Colorado University Athletics
Buffs Ready For Home Opener Vs. UMass
September 11, 2015 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Style points won't be awarded Saturday at Folsom Field.
When the Colorado Buffaloes play host to the UMass Minutemen in CU's noon home opener, the Buffs' objective will be simple:
"All we need to do is win," head coach Mike MacIntyre said earlier this week. "I'll take a win anytime and to me that's a good showing. We need to go win football games."
The game will be televised by the Pac-12 Network, with Josh Lewin on the play-by-play and former Buff Jeremy Bloom providing analysis. KOA radio (850 am) will broadcast the game with Mark Johnson, Larry Zimmer and Kami Carmann.
When the season began, the Buffs had planned on being 1-0 at this point. An error-filled opener in Hawai'i, however, derailed those expectations, and now MacIntyre's team must find a way to forget last week's 28-20 loss and concentrate on breaking into the win column.
It's not a stretch to say the Buffs need a win in a big way, for a variety of reasons.
For starters, the Buffs are just 3-6 in their last nine home openers, including a 1-1 record under MacIntyre. Perhaps more importantly, the Buffs are currently mired in a nine-game losing streak stretching back to last season, just one away from the all-time school mark.
But most importantly, the Buffs need a win to make sure this year doesn't start following the same spiral of 2014, when they spent too much of the season bemoaning the close ones that got away. They opened the season brimming with confidence; a win would be a major step toward making sure their belief in themselves doesn't melt away.
"I believe they have definitely kept their confidence," MacIntyre said. "We just have to finish these games and get ahead and keep the lead."
The visiting Minutemen are in many ways a mirror image of the Buffs. On their way to a 3-9 finish last year — which included a narrow 41-38 loss to CU in Foxborough — UMass lost five games in which they were either tied or held the lead in the fourth quarter.
"They're a very good football team," MacIntyre said. "Coach (Mark) Whipple does a good job. I'm impressed with how their team kept improving as the year went on last year when we watched their film."
The Minutemen boasted one of the nation's most prolific passing games a year ago, and they return all the key elements from that attack. Quarterback Blake Frohnapfel (3,345 yards passing, 23 touchdowns in 2014) is back, along with leading receiver Tajae Sharpe (85 catches, 1,281 yards and 7 touchdowns). Other top Frohnapfel targets back for another season are tight end Rodney Mills (30-489, 5 TDs) and wide receiver Marken Michel (30-386, 1 TD).
UMass also has some solid returning talent on the defensive side. Last year's leading tackler, Jovan Santos-Knox (143 tackles, 2 sacks) is back, along with cornerback Randall Jette (67 tackles, 4 interceptions). Santos-Knox had one of two UMass sacks of CU quarterback Sefo Liufau a year ago while Jette picked off a Liufau pass.
Much of the talk around the UMass program this week has been centered on altitude. The Minutemen will be leaving their comfort zone of home, where they play virtually at sea level, to engage the mile-high air of Boulder.
Minutemen trainers have spent the week reminding players to hydrate frequently; they've rented oxygen tanks for the sidelines; and they're monitoring players with breathing issues (such as asthma).
Whipple, however, has been downplaying the issue. He coached on several NFL staffs that visited Denver to play the Broncos.
"It didn't make any difference," Whipple told the Daily Hampshire Gazette. "It's not like anybody came out and said 'Aw geez this air is thinner.' The football field is the same except they have grass."
The Buffs, meanwhile, won't be concerned about the air — or lack of it. Rather, they'll be focusing on eliminating the mistakes that cost them a win in their opener.
"We didn't play up to our standards against Hawai'i," Liufau said. "It's frustrating to come out the way we did. We want to come out and play well this week, especially at home. We want to defend our home turf and put on a good show … to show that we can actually play and transfer over from the practice field to the game field."
The Buffs spent much of the week working on improving a passing game that was uncharacteristically rusty. Liufau, who saw his streak of consecutive games with a touchdown pass end at 20, finished with just 156 yards passing on a 23-for-41 night that also included an interception.
"I couldn't hit a pass," Liufau said frankly. "I wouldn't say the timing was off. The receivers ran good routes; I just have to be able to get the ball to the playmakers."
Defensively, the Buffs have been working on a variety of schemes to contain Frohnapfel.
"He's a guy that can drop back like a pro quarterback and throw it from this hash all the way across the field, a perfect out route on a frozen rope," MacIntyre said. "If he has all day to sit back there, he'll pick us apart."
One thing the Buffs would like to continue from the Hawai'i game is a rushing attack that showed the potential of becoming a dominant force. Tailback Michael Adkins II, who rushed 22 times for 90 yards and two touchdowns in the opener, would like to increase those numbers, and it won't be a surprise if CU throws a few more wrinkles into the rushing attack in order to control the clock and keep the ball out of Frohnapfel's hands.
