Brooks: Buffs Glad To Finally Have A Game To Play

BOULDER - After two helter-skelter weeks, settling into a game-week grind sounds very close to being a reward.

That's precisely the way the Colorado Buffaloes see it as they began a week that finally concludes with a football game - and not just any game either. CU opens Pac-12 Conference play on Saturday at Oregon State (1 p.m. MT, Pac-12 Network), but it will have been a while between games.

At kick off in Reser Stadium, the Buffs will be playing for the first time since their 38-24 home victory against Central Arkansas on Sept. 7. The following Saturday's home contest against Fresno State was washed out by the catastrophic flooding that hit Boulder County and the surrounding area, and a regularly scheduled bye was observed on Saturday, Sept. 21.

Still, CU coach Mike MacIntyre believes his team will have made the most of an unprecedented 21-day span since the last time they suited up and played.

"I think we have improved during this time," MacIntyre said Tuesday at his weekly news conference. "But we'll be able to tell in this game and next (Oct. 5 vs. No. 2 Oregon)."

The benefits of unplanned but back-to-back open Saturdays: Time for injured players to heal, time for coaches to address deficiencies from games one and two, lots of extra time for players to study Oregon State.

The drawbacks of unplanned but back-to-back open Saturdays: A disruption in the game-week routines that followed the buildup from August camp to the opener, a possible disruption in the offensive and defensive tempo as well as a stall in the overall momentum the Buffs had established in their first two wins.

Asked how a team goes about maintaining the momentum of a 2-0 start after a three-week layoff, MacIntyre answered: "Go win the next game . . . that's what we need to do. Go play and don't worry about that. Go play the whole 60 minutes."

Sophomore receiver Nelson Spruce called simulating game atmosphere in practice "kind of tough . . . we've tried our best to maintain pace and rhythm. We're prepared, but it's going to be tough to get that kind of rhythm that it takes in a game."

Senior safety Parker Orms compared the Buffs' long hiatus without playing to "being back in training camp. But I think we're going to be better for it."

MacIntyre hopes so. During a 23-year coaching career, none of his teams have had this long of a regular-season break. His chief concern: Keeping the Buffs focused and playing with the speed of the first two games. That's challenging, MacIntyre conceded, but practices over the last two weeks have featured score being kept in competition during ones vs. ones matchups.

Going "good-on-good" - or first offense vs. first defense - has been done to help simulate game speed. Yet as MacIntyre admitted, "There's a fine line there; you don't want to get anybody hurt."

Oregon State has played four games to CU's two. "On the other side of that," MacIntyre said, "I hope we're fresher."

So, if the Buffs might fret about their lengthy layoff, the Beavers might bemoan a schedule that saw them open on Aug. 31 with a home loss to Eastern Washington (49-46), then play for the next three weekends. OSU defeated Hawai'i (33-14) in Corvallis, then won close road games against Utah (51-48, OT) and San Diego State (34-30).

After playing host to CU Saturday, Oregon State gets the first weekend in October off. The Buffs, meanwhile, likely have said bye to their byes; CU continues to try and schedule a 12th game, looking first at the open date on Oct. 19 as a replacement Saturday.

MacIntyre said he, his staff and players are "excited about playing a football game and getting back to normalcy" after what he described as an "adventurous, anxious" period that saw 10 of his players displaced by the flooding. On the Saturday they were to have played Fresno State, the Buffs lent a hand in the community by helping serve food at Folsom Field to persons who had been displaced by the flooding.

"I think it taught life lessons, made them refocus," MacIntyre said of the entire experience. He also said he believed his players now "take nothing for granted. I've seen that from the entire team."

NOTABLE: According to media reports, Hawai'i is no longer a 12th game option for CU. And MacIntyre has unofficially scratched another option - San Jose State, his former school. "I won't go against the young men I'm close to," he said. But he quickly added, "Somebody above me might make that decision." MacIntyre spoke with athletic director Rick George on Monday night and reported, "He's working hard . . . I keep saying I'm going to find out any hour. Hopefully we can work something out." . . . . Given consecutive open Saturdays, MacIntyre had a chance to watch several Pac-12 teams play. His early thoughts on his new league: "I've been very impressed (but) I always have. In watching games, I saw some really, really good quarterbacks and good defensive linemen. Those are two areas that help you win or lose on the upper echelon. There are some really good ones in this league." . . . . Terrence Crowder's name does not appear on the current roster, and MacIntyre said the redshirt freshman tailback "has a list of things to do before we put him back on the team." . . . . CU's depth chart for Oregon State still lists freshman quarterback Sefo Liufau as Connor Wood's backup, with sophomores Jordan Gehrke and Stevie Joe Dorman listed as the co-No. 3 QBs. MacIntyre said Liufau continues to improve: "He hasn't regressed at all . . . he keeps going forward." . . . . Sophomore tailback Christian Powell "has looked good the last two days," MacIntyre said. "I'm hoping he doesn't get dinged up in practice." Powell has been slowed by a thigh bruise . . . . Coaches nationwide are scheduled to wear a patch on Saturday recognizing those persons fighting multiple sclerosis. MacIntyre called that struggle "something very close to my heart." His father, George, is battling the disease.

Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU