After a 3-0 start last season, Colorado lost eight of its final nine games to finish 4-8.
The slide started with a 42-6 blowout loss at Oregon on Sept. 23. According to a new report from Front Office Sports A.J. Perez, the Buffaloes were suspicious of potential cheating by the Ducks in the aftermath of the game.
Colorado football staff members allegedly “identified multiple potential incursions into the team’s online service that stores practice video and other data,” which led to the program reaching out to the Pac-12 about the matter.
The Pac-12 took the accusation seriously, Perez writes, and reached out to Colorado to see if they wanted to open an investigation.
However, the Buffaloes “chose not to move forward,” and did not provide the conference with any evidence that Oregon or another team had breached their data.
Catapult, the video replay system utilized by Colorado and many other programs nationwide, conducted its own review of the allegations and determined that its system was not compromised.
“We conducted a thorough investigation into reports of unauthorized access to Colorado’s football video footage last season,” a Catapult spokesperson said in a statement to FOS. “We can confirm that the security of our systems was not compromised during the investigation.”
In the days after Oregon’s win over Colorado, there was seemingly some bad blood between the teams stemming from Ducks head coach Dan Lanning’s pregame speech.
“The Cinderella story is over, men. They’re fighting for clicks, we’re fighting for wins. There’s a difference,” Lanning told his players. “This game ain’t going to be played in Hollywood. It’s going to be played on the grass.”
Little did anyone know at the time what was brewing behind the scenes, albeit briefly.
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