University of Colorado Athletics
Brooks: Does November Hold Anything To Remember?
October 30, 2011 | Football, B.G. Brooks
TEMPE, Ariz. - You were waiting on someone to say, "The games they remember are played in November." So there it is - only because I'm pretty sure circumstances over the 2011 season's final month will prevent Colorado coach Jon Embree from uttering those words.
I'm also pretty sure of this: Embree's memories of his first November as a head coach will be referenced in some future season - hopefully one sooner than later - to remind him that he knew things might get worse before they got better.
You'll probably ask how this could be, but things indeed got worse Saturday afternoon at Sun Devil Stadium, where CU had just been slapped silly by Arizona State, suffering its fourth 28-or-worse point loss in five Pac-12 Conference games. These Buffs aren't just getting beat, they're getting hammered.
This slap-fest was 48-14, and Embree's beef with the Buffs was a familiar one, although he had more to be troubled about on this afternoon than some of his players apparently having grown comfortable with being abused. Embree was dreading this, but CU's list of players lost for the season again grew by one; only a week out of his redshirt, freshman tailback Malcolm Creer suffered what Embree said was a torn MCL and possibly a torn ACL.
Embree shook his head when speaking of Creer and muttered, "Unbelievable . . ." A reporter asked him who he might have offended to warrant so many injuries to this team and Embree answered, "I don't know, but they're doing a good job of getting me back."
The circumstances beyond his control gnaw at him, the more tangible ones treat him even worse. He doesn't believe some of his players have enough of a distaste of losing to spit it out and search for a taste more palatable. He believes some of them have been too accepting of losses of 41 points (to Stanford), 28 (to Washington), 43 (to Oregon) and 34 (to ASU).
How does he know this? He's "watched them play . . . how they act on the sidelines . . . how they act after a loss like this and after previous losses. In some cases we can't do anything about it because they're the only people we have - and that's a sad thing. But I guarantee it's not going to be like this in the future."
Embree understands his team's incredibly bad injury situation and being shorthanded at many spots. "I understand it's not maybe the best circumstances for us." But he wants his team to win "in spite of" those things.
"The goal is to find a reason why you can (win) and then go do it, and focus on that. You can't control your team's injuries, you can't control the other team's schedule; you can control your play, your effort, how you handle the ball, how you handle your assignment, and then trust your teammate to do the same."
Players have "talked about" changing the mindset, "but it's just talk," Embree said. "I'm trying to be good here. But at some point, as I told them in there (locker room), we have some people that are comfortable with the results. That's just the facts. We're comfortable at times with what happens . . .
"We're comfortable with the circumstances we're in; you can ask guys in there and they'll tell you the same thing. I've had guys come tell me that. We just have to keep doing what we can to minimize the role of those people.
"I'm trying to create a culture, an environment where that isn't the case. And we'll keep working on that, keep coaching the guys that want to do it and keep trying to put them out there to make plays . . . the other ones, the guys who just want to be on the team, just want to be around if it goes good then decide they want to jump in the water, we'll just have to keep weeding it out."
Asked how much blame for his team's malaise he puts on himself, Embree responded, "I put a lot on myself; I'm the head coach . . . yet at the same time you have to want to do it. I can't make you do something. In some situations we can't make changes. But like I said, it's not going to stay like this."
Quarterback Tyler Hansen, cleared to play after suffering a concussion in the first half against Oregon in the previous game, said some players "think it's just OK to wear the jersey - and that's got to change. We've got to change that culture."
Hansen and other players have spoken with some of their teammates about the issues in question and, "They're saying all the right things, but their actions don't match their words," Hansen said.
Those players in question, he added, amount to a "handful of guys, both seniors and underclassmen . . . some guys are not here anymore, some are happy with just playing. It's not good enough to just be out there taking up space."
In a best-case scenario, something will snap in one or more of November's final four games - against USC Friday night at Folsom Field, against Arizona two Saturdays later at Folsom, then on the road for the final pair (at UCLA, Nov. 19; at Utah, Nov. 25).
Somewhere among that foursome is a November game to remember . . . isn't there?
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
