Pac-12

Washington Huskies quarterback Jake Browning is the best quarterback in the Pac-12, that is not for debate. He was the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year and is coming off a season in which he threw for 40 touchdowns. The sophomore has made easy work of nearly every team he has played against this season, but no team has the kind of secondary like they will be facing on Friday night inside Levi’s Stadium.

The Colorado Buffaloes will go into the Pac-12 Championship Game ranked as the No. 1 pass defense in the conference and 20th in the country. In terms of yards allowed, they have given up only 187.8 yards per contest and have yielded 13 touchdown passes. They will face their biggest test on Friday, but they definitely have the talent in the secondary to make live very difficult for Browning and company.

Overall, the Buffaloes finished the season as the 13th best defense in the country in terms of yards allowed, which is an unbelievable statistic considering where they were predicted to finish this season. This is a hungry bunch on the defensive side of the ball, and if they can find a way to stop Myles Gaskin in the run game, it should enable them to be very aggressive in pass defense. This could lead to some costly Browning interceptions, much like he threw in the Huskies’ only loss of the season against USC.

Browning has been very effective throwing the ball this season, as he has only seven interceptions to go along with his 40 TD tosses. However, four of those picks came in the last three games, as he threw two apiece against Arizona State and USC. If Colorado can get up in his face early and force some bad throws, it should give Sefo Liufau the ball in good field position to make something happen. This game is going to come down to who makes the big mistake, and Colorado and Washington both have defenses that can make that happen.

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