Woelk: Still With Plenty To Prove, Buffs Turn Attention To Stanford

BOULDER — Late Saturday night, as the Colorado Buffaloes were celebrating a 40-16 win over Arizona State, CU quarterback Sefo Liufau was asked about the possibility of the Buffs returning to the nation's top 25.

Liufau shrugged. "It's just a number," he said.

Indeed, while plenty of CU players no doubt took a peek Sunday morning to see whether they'd made a return to the national rankings, they likely did so more out of curiosity than anything else.

The results were by no means surprising. Colorado checked in with the 26th most points in both polls, one step away from the top 25 in the Associated Press and USA Today/coaches rankings.

That's not bad. Nice recognition, nice acknowledgement of what they've accomplished thus far — but as the Buffs noted a couple of weeks ago after breaking the top 25 barrier, nobody awards points for your next game for being ranked.

This isn't a team looking for validation in the midseason popularity contests. This is a team that knows all the window dressing of building a successful year — rankings, bowl projections and the like — is merely part of the process, a byproduct of addressing the business at hand.

Go 1-0 every week and the rest will take care of itself.

Next on their agenda: Saturday's 1 p.m. game at Stanford (Pac-12 Networks).

"As far as being ranked, we don't really think about that too much," said outside linebacker Jimmie Gilbert, who terrorized ASU quarterback Manny Wilkins all night. "Us being ranked won't affect how we play or who we play. We just go into our game showing our opponent respect and preparing for them like we prepare for every other team and try to play Colorado football when we step on the field."

Gilbert and Liufau echoed a sentiment that hung thick in the Colorado locker room. Even as players and coaches celebrated an important win, the latest in what they truly believe will be a season of such benchmark victories, they also reminded themselves and anyone within earshot that their job is far from complete.

Truth is, the 5-2 Buffs know they have plenty left to prove. Yes, they are 3-1 and tied for the Pac-12 South lead. They've now matched the highest win total by a CU team since 2010, and it's the most victories by a Mike MacIntyre-coached team since he arrived — and there are five regular season games remaining. One more win will mean bowl eligibility as well as be the most wins by a CU team since 2007.

But this is still a team with a chip on its shoulder. After too many years of residing in the Pac-12 basement, too many years of coming out on the short end of some long days, these Buffs aren't ready to look outside for validation or respect.

They've done quite well this year building it from within, and it's a path they'll likely choose to continue to follow. While they've earned some respect from their peers, they know full well that the newfound recognition can disappear just as quickly with another slip.

So, they'll move forward with the same goal, the same tenacity, the same work ethic they've followed all year: report to work on Monday and prepare to go 1-0 this week. Win or lose, it's been one snap and clear, one game and clear.

"We have to go out there each week and prove ourselves," Liufau said. "The win that we had (Saturday) has no effect on next week in terms of points or yards or anything. We can enjoy the win, but when it comes to Monday, it's time to lock it back in and go out there and prove ourselves to again to everybody."

STANFORD QUICK LOOK: The 4-2 Cardinal (2-2 Pac-12) are coming off a 17-10 win over Notre Dame. Star running back Christian McCaffrey did not play in the game because of an unspecified injury, but his replacement, Bryce Love, carried 23 times for 129 yards.

Stanford has beaten CU in their last five meetings, but the Cardinal have uncharacteristically struggled this season. After opening the year ranked No. 8, Stanford won its first three before losing back-to-back games to Washington and Washington State to fall out of the rankings. The Cardinal has scored just one offensive touchdown in each of its last three games, but Stanford does own wins over USC and UCLA.

LIUFAU NUMBERS: The CU senior is now 3-1 as a starter this season. His 265-yard passing, 38-yard rushing night against the Sun Devils was the 11th 300-yard total offense game of his career and he's now thrown 123 straight passes without an interception. That's the third-longest such streak in CU history and the third 100-plus streak of Liufau's career.

DOMINANT DEFENSE: Seven games into the season, the Buffs are now third in the Pac-12 in scoring defense (giving up just 20 points per game) and first in total defense, yielding just 314.1 yards per game. Colorado finished last season giving up 416.9 yards and 27.5 points per game.

The Buffs are also leading the Pac-12 in third-down conversion defense. Thus far this year, opponents have converted just 33 of 109 third-down tries (30.3 percent). That includes holding ASU to just 3-of-18 on Saturday. Colorado also forced eight three-and-outs from the Sun Devils.

ROLLING ON THE GROUND: Colorado's dominance in the ground game against the Sun Devils no doubt turned heads around the conference. The Buffs rang up 315 yards on the ground — 219 from Phillip Lindsay — against a team that had been giving up less than 90 per game.

It was the 62nd time in CU history the Buffs have run for at least 200 and passed for at least 200 in the same game. They're 53-9 in those games, including 5-0 this year.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu