Colorado University Athletics
Buffs Vow To Turn Tide - Immediately
October 11, 2015 | Football, Neill Woelk
TEMPE, Ariz. — The message in the Colorado locker room after Saturday night's 48-23 loss to Arizona State was clear:
Enough is enough. No more excuses, no more hanging heads, no more talking about what might have been. In the wake of CU's 13th consecutive Pac-12 loss, one punctuated yet again by a host of errors, the Buffs know their season is dangerously on the brink of matching last year's downward spiral.
But Saturday night's postgame message didn't come from CU's coaching staff. Instead, it came from players, led by running back Phillip Lindsay, who delivered an impassioned locker room speech that challenged his teammates to turn the tide — immediately.
"Seven games," Lindsay said afterward. "That's what we've got left, and we've got to win them all. This isn't about the coaches, it's on us. They put us in position, but if we don't execute, it's on us. If there's people in that locker room that don't believe, it's not the place for them. It's time for us to come together, to fight for each other and win football games."
Lindsay's passion was clearly evident, but he isn't the only player in the CU locker room who believes the Buffs are at a crossroads.
"It's definitely a dangerous time," quarterback Sefo Liufau said. "If you don't come out of this game with a chip on your shoulder, you don't belong on this team. This should hurt. Everybody in this locker room has to be accountable. We all made mistakes and it's time to stop talking about them and fix it."
Because the Buffs weren't scheduled to arrive back in Boulder until early Sunday morning, they won't practice until Monday morning. When they get there, the team leaders have vowed to make sure the attitude is good.
"I'm telling them to quit hanging their heads and feeling sorry for themselves," Liufau said. "This is getting old. We need to put a big frigging chip on our shoulder and come out ready to play Arizona. There's a lot of guys with their heads down — and we're not going to stay that way. We're going to come out fighting."
Certainly there was no one in CU's locker room who was immune from criticism after Saturday's loss. The offense was inconsistent; the defense gave up big plays; and special teams contributed their fair share of errors.
"It's not one one person or one group — it's on all of us," Lindsay said. "There's something missing, and it's on us to fix it. We know we're on the right track. We know we have players good enough to win. But we've got to come out Monday and change something. It's time for us to come together and do what we know we're capable of doing."
