Colorado University Athletics
Woelk: Young Players Making Buffs Competitive
October 19, 2015 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Perhaps lost in the immediate frustration of seeing two very winnable Pac-12 games slip from the grasp of the Colorado Buffaloes in recent weeks has been a bigger picture outlook.
Not only are the Buffs making steady — if incremental — progress, they are doing so with what is still a young lineup, the vast majority of which will be back a year from now.
Take a look at Saturday night's starters. The team that took a 24-17 lead over Arizona into the fourth quarter had just four senior starters on the offensive and defensive units. The rest of the starting 22 included eight juniors, eight sophomores and two freshman. Throw in a junior kicker and a freshman punter and it means that 83 percent of those starters will be back next year.
If you believe the Buffs are becoming more competitive — and it would be difficult to argue that's not the case — then it would be equally difficult to argue that the future does not bode well for Mike MacIntyre's team.
Almost no one who pays attention will argue that the Buffs are not inching closer to the pack in the ultra-competitive Pac-12. With six games remaining, the 3-4 Buffs have plenty of opportunity to continue to close that gap, pick up some victories and accelerate the process, beginning with Saturday night's game at Oregon State (8:30 p.m., Pac-12 Networks).
Three years ago, the Buffs were out of most games by the intermission, if not sooner. Since then, Mike MacIntyre's team has slowly but steadily closed the competition gap, narrowing what was once a chasm to what is now a reasonable jump.
We saw signs a year ago, when the Buffs took UCLA and Cal to double overtime and threw a scare at several other conference foes — including currently unbeaten Utah, which emerged from Sunday's Associated Press poll as the nation's No. 3 ranked team.
We've seen it continue this year. The Buffs were tied with Oregon at the half and within a touchdown with more than 10 minutes left in the game. Against Arizona — a team that may still have a say in the Pac-12 South title race — the Buffs took a 24-17 lead into the fourth quarter.
Those are programs that were sending in the reserves in the third quarter just a couple of years ago.
Of course, nobody — from the CU coaching staff to the CU administration to the folks who buy the tickets — is happy with being “close.” It's been a frustrating, even excruciating, journey. Saturday night, MacIntyre aptly deemed it “painful.”
But if there's anything to be learned from the journey, it's that the youngsters who are taking those steps will be around another year or two — or even three, in some cases — and will no doubt have learned from their initial travails. Logic suggests they will only continue to improve.
Saturday night, sophomore Phillip Lindsay and freshman Patrick Carr accounted for 123 of the Buffs' 128 yards rushing (96 percent). CU's sophomore receivers, led by Shay Fields, accounted for 67 percent of the Buffs' 339 receiving yards. And, of course, quarterback Sefo Liufau — who threw for 339 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for two more — is also a junior.
The story is the same defensively. Four of Colorado's top five tacklers from the game were underclassmen, and the fifth was a junior, Chidobe Awuzie. Three of the top five — linebackers Grant Watanabe, Rick Gamboa and N.J. Falo — were freshmen. (It's also worth remembering that those freshmen were playing in place of two injured juniors who were considered to be among CU's most reliable defenders. Addison Gillam and Kenneth Olugbode will both be back next season. One can only wonder how Saturday night would have transpired with their experience in the lineup.)
Up front, on both sides of the ball, it's the same story. CU will lose one starting offensive linemen (Stephane Nembot), but the Buffs should also have left tackle Jeromy Irwin (out with a knee injury) back for another year. Defensively, the Buffs lose just one starter up front (Justin Solis), and it's the same in the secondary.
No doubt, maintaining a basis for optimism would be difficult if the young Buffs were still getting blown out on a regular basis.
But fact is, the talent level entering the program is improving. The Buffs are a much better team than they were even two years ago, and they're achieving those results with players who are — to put it mildly — learning under fire.
If that learning curve continues, there's no reason to think their continued climb up the competitive ladder won't follow the same path.
GETTING HIS KICKS: True freshman punter Alex Kinney has quietly rebounded from a slow start and is making a case for earning some conference — and perhaps even national — freshman honors at season's end.
Saturday night, Kinney punted eight times for a 42.9-yard average, with a long of 54. Even more impressive, he dropped three inside the 20, including a pair in the second half that were downed at the UA 3 and 6 yard lines.
Also, the Wildcats had just 13 yards in punt returns, meaning Kinney finished with an outstanding 41.6-yard net for the night.
Colorado has had a host of outstanding punters through the years, including a number of All-Americans. Don't be surprised if Kinney adds his name to that list before his career is over.
BEAVERS UPDATE: The Buffs travel to Oregon State on Saturday for an 8:30 p.m. meeting with the 2-4 Beavers (Pac-12 Networks). Gary Andersen is in his first year coaching the Beavers, who are 2-1 at home but have lost their last three, including a 52-31 loss to Washington State on Saturday. Former Colorado State offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin holds the same post on Andersen's staff.
It was reported Sunday that the Beavers had hired former BYU head coach and former Oregon offensive coordinator Gary Crowton as an offensive consultant.
