Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: After The Talk, Embree, Buffs Know What's Next
November 15, 2011 | Football, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER - So in the rare afterglow of Saturday's win - only the second time this season there's been a glow of any sort - did Jon Embree and his guys let their emotions write a check their next performance can't cash?
You'll have to wait until Saturday night for the answer to flash on the Rose Bowl scoreboard, but Embree isn't backing off a millimeter on his post-Arizona statement to his team that "we're going to get it in the Rose Bowl" - the "it" being an end to Colorado football's horrendous road losing streak.
And this came from quarterback Tyler Hansen following CU's 48-29 Senior Day win at Folsom Field: "We're not going to lose on the road, I guarantee. We're going to the Rose Bowl and we're going to get it done."
Really now, whether it was in the post-battle heat or 24 or 48 hours after the fact, what did you expect from Embree?
"We're going to the Rose Bowl and, by golly, we're going to try really, really hard to get a road win."
Critics will (and have) let Embree know of his first-season shortcomings as a college head coach. Plain and simple, this wasn't one of them. If you think otherwise, you're flat out misguided.
Ever-so-slowly, Embree is returning something to CU that hasn't been on the premises in a while. It starts with a belief, and minus that all else is worthless.
"We think we're going to win this week, we thought we were going to win last week, we think we're going to win in the future," Embree said Tuesday at his weekly press luncheon. "It's got to be a mindset that you think you're going to win every time you go out there . . . you have to expect to win. Every time you go out and compete in something, as corny as it sounds, that's the first step in being able to win - believing that you can."
But here's the caveat: If his first Buffs team has gone into every game of a 2-9 season believing it could win, that belief still needs validation. Last Saturday's rout of the Wildcats offered a strong dose - enough to send the Buffs into Tuesday's practice with pretty much the same fervor and focus they had in approaching last weekend's final home game.
Said Hansen: "This is kind of the same mentality as going into Senior Day . . . it's a huge game for us. Everyone has to be up for this game."
From a personal standpoint, Embree probably didn't need any more emotional storylines attached to Saturday night's encounter with UCLA (5:30 p.m. MST, Versus). He's been asked about and reminded of this game since CU hired him last December. His oldest son, Taylor, is a senior receiver for the Bruins. His close friend, colleague and former boss, Rick Neuheisel, is the Bruins' embattled head coach. Embree spent three seasons as a UCLA assistant coach under Karl Dorrell. Embree's family, including his mom, will be in the Rose Bowl watching on Saturday night.
In publicly proclaiming his and the Buffs' intentions after last weekend's win, Embree merely did what football coaches do - although some aren't so up front about it. Show me a coach who won't let it all out in front of his players and I'll show you a coach who doesn't have a handle on his team. Rest assured, Embree does.
Was it wise to "guarantee" a road win Saturday when the Buffs haven't won an out-of-state game since 2007 - that's 23 straight for anyone who's counting, and you better believe Embree is. Here's how he answered that question Tuesday:
"I don't know . . . first off, I'll guarantee Taylor has said something to them (his UCLA teammates) about me saying we're going in there and win. He's guaranteed they're going to beat us. Now, are we going to play any harder? It does not change how teams are going to play. Rick Neuheisel wants to beat Jon Embree's behind - in anything we do. It goes all the way back to noon hoops when he was here as an assistant.
"I don't expect it to change. Those things . . . maybe that's for other people, but there's not a coach in America who doesn't go into a game thinking his team going to win. Whether it's said in the locker room, whether it's said publicly, to me it doesn't change anything."
Since coaches began blowing whistles, they've been wary of their players consciously or unconsciously uttering "bulletin board" material - quotes or whatever that might land in the opposing camp like a grenade. Embree said "ask the players if it can help them," and he brought up the "asterisk" comment by former Oklahoma coach Howard Schnellenberger before the 1995 CU-OU game.
Knowing Buffs starter Koy Detmer was out with an injury and that the Sooners would face backup John Hessler, Schnellenberger said for that reason he didn't want an "asterisk" placed beside the Sooners' inevitable win.
CU 38, OU 17 . . . Hessler threw a school-record five touchdown passes in a thorough asterisk kicking.
Embree, an assistant to Neuheisel at the time, recalled, "We didn't play any different (because of Schnellenberger's statement). You just play."
And that's what he expects the Buffs to do Saturday, regardless of what's been said in Boulder or in Westwood. "Our guys expect to win and they (UCLA) expect to win," Embree said. "I don't get caught up in that. I know what Tyler said and what I said in the locker room, and I'm sure (the Bruins) said the same things. Every week, each team thinks they're going to win - and that's no different here."
It's said that teams take on the personality of their coaches, which can be for better or worse. Hansen sees it finally happening with this CU team and believes it's for the better. "Yeah, I see it," Hansen said, "just the kind of fire we have now . . . Coach Embree is a competitive guy. He likes to have a lot of fun. He's loose, a fun coach to be around. I think this team is starting to get that feel. I think earlier in the year we maybe weren't having as much fun."
You want game-day levity? During a timeout before CU scored its first touchdown against Arizona, Embree recounted senior guard Ethan Adkins approaching him and saying the offense was going to "do the Bernie (dance), from Weekend at Bernie's . . . I said, 'OK, but you better score.'"
The Buffs did, then unobtrusively did their dance number "in a way that it wasn't an excessive celebration," Embree said. "For them to come to me and say they're going to do something like that . . . it's how I was as a player and a person. I'm out there, I want you to let you what we're going to do, then we're going to do it. That's just how I am."
Embree is engaged with this team. He, Hansen, senior receiver Kyle Cefalo and student assistant Cha'pelle Brown - a former CU corner - started a Friday competition eight weeks ago. They stand 20-25 yards out and see who can hit the crossbar with a football in the least amount of attempts.
The competition is tied now at 4-4, said Hansen, with the tie between him and his head coach. Hansen predicts he'll win it; Embree, of course, says otherwise.
"You have to say it," Embree said. "If you want to win a championship you have to say it. I expect us to win a championship (someday), but then you have to go do it. I think every team that's done that and had success - that's what they've done. You just don't sit there and try to sneak up and get in after the fact."
After what was said Saturday inside their locker room and out, the Buffs have no shot at sneaking into the Rose Bowl on Saturday. But slipping in unannounced is not what they want, particularly not what their coach wants. In his words, "I'm out there."
Say it, do it . . . those are the only four words Embree and the Buffs need to keep in mind as they pack for LA and what could be a rare night in the Rose Bowl.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
