Woelk: Buffs Do What Good Teams Do — Overcome Mistakes To Win

BOULDER — Twelve penalties, four turnovers, four quarterback sacks allowed and a host of other mistakes that didn't show up in the final statistics is not a recipe for success.

But somehow, someway, the No. 21 (AP) Colorado Buffaloes found a way to overcome all those issues and win a game Thursday night, grinding out a 20-10 win over UCLA.

That's what good teams do — and despite all the troubles the Buffs caused for themselves Thursday night at Folsom Field, the bottom line is this: the Buffs are now 7-2 overall and leading the Pac-12 South with a 5-1 record.

Those are the only numbers that truly count, the only numbers that will carry over into next week when Mike MacIntyre's Buffs head to Arizona to continue their quest for a goal not many folks thought possible when the season began. That, of course, is to play for a Pac-12 championship, something that is now very much within the realm of possibility.

On this night, the Buffs did what they had to do against a talented if sometimes under-performing UCLA team. They got just enough from their offense, another spectacular defensive effort and some big special teams plays that combined to be enough to make the difference.

It definitely was not pretty. Nobody's sending tape of this game to anybody's hall of fame. The Buffs shot themselves in the foot all night, seemingly determined to make life as difficult on themselves as possible — and they succeeded in that regard.

But unlike past years, those self-inflicted wounds weren't fatal — and that's the difference in this team and previous versions of the Buffs. This team is good enough and resilient enough to overcome its mistakes.

Not that MacIntyre was happy with Thursday night's performance. Far from it. While MacIntyre is never going to turn down a win — particularly a Pac-12 victory — MacIntyre also saw something in his team he hadn't seen before. He saw what he termed a "selfish" attitude, a tendency to commit silly penalties that cost the Buffs in a big way.

If you weren't keeping score at home, the final tally was this: of the 12 penalties called on CU, four were unsportsmanlike conduct flags and four were personal fouls, the big reason behind 128 total yards of yellow. The flags killed some CU drives, turned some potential touchdowns into field goals on others, and also kept some UCLA drives alive.

It's a laundry list MacIntyre doesn't plan on seeing again the rest of the season.

"We'll definitely get that corrected," MacIntyre said. "We will not do that again."

MacIntyre's ire is understandable. While the penalties didn't cost the Buffs the game in this instance, they might not be so lucky in a repeat performance. In a season when every win is growing almost exponentially in importance, thus will every mistake be equally magnified. The Buffs simply can't afford another game like this, not if they want to play for a title. While the Buffs did what good teams do, good teams also don't make those kinds of performances a habit.

They make sure they are instead an aberration.

"You've got to be able to control yourself," MacIntyre said. "We're going to make sure that does not happen again."

But while MacIntyre might have been disappointed in the particulars, he still couldn't be unhappy with the final result. This was exactly the type of game the Buffs would have lost last year, the kind of game in which they would do some good things but not enough to win.

That is no longer the Buffs' identity. Now, MacIntyre's team has the ability to overcome some mistakes. The team that once had a razor-thin margin for error has improved to the point that it can produce enough big plays to make up for some self-inflicted miscues.

"We found a way to win," MacIntyre allowed. "You're going to have a game like that every once in awhile. I want our team to enjoy the win, but we have a lot to correct."

Not that the Buffs didn't do some good things against the Bruins. For the second game in a row, CU's defense played with its back to the wall all night — and never gave in. The Bruins, who scored 45 points against Utah in their last outing, managed just one touchdown and a field goal while finishing with only 210 yards total offense — half their season average.

The Buffs have now yielded just two touchdowns in their last three Pac-12 games and have held their last two opponents to a combined 15 points. They are, quite simply, playing defense at a championship level.

"It's a good feeling to play defense like that," said safety Tedric Thompson, who was credited with five tackles and a pair of pass breakups, including a bruising hit on the goal line that halted a possible touchdown pass. "You have to give credit to our coaching staff and the guys. We never get down on ourselves. We're a real brotherhood. The way we keep fighting and the way we keep believing in ourselves, it's a credit to everyone."

Indeed, the defense provide an across-the-board effort. Linebacker Kenneth Olugbode had four tackles and an interception. Addison Gillam had five tackles, Christian Shaver and Chidobe Awuzie both came up with big sacks, and the Buffs forced five UCLA three-and-outs.

And, while the offense struggled, the Buffs still produced just enough to make the difference. Buffs quarterback Sefo Liufau, under pressure all night long, threw two interceptions and lost a fumble — but still managed to throw for 160 yards and make plays when absolutely necessary. His throw to Phillip Lindsay with a defender literally draped on his back in the third quarter kept a scoring drive alive and helped produce a go-ahead field goal, and he also ran for 58 yards.

Lindsay, meanwhile, continued to be the Buffs' most versatile weapon. The junior running back ran for 73 yards and also caught 11 passes for 76 yards — the most receptions by a running back in CU history.

"We're not worried about the offense," Thompson said. "They've had our backs in a lot of games. I expect them to have a great game at Arizona."

The Buffs also delivered on the special teams end, most notably Isaiah Oliver's 68-yard punt return for a touchdown, the first for the Buffs in 11 years. It was a perfectly executed return and it came at the perfect time, giving CU a 20-10 lead and delivering the death knell to any hopes of a comeback the Bruins still harbored late in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, the Buffs also got a blocked field goal from Awuzie — a huge play that prevented UCLA from extending its lead to 13-7 in the second quarter — and CU kicker Chris Graham was 2-for-3 on field goal tries.

Perfect? Far from it. The Buffs made mistakes and made them at crucial moments, stopping themselves and helping the Bruins. It didn't help that starting right tackle Sam Kronshage went out early with a shoulder injury, or that his replacement, Aaron Haigler, had just recently returned from an ankle injury. Neither did it help that outside linebacker Jimmie Gilbert went out early because of a targeting penalty.

But the fact that the Buffs overcame those bad breaks and mistakes, the fact that they still came away with a win is the biggest story of the night.

Quite simply, the Buffs didn't play their best and still won. It's not something they should count on getting away with again — but today, they are 7-2 overall, atop the Pac-12 South with a 5-1 mark and nationally ranked.

Three-fourths of the way through the regular season, that's not a bad place.

Rather, it's right where you'd expect a good team to be.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu