Colorado University Athletics
Buffs Know They Still Have To Prove They Belong
July 26, 2017 | Football, Neill Woelk
LOS ANGELES — One-year wonder or here to stay?
The Colorado Buffaloes, it seems, have more proving to do in order to convince folks they belong in the upper echelon of the Pac-12.
Wednesday morning, CU head coach Mike MacIntyre, running back Phillip Lindsay and linebacker Derek McCartney took the stage at the annual Pac-12 Media Days. The Buffs — the defending Pac-12 South champs — awakened to find they'd been picked fourth in the division this year, then spent the morning answering questions that more often than not centered around a central theme:
Can the Buffs continue along the same road they traveled last year?
"We have a lot to prove," allowed MacIntyre. "We're still a team that people don't believe in, and we'd like for people to believe in us. The only way you do that is to put back-to-back things together. That's what we plan on doing. What we want to do is be in the Pac-12 Championship game and not get our brains beat in like we did last year. We'd like to finish it better."
This year's media poll was by no means a surprise, at least in terms of the teams picked to win the division. Defending conference champ Washington was picked to win the North; USC was tabbed to win the South, with the Trojans also the pick to win the league title.
Picked to follow USC in the South were Utah, UCLA, Colorado, Arizona State and Arizona. Predicted to follow Washington in the North were Stanford, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State and Cal.
Since the conference expanded to 12 teams in 2011, nobody has repeated as the South champ. Utah, meanwhile, is the only team in the division yet to win a division title.
Still, being selected to finish in the bottom half of the division might still be seen as a slap in the face to the Buffs — if they worried about such things.
But for a team that has been picked to finish last in the South every year prior to this one, such a prediction raised only a shrug of the shoulders from CU's players.
"I don't look at that stuff," Lindsay said emphatically. "A lot of our team doesn't look at it. It really doesn't matter. It's why it's called preseason polls, because you have to play the football games to find out what it's about. … We were picked last last year. Does it matter? No. We were in the Pac-12 championship and that's where we want to go again."
It's no secret why the Buffs are predicted to take a significant step back this season. CU lost its starting quarterback and starting center, along with eight starters on defense, including four players selected in the NFL Draft. On the sidelines, Colorado will also have three new defensive assistants, including defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot.
But when asked, "What makes you feel that you guys have the ability to start making people believers?" MacIntyre was prepared.
"It's all about players," MacIntyre said. "Players make plays, players win games. We just coach. But the players set the standard and the culture. … We have a lot of good leaders coming back and a lot of good football players coming back, so I feel like we don't have to rebuild. We can reload."
Still, while there seems to be a question as to whether the Buffs can put together back-to-back solid seasons, the overall attention paid to Colorado was significantly different than years past.
A year ago, MacIntyre and CU's players attracted a handful of media members. This year, the crowds around each in their individual Q&A sessions were much more substantial, a sign that last year's Pac-12 South title run and top-20 finish has at least raised the curiosity level surrounding the program.
"As a program, they're no doubt further ahead than where they were last year," said Chad Brown, the former Buff and NFL linebacker who now serves as an analyst for several networks. "That being said, everyone in their program got to see Washington and Oklahoma State at the end of last year and see where those teams are as a program. Now they get to ask themselves: how do we get to that level as a program?"
Glenn Parker, another former NFL player now serving as a Pac-12 Networks analyst, saw the Buffs on several occasions last year.
"I don't think they're a one-year aberration," Parker said. "The question now is can they remain healthy and can they replace the losses they've had? The real question is, five years from now are we talking that they've had consistent win totals of above seven? Have they constantly been there? Then they've turned the corner. This is a very competitive Pac-12, and you can go down to a three-win season really fast. To me, that is the next step for Colorado in the long game."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
