Brooks: Learning To Win Proving To Be A Difficult Lesson For Buffs

BOULDER – It only happened twice last season, so by no means are the Colorado Buffaloes experienced in how it happens, what's required to make it happen, and how to keep it going once there's a breakthrough.

We're talking about winning football games – an occurrence that once was commonplace at CU but as of late has been as rare as Donald Trump with nothing to say.

Coaches like to think of learning to win as an acquired art, but it was clear from the Buffs' 28-20 loss at Hawai'i last Thursday night that there still is more acquiring to be done in Mike MacIntyre's third season as head coach.

The bad news here is that after spending much of the off-season and August camp hoisting four fingers to signify fourth-quarter productivity and finishing efficiently – a couple of foundational items in learning to win – the Buffs could check off neither following their opener.

The better news: It was only one game, albeit an all-important opener for MacIntyre and his team in their now very public quest to make the school's first postseason trip since 2007. Another coaching standby: Teams make their most improvement from games one to two – something the Buffs undoubtedly must do now to pump some of the air back into their September aspirations and whatever follows.

On Tuesday, at MacIntyre's initial 2015 media conference, I asked him if he believes the Buffs were close to learning how to win and what his coaching career had taught him about the process.

He said he "definitely believes" his team is learning, adding, "We need to, that's for sure . . . what we got to do now is make sure we go do it."

Continued MacIntyre: "When we start doing it, you can kind of point to a game. But it's a process, it's a whole mental process the whole time. You just need to do it, then you can do it again, do it again, and do it again. That's what we need to make sure we take advantage of to make sure we have a chance.

"The one thing I will say, even the other night and about the team last year which I think has carried over. They never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever (that's six "evers" if you're counting at home) give up. If you keep doing that then eventually you are going to get those and you are going to start winning those games. But it is extremely frustrating for the players, for the coaches, and for the fans, too. But it's more frustrating for those players; they're out there doing it. I can guarantee you that."

But as MacIntyre alluded to, the learning process begins, continues and ends with a team giving itself a chance to win – something the Buffs didn't do on their trip to paradise. What MacIntyre called "bonehead mistakes" snuffed any chance of his team helping itself to what might have been a gratifying win.

Some players, including quarterback Sefo Liufau, indicated the team might have been "tight" early on in the opener. "We have to believe in ourselves and play loose, not cocky but with a certain confidence and swagger," he said. "We know that we're good but I think we're putting too much pressure on ourselves to go out and perform or we expect other people on the team to go do something. If you're in a close game, which we will be a lot of times this year, we have to be able to perform in those tight situations, just be able to do your job play in and play out."

MacIntyre didn't see his team as too wound up: "I don't think they appeared tight. I think they made bonehead mistakes that cost us a football game." And as he cited his team's statistical edge in most categories (except points), MacIntyre appeared even more agitated by the loss.

"We outplayed that team, we "out-physicaled" that team, we out rushed that team, we out gained that team," he said. "We just made bonehead mistakes. Maybe that was because some of them were tight, I don't know. They didn't seem tight to me, we just made some bonehead mistakes that we've got to coach better to not have happen, or we would have won that game by a few touchdowns. It's very frustrating."

Among the things MacIntyre and his staff hope to prevent this week is having that frustration grind on their players. The Buffs appeared confident in August camp, and Liufau said while an opening loss wasn't what anyone expected it didn't deflate him or his teammates.

"I think the team's confidence is pretty high," he said. "But you definitely want a win this week and get yourselves back on track."

Confidence, added MacIntyre, "comes from within, and each young man has to do that. Of course, we inspire them; we motivate them every way that we can. But when they put their helmet on and step out between the lines, they've got to keep their confidence. I believe they definitely have kept their confidence. When you watch the game, and they watch themselves on film they can see how much stronger they are and how physical they are.

"They can see that they are a step faster on closing on the ball, and they can see a little bit more power on some different things. Sefo is a good example of a guy that has kept working hard and improving his body. I mean watching his run from (the Hawai'i game) to his freshman year – it's night and day. I think if you see that, that's the way the rest of our team has done. Now we just have to finish these games and get ahead and keep the lead."

Following their longest road trip of the season, the Buffs won't leave the state for their next four games. They open at home against Massachusetts on Saturday (noon, Pac-12 Mountain), travel to Denver on Saturday, Sept. 19 to play Colorado State (5 p.m., CBS Sports Network), then play their final non-conference game in Folsom Field against Nicholls State on Saturday, Sept. 26 (kickoff TBA) before launching their Pac-12 schedule against Oregon on Saturday, Oct. 3 (kickoff TBA) at Folsom.

Asked about the importance of a "good showing" against UMass, MacIntyre indicated the "how" and "how much" of a victory against the Minutemen were secondary.

"All we need to do is win," he said. "I'll take a win anytime, and to me that's a good showing. We need to go win football games."

KICKING GAME CRITIQUE: The Buffs broke in a new punter (Alex Kinney), kicker (Diego Gonzalez), holder (Colin Johnson) and kickoff specialist (Chris Graham) against the Rainbow Warriors.

Despite Kinney's first college punt being blocked -- MacIntyre called the play "disastrous" – the kicking game appeared good overall. Gonzalez hit two 40-yard field goals and both PAT attempts, Graham kicked off five times (Hawai'i's average starting spot was its 25-yard line) and Kinney recovered nicely from his blocked debut punt.

MacIntyre called the blocked punt "a gigantic miscommunication glitch that we hadn't had happen like that, period. I thought it was good the way our punter kind of recovered from it. His first punt in college and it gets blocked. It's shocking to you if you are an 18-year-old kid. He did some good things and he'll punt better this week; he has a very powerful leg."

The Buffs' coverage, MacIntyre said, was "excellent . . . they didn't really have any room, they fumbled a couple and we were right there. I thought they did a good job on that. The punt block was disastrous, is the best way to put it; but everything else on the kicking game, if that wouldn't have happened, you would have said we had a pretty excellent kicking game, except one of his punts was a little bit short. But after you get it blocked, I can kind of understand that for a young kid. That won't happen to him again."

FRANKE(LY) SPEAKING: Redshirt freshman defensive lineman Jase Franke turned his debut against the Rainbow Warriors into an eye-opener for the defensive staff.

Of his first college game experience, Franke said, "Oh, man, it was great, really fun. Before this game, I haven't played since high school." He called last season's redshirt experience beneficial, but added, "It wasn't a lot of fun."

Franke's first-game approach was to keep it simple: "You just can't overthink it. I went in there and knew that if played my assignments that I'd have a good game and that the plays would come to me."

And they did. Only playing 23 snaps, the 6-3, 270-pounder from Camarillo, Calif., registered four unassisted tackles, a quarterback sack, and forced a fumble.

NOTEWORTHY: The Buffs used two timeouts early in the third quarter that may or may not have hurt them later. Liufau said lessons already have been learned by "looking back at the film, just being aware of the situation; down-and-distance, personnel exchanges. I think those things go hand-in-hand with how we used our timeouts. Being aware of the situation is key right there for saving those timeouts." . . . . Liufau ran 18 times for 103 yards (81 minus sack yardage) in the opener. Does MacIntyre want his No. 1 QB running that much in the future? "No, because some of them were scrambles that he had to get out of the way of the rush," he said. But, MacIntyre added that Liufau's running ability in the opener will make defenses take notice. "That helps us," he said. "It helps you in the red zone because if they widen out and try to double your wide receivers and that type of thing, he's able to run it in so that will eliminate them being able to do that as much. No, I don't want him to run as much, but I am glad he can run."

Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU