Colorado's Defense is a Wreck

Another experienced defensive player down

Sometimes it hits you all at once, like when you pull an all-nighter and don't feel tired until you pass out and wake up 16 hours later with the imprint of your bedroom carpet all over your face. 

That's the Colorado defense at this point. 

Cornerback Mekhi Blackmon is out for the season with a shoulder injury. Cornerback Chris Miller is also out of the season after tearing his ACL against Arizona State. That leaves senior Delrick Abrams, Jr. and true freshman KJ Trujillo as CU's most experienced cornerbacks. 

On top of that, the team's preseason all-conference defensive lineman, Mustafa Johnson, is day-to-day. 

Meaning a Colorado defense that was not good when the season started, might face the best offense in the Pac-12, Oregon, without three of its best players.

This has all the makings of a 700-yard game for Oregon. Not only is Colorado's secondary depleted and vulnerable, its pass rush is too. Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert has started 33 games in his career, so he's got about as much experience as you can have. And he's awesome. He's already got 1,300 yards, 15 touchdowns and one interception. 

It will take a heroic performance for Colorado to win this game under these circumstances. Either that or an all-time egg by Oregon, which is 4-1 and ranked 13th.

That one loss, though ... what can be learned from it? Could Colorado pull off a similar feat?

Well ... that loss was to Auburn, which has the country's No. 41 defense and held Oregon to 332 yards and 21 points.

So it could be a long Friday night.