Woelk: Tired of 'Close,' Buffs Take Aim At ASU
October 06, 2015 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — It's now been nearly two years — 689 days, to be exact — and 12 games since the Colorado Buffaloes won a Pac-12 contest.
They've been close in the drought, more times than they'd care to discuss. Mistakes have been made. Fourth-quarter leads have disappeared. Double-overtime losses have been endured. If there's been a way to come up short, the Buffs have likely experienced it during the stretch.
But the Buffs are tired of "close" and tired of talking about it. They've taken what they believe are some significant steps this season. They've recorded a blowout victory and a come-from-behind win in overtime, two things they had yet to accomplish under Mike MacIntyre.
Next on the checklist is a Pac-12 win, and next on the schedule is a Saturday engagement with the Arizona State Sun Devils in Tempe (8 p.m., Pac-12 Networks).
"We need to take the next step," MacIntyre said firmly at his weekly Tuesday press conference. "We need to get more than one. That's what our plan is."
But MacIntyre, whose emphasis this year has been keeping his team focused on what's ahead, still couldn't resist the temptation to look back at last weekend's frustrating 41-24 loss to Oregon, a game that was tied at the half and one in which the Buffs pulled to within a touchdown with more than 10 minutes still left in the game.
"If I would have said to all of you in the summer that we would be tied at halftime with Oregon, and with (10 minutes) left it's 31-24 … how many of you would have said, 'I'll take that bet, Mike?"
Certainly, it's not a scenario not many would have envisioned — but the end result was still frustratingly familiar.
"We did not win, that is not good enough whatsoever," MacIntyre said. "But we are improving and we have to go win games to get over that hump. There's no doubt that we have to win football games to get over that hump."
On the surface, at least, this week doesn't appear to offer the ideal circumstances for the Buffs to jump that hump. The Buffs are on the road against a team that was ranked in just about everyone's preseason top 25 and is coming off a convincing 38-23 win over seventh-ranked UCLA in the Bruins' backyard.
The Buffs, meanwhile, are bruised and battered. They'll be without both inside linebackers who were in the starting lineup at the beginning of the season, it's possible they'll be down to their third option at left tackle, their leading rusher the first two games of the season hasn't played since early in the third week, and their starting quarterback is still nursing a sore shoulder.
That's not a recipe for success — but nobody in the Buffs' locker room is singing a tale of woe. Instead, they popped onto the field Tuesday morning and put forth what MacIntyre said was his squad's "best Tuesday practice ever after a loss, and we've had a few of them. That was the best practice we've ever, ever, ever had on a Tuesday with the enthusiasm and the effort."
MacIntyre's players also remain upbeat. Tuesday, quarterback Sefo Liufau said no one is punching the panic button.
"I think other people are panicking more than we are," Liufau said. "I think we're pretty calm. … The guys are fired up again, and we're not taking any 'almost' anymore. There's definitely still confidence in this team."
The Sun Devils will send a high-powered offense and a blitzing, gambling defense against the Buffs. In last weekend's win over UCLA, Arizona State put up 465 yards total offense — 273 passing and 192 rushing — while sacking Bruins quarterback Josh Rosen twice and holding the UCLA running game to a paltry 2.2 yards per carry.
The Buffs, though, had some success against the Sun Devils a year ago. In a 38-24 loss, CU trailed by 10 at the half and finished with more than 500 yards total offense, including 278 yards and three touchdowns passing from Liufau.
"We moved the ball well against this team last year," MacIntyre said. "I think we had 534 yards and I'd like to do that again."
But to do that, the Buffs will have to establish more consistency on offense than they've displayed this year. CU rushed for just 77 yards — a season low — against Oregon.
"I think we'll be better at that this week," MacIntyre said. "We have a couple of running backs back. Sefo feels a lot better today than he did last Tuesday. I think that will help our rhythm with the different things that we're doing."
Despite the loss, there's no doubt the Buffs gained some confidence in the loss to Oregon. MacIntyre pointed to two plays — both in the second half — that were back-breakers. One was a Liufau fumble that gave Oregon the ball and set the stage for the Ducks to take a 31-17 lead. The second was a third-and-3 play that saw the Ducks pick up 13 yards on a reverse, keeping alive a drive that ultimately produced a 38-24 lead with 8:24 left in the game.
"If you take those two plays out and they go the other way, it's a different game," MacIntyre said. "That's not coach speak. That's reality. It used to be nine or 10 plays, now it's down to one or two or three. I look at that as progress. It's still not a win and it's still disappointing and not good enough. But that's where we are."
With eight Pac-12 games remaining, the Buffs clearly have plenty of time to make those plays that make the difference. But they also know that every week that goes by as an "almost," the opportunities become fewer.
"We have to make those one or two plays we're not making," MacIntyre said. "I know that we will start making some of those plays in some of those games coming up and we'll be in here talking about a victory."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
