BOULDER — Colorado junior receiver Nelson Spruce has five receptions of 31 yards or longer this season, but none in the past two games against Oregon State and Southern California.
Those Pac-12 opponents took away Spruce’s deep, downfield patterns and made the Buffaloes throw underneath routes to him, CU quarterback Sefo Liufau said.
It was not for a lack of trying, CU coach Mike MacIntyre said following Wednesday’s practice.
“We had a couple of (calls to Spruce on deep routes) where we didn’t get the pass off or something happened, that type of thing,” MacIntyre said.
“And teams are showing Nelson a little more ‘love,’ so to speak. That happens.”
Of course, Spruce wasn’t completely taken out of those games. He caught six passes against Oregon State and had nine receptions last weekend at Southern California. But his longest gain went for 11 yards against the Beavers and for 15 against the Trojans.
In Los Angeles, Spruce did catch his 11th touchdown pass of the season (a 5-yard flip from Liufau) to tie a CU single-season record. He continues to lead the nation in touchdown receptions, with one more than Colorado State’s Rashard Higgins.
Colorado hosts No. 25 UCLA at noon Saturday.
“Teams aren’t always able to do that,” MacIntyre said of stopping Spruce’s deep patterns. “We’ll just keep working at it.”
Tom Kensler: tkensler@denverpost.com or twitter.com/tomkensler
