Opposing coaches sometimes praise a struggling team out of politeness, but Oklahoma State Cowboys coach Eric Morris sounded like someone who had done his homework. The first-year coach went through the Colorado Buffaloes’ film and came away with a compliment that, for once, holds up under a closer look.

“The crazy thing about this team and watching this team, Colorado, right now is, they might be the best two-win team in the nation,” Morris said at his weekly press conference. “And you look at their stats defensively; I added it up. I just, I was watching these games and how well they played against Texas Tech on defense, how well they played against Utah on defense.”

Eric Morris did the homework on Colorado’s losses

Morris then pointed to the company Colorado has kept. 

“So the teams that they’ve lost to, I think their combined records 21 and 3 right now,” he said. “And so when you think about that, and they’ve been in these games, I mean, they’re a play away from making it happen.”

His number checks out. Texas Tech and Utah are both 6-0, Northwestern is 5-1, and Baylor is 4-2, so Colorado’s four losses have come against four teams with a combined 21-3 record.

Where Morris stretches it a little is the idea that every one of those games was a play away. Colorado lost to Northwestern by 34 and Texas Tech by 22, while the Baylor loss came by 10 and the Utah loss by three. Two of the four were close, and two were not.

Eric Morris saw a defense worth respecting

The defensive part of his scouting report is where Morris is right on the money. Texas Tech arrived in Boulder averaging just over 36 points per game and had 12 points through three quarters, per Colorado Athletics.

Utah came in averaging about 502 yards per game, ninth in the country, and left Folsom Field with 409. Holding two unbeaten offenses well below their normal output is the kind of thing coaches notice on film, even when the scoreboard does not reward it.

Eric Morris recognizes a roster built like his own

The most revealing part of his answer was about experience. 

“The one thing that strikes me, like this team’s really old right now, Colorado. Their roster is old, they got a lot of veteran players,” Morris said. “Now they’ve come from different places, but similar to us, they played a lot of football, and I think that shows up.”

Morris knows that kind of roster better than most. Per Oklahoma State Athletics, the program brought in 66 transfers and 91 newcomers on a 115-man roster in his first season.

Colorado went the same route, adding 43 transfers after 64 players left the program. Two coaches who rebuilt with veterans from all over the country are looking at each other’s film and seeing the same thing, and Morris clearly respects what he sees on the other side.