Everyone who watched Colorado steal one at Bobby Dodd Stadium will remember the ending. Julian Lewis to Charlie Williams for the go-ahead score, then Boo Carter getting a hand on Aidan Birr's 45-yard try as time expired. That's the sizzle. It's not, in my opinion, the most important thing that happened in Colorado's 14-13 win over Georgia Tech.
The most important thing is what Colorado's defense did to Georgia Tech's ground game. Even with sack yardage stripped out, the Yellow Jackets managed just 73 yards on 27 carries, and Colorado piled up eight tackles for loss. That's not a fluke line from a shootout, and it says something about a defense, under new coordinator Chris Marve in his first game calling the shots, physically winning the line of scrimmage against a team that finished in the top four of the ACC each of the last three years. Marve was the linebackers coach a year ago before getting bumped up when Robert Livingston left for the NFL. His unit made a very good rushing attack look ordinary for four quarters.
Compare that to the year Colorado just came off: a 3-9 season, a defense that got run over regularly, a coach in Deion Sanders whose Boulder record entering this game sat at 16-21. If you're looking for a reason to believe the roster overhaul, the more than 40 transfers and the wholesale staff changes actually changed something, start with the trenches, not the highlight reel.
The highlight reel still matters, and I won't pretend it doesn't. Lewis had an ugly first half by any measure, going 3 for 3 to start before missing eight of his next eleven throws. Then, trailing 13-7 with under two minutes left, he led an eight-play, 75-yard drive in barely a minute and found Williams for the score. Whatever his class designation (sources differ on freshman versus sophomore), that's a quarterback who didn't let a rough half define his night. It's a real, defensible headline on its own: a young quarterback plays his way into a signature moment on the road, in a rematch of a game Georgia Tech won last season.
But the quarterback story is the sizzle. The run defense is the steak. Alberto Mendoza, Georgia Tech's new starter stepping in for Haynes King, wasn't the problem here. His offense moved the ball enough to put together two field-goal drives and nearly a game winner. The line and backfield, the part of Georgia Tech that was supposed to be a strength behind Justice Haynes and Malachi Hosley, is the part that got stuffed all night.
One game doesn't make a season. Colorado is 1-0. Georgia Tech is 0-1. Both programs face a real test soon: Colorado hosts Weber State, and Georgia Tech gets a ranked Tennessee team at home. If Colorado's defense shows up again against a lesser opponent, then against a ranked one, the run-defense story becomes a trend instead of one promising data point. Until then, I'll take my Colorado optimism from the tackles-for-loss column over the final score, even with a blocked kick this dramatic attached to it.
