Woelk: Eight Games In, Buffs Still Have More Questions Than Answers
October 22, 2017 | Football, Neill Woelk
PULLMAN, Wash. — Two-thirds of the way through the season, the Colorado Buffaloes have far more questions than answers — and it stretches far beyond who will start at quarterback next Saturday against Cal.
That, of course, will be the main topic of conversation next week as the 4-4 Buffs (1-4 Pac-12) try to rebound from a 28-0 loss at Washington State on a cold, windy evening on the Palouse. Buffs starter Steven Montez suffered through his worst start yet, enduring a 4-for-13, 21-yard first half that resulted in his benching. Redshirt freshman Sam Noyer came on in the second half and had a marginally better effort — 7-for-18 for 53 yards — but still not enough to get the Buffs into the end zone, resulting in CU's first shutout loss since a 48-0 loss to Stanford in 2012.
It was enough to prompt head coach Mike MacIntyre to announce after the game that he was throwing the competition open. Not happy with either quarterback's performance, MacIntyre said he would give both a chance to win the job next week in practice.
"We'll see what happens this week," MacIntyre said. "Who plays best this week and who plays best in the game. If they're not playing well, I'll pull the guy and put the other guy in. We've got to have more consistency on offense if we're going to win any more Pac-12 games."
But these Buffs need a reboot at more than one position. What's at stake down the final four games of the season is how this team — players and coaches — want the 2017 team to be remembered.
Will they be the team that couldn't maintain the momentum of 2016? Or the team that bounced back, showed some resilience and carved some success out of the 2017 home stretch?
The latter certainly won't be easy. Next week's Homecoming affair will bring a hungry Cal team to Boulder. Then comes a road game against a rejuvenated Arizona State squad, followed by a home game with USC and the regular season finale at Utah.
"We can beat everybody we have left to play, there's no doubt about it," MacIntyre said. "And we could lose to every one of them. We have to find a way to get it done."
It's no doubt been a frustrating year from top to bottom. An offense that was expected to be among the Pac-12's best has struggled to find any semblance of consistency. While quarterback play certainly hasn't met expectations, the Buffs have also struggled up front and out wide.
Meanwhile, the defense has been equally inconsistent on a game-to-game basis. Colorado played well enough defensively Saturday night to keep the Buffs in the game well into the third quarter. But even on that side of the ball, CU defenders dropped what could have been two interception returns for scores.
It's been the story far too often this year. The Buffs have not made plays that make the difference on both sides of the ball. In some instances it has been the offense; in others the defense.
But overall, it has been a team effort.
Now, Colorado has four games remaining to find the answers, and the solutions won't come easily. Luck — good and bad — has a way of manifesting itself into more of the same. The Buffs have been the recipients of some bad breaks, but have inflicted just as many wounds upon themselves.
If they are going to change their luck, they have to stop the self-inflicted damage as well.
"Everybody needs to look at themselves in the mirror and man up," Buffs running back Phillip Lindsay said. "We're not out. We're not done. We can still do some good things, go to a bowl game and have some success. But everybody has to come together as one. We have to play an all-around good game. Right now when the offense is doing good, the defense is struggling. When the defense is going good, the offense isn't going anywhere. We're going to keep having things like this until we all come together and decide not to take it anymore."
But this will be more than just a test of how Buffs players respond. This will also be a test for CU's coaches, who have expressed a firm belief in the talent on this team since the season began. Somehow, someway, they will have to find a way to recreate the spark and chemistry that made such a difference just one year ago.
Whether that's possible, no one knows.
We do, however, know this: there is still history to be written for the 2017 Buffs. What the final verdict will say will come down to far more than just one position, one player or one coach.
Everybody in the CU locker room will have a hand in writing it.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
