Football: CU Buffs’ Alejandro Mata rediscovers groove

Alejandro Mata is still bothered by the field goal attempt he had blocked at Nebraska on Sept. 7. The 44-yarder he missed a week later at Colorado State annoys him, too.

“Really wish I could get those kicks back, especially in Nebraska, knowing …” he said, shaking his head without finishing the sentence. “But nothing we could do about it now but move on.”

Move on he has. The Colorado junior went 2-for-2 on his field goals during Saturday’s 34-23 win against Cincinnati, including a 47-yarder that sealed the victory with 1 minute, 39 seconds to play.

Mata apologized for his final kick, which barely cleared the crossbar, saying he will be better. But, he’s now made seven consecutive field goals and is 9-for-11 on the season for the 23rd-ranked Buffs (6-2, 4-1 Big 12), who are on a bye this week.

“I definitely got my confidence back,” he said after the win against Cincinnati. “First three games, that wasn’t really me. I was dealing with a lot of stuff off the field, and I was doing a bad job keeping it off the field, which affected me in certain games.”

A locked-in Mata is a major asset for the Buffs. While he hasn’t shown great range as a college kicker – the 47-yarder matched his career long – he’s clutch from about 45 yards and in, and head coach Deion Sanders doesn’t care that the last one nearly scraped the crossbar.

“Mata was phenomenal at the conclusion of the game, doing what he did,” Coach Prime said. “Like I always tell him, I don’t care how high it goes through the uprights; they don’t give you points for that. As long as it goes through, I’m good with that.”

During his two seasons at CU, Mata is now 19-of-23 on field goals, a percentage of 82.6 that is the best in program history for any kicker with at least 20 attempts. He’s also scored 115 points in his two seasons at CU, which ranks 13th among kickers in program history.

Counting his freshman season at Jackson State, Mata is 30-of-35 (85.7%) on field goals in his career.

Finalist

CU junior cornerback/receiver Travis Hunter has been named as a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, presented annually to the best defensive back in the country. Finalists will be announced on Nov. 26.

Hunter leads the Big 12 in pass breakups (seven) and also has two interceptions.

This week Hunter has also been added to the watch list for the Maxwell Award, one of the more prestigious player of the year awards. Hunter was named the Maxwell player of the week on Tuesday after his performance against Cincinnati.

Good timing

Asked after Saturday’s game about his game plan for the bye week, quarterback Shedeur Sanders said, “Get healthy.”

Shedeur isn’t taking nearly as many hits or sacks as last year, but he has been sacked 25 times (fourth-most in the nation) and is grateful for a week off.

“That’s the biggest game plan right now,” he said. “The bye week kind of came in a better week for me, honestly, a little banged up right now.”

Shedeur also had the flu last week and said he only practiced once during the week leading up to the Cincinnati game.

“You lose weight, you lose strength, you lose a lot of things dealing with that,” he said.

Shedeur isn’t the only Buff who could use a bye. Several players, including Hunter, receiver Will Sheppard, defensive linemen Chidozie Nwankwo and Shane Cokes, running back Dallan Hayden and more have dealt with nagging injuries.