Colorado University Athletics
Photo by: Maggie Still
Woelk: Missed Opportunities Doom Buffs
October 01, 2017 | Football, Neill Woelk
PASADENA, Calif. — Missed opportunities.
Still with a razor-thin margin for error, Mike MacIntyre's Colorado Buffaloes made too many mistakes Saturday night to survive what everyone figured would be a down-to-the-wire game with UCLA.
The game definitely followed form, but it was the Bruins made plays when it most mattered.
Not that the Buffs didn't make plays. Colorado's defense made UCLA star quarterback Josh Rosen work for every yard, holding the Bruins to 27 points — 18 under their season average. CU's offense rushed for 191 yards and threw for 243. Colorado won the turnover battle, 1-0, getting an interception from Evan Worthington.
But at the most crucial junctures, the Buffs came up short. Dropped passes, penalties that nullified touchdowns, missed tackles, fake field goals that came up empty — all contributed to an evening that left the Buffs 3-2 overall and 0-2 in Pac-12 play.
Now, the obvious question for a team that began the season with a very public eye on a Pac-12 South title is simple: with seven conference games remaining, are their backs to the wall?
"Every game is back-to-the-wall time," said quarterback Steven Montez, who threw for 243 yards and a touchdown and was also CU's leading rusher with 108 yards on 15 carries. "If you can't treat it like that, you shouldn't be playing. We're going to go back to work, fix our mistakes and get ready for Arizona. They brought us here to win football games."
It's not as if the Buffs didn't have their chances. Colorado made five trips into the UCLA red zone, but finished with only one touchdown and three field goals to show for their efforts.
"That's on me — it's my team," Montez said. "I have to figure out how to make plays when we get down there. I thought our line blocked great. Phillip (Lindsay) ran hard all night long. When we get down that close, we have to score touchdowns."
Indeed — and that is what has been most surprising about the Buffs to this point. An offense that CU coaches and players believed would be a scoring machine has instead struggled to reach the end zone at crucial times. The yards are there but the points are not.
"We had our opportunities to score more points," MacIntyre said. "We've got to be able to not make those mistakes. We got in the end zone and had it called back (a Montez touchdown run nullified by a questionable holding call). We had a catch in the end zone we didn't make. … But we'll fix those things. This team is going to win a lot of ballgames."
What the Buffs can't afford to do at this point is hit the panic button. With seven games still ahead, there is indeed time to turn the tide in their favor, beginning with next week's home game against Arizona.
But what they also can't do is expect that tide to turn simply by talking about it. Right now, this is a team that continues to show great potential at times — and then becomes its own worst enemy one possession later.
Maybe more than anything, this team could take a lesson from the 2016 Buffs. Good teams make their own breaks. Good teams take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves.
Most of all, good teams finish — and if there's one overarching element missing from this year's Buffs at this point, it is an inability to finish, whether it be in the red zone or on defense when a stop is absolutely necessary.
"You have to finish if you're going to win games," Montez said. "You can't make the mistakes that we make and expect to win. Not when the game's on the line."
Now, we'll see what these Buffs have in their tank. There is still time to produce a very good season — actually, still time to finagle their way back into the Pac-12 South contender picture.
"We're going to be fine," Lindsay said. "Last year, we had a lot of the bounces go our way. Now, we have to make those bounces go our way again. We've got a lot of big games coming up. We'll get some bounces our way."
Lindsay is right. There is still time for the Buffs to have an impact season.
But it has to start soon — as in next week.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
Â
Still with a razor-thin margin for error, Mike MacIntyre's Colorado Buffaloes made too many mistakes Saturday night to survive what everyone figured would be a down-to-the-wire game with UCLA.
The game definitely followed form, but it was the Bruins made plays when it most mattered.
Not that the Buffs didn't make plays. Colorado's defense made UCLA star quarterback Josh Rosen work for every yard, holding the Bruins to 27 points — 18 under their season average. CU's offense rushed for 191 yards and threw for 243. Colorado won the turnover battle, 1-0, getting an interception from Evan Worthington.
But at the most crucial junctures, the Buffs came up short. Dropped passes, penalties that nullified touchdowns, missed tackles, fake field goals that came up empty — all contributed to an evening that left the Buffs 3-2 overall and 0-2 in Pac-12 play.
Now, the obvious question for a team that began the season with a very public eye on a Pac-12 South title is simple: with seven conference games remaining, are their backs to the wall?
"Every game is back-to-the-wall time," said quarterback Steven Montez, who threw for 243 yards and a touchdown and was also CU's leading rusher with 108 yards on 15 carries. "If you can't treat it like that, you shouldn't be playing. We're going to go back to work, fix our mistakes and get ready for Arizona. They brought us here to win football games."
It's not as if the Buffs didn't have their chances. Colorado made five trips into the UCLA red zone, but finished with only one touchdown and three field goals to show for their efforts.
"That's on me — it's my team," Montez said. "I have to figure out how to make plays when we get down there. I thought our line blocked great. Phillip (Lindsay) ran hard all night long. When we get down that close, we have to score touchdowns."
Indeed — and that is what has been most surprising about the Buffs to this point. An offense that CU coaches and players believed would be a scoring machine has instead struggled to reach the end zone at crucial times. The yards are there but the points are not.
"We had our opportunities to score more points," MacIntyre said. "We've got to be able to not make those mistakes. We got in the end zone and had it called back (a Montez touchdown run nullified by a questionable holding call). We had a catch in the end zone we didn't make. … But we'll fix those things. This team is going to win a lot of ballgames."
What the Buffs can't afford to do at this point is hit the panic button. With seven games still ahead, there is indeed time to turn the tide in their favor, beginning with next week's home game against Arizona.
But what they also can't do is expect that tide to turn simply by talking about it. Right now, this is a team that continues to show great potential at times — and then becomes its own worst enemy one possession later.
Maybe more than anything, this team could take a lesson from the 2016 Buffs. Good teams make their own breaks. Good teams take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves.
Most of all, good teams finish — and if there's one overarching element missing from this year's Buffs at this point, it is an inability to finish, whether it be in the red zone or on defense when a stop is absolutely necessary.
"You have to finish if you're going to win games," Montez said. "You can't make the mistakes that we make and expect to win. Not when the game's on the line."
Now, we'll see what these Buffs have in their tank. There is still time to produce a very good season — actually, still time to finagle their way back into the Pac-12 South contender picture.
"We're going to be fine," Lindsay said. "Last year, we had a lot of the bounces go our way. Now, we have to make those bounces go our way again. We've got a lot of big games coming up. We'll get some bounces our way."
Lindsay is right. There is still time for the Buffs to have an impact season.
But it has to start soon — as in next week.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
Â
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