Buffs Say They Will Bounce Back From Adversity
October 29, 2018 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Five games into the season, the Colorado Buffaloes were unbeaten, nationally ranked and flying high. They had rallied from third-quarter deficits three different times to produce wins, and each week the Buffs spoke of the "brotherhood" on the team that gave them the ability to stick together in moments of adversity.
Three weeks later, the adversity level has reached new proportions with three straight losses.
Now, the 5-3 Buffs (2-3 Pac-12) have a chance to bounce back from that adversity — and the chance to write the next chapter of their season begins Friday when they travel to Arizona  (3-3, 4-5) for an 8:30 p.m. meeting with the Wildcats.
"This is where you find out if you really do have that brotherhood," senior safety and team captain Nick Fisher said after Monday morning's practice. "Everything's good when it's 5-0. You let things slide, people are showing up late, maybe not doing things right. Then when you lose a couple everyone's kind of hot, going at each other ... this is really when you find out if we're really going to stick together."
While last weekend's stunning 41-34 overtime loss to Oregon State is still fresh on everyone's mind, the Buffs know they can't spend the week thinking about what might have been. With four games remaining, they still have the chance to carve out a successful season.
It's why the Buffs spent part of Sunday and Monday morning discussing how to move forward.
"You don't want anything unsaid," Fisher said. "... You want something to be said. You don't want to go into this week, everyone walking on eggshells. You want to get everyone's head right. Let them know — three losses sucks, back to back to back. It's heart wrenching. … It's hard to let one go like that. But it's everything to let them know we have more games to play and we can still be where we want to be."
While a Friday night game tightens the preparation schedule, it also affords the Buffs a chance to begin concentrating on the next game a little sooner. That, head coach Mike MacIntyre, isn't a bad thing.
"It was a tough loss," MacIntyre said. "You can second-guess a million different things. That's what you've got to show it to them on film. You have to talk to them as players and coaches. Everybody has to 'fess up to different things they made mistakes on, both player-wise and coaching-wise. Â Then you have to move on to Arizona and get ready and focus for them."
The Wildcats will likely be full of confidence when the Buffs arrive. After dropping a narrow loss to UCLA two weeks ago, Arizona rallied to put together its best performance of the year Saturday, a 44-15 drubbing of No. 19 Oregon. They will see the game as an opportunity to put together back-to-back wins and stay within striking range of the Pac-12 lead, as well as move one game closer to bowl eligibility.
For the Buffs, it will simply be a chance to end a three-game skid.
"We had a talk earlier, I think that put everyone's heads on straight," Fisher said. "Today was good. You could see it in everyone's eyes. We want to play ball and show that what we showed these last three games, we can do better than that."
INJURY WOES: The Buffs entered last week's game already hampered in the secondary, with starting corner Chris Miller out for the season and another starting DB, Delrick Abrams Jr., having missed the previous week with an injury.
By game's end, the Buffs has pushed Abrams back into action while losing starting safety Evan Worthington to a concussion and backup safety Kyle Trego to a targeting call.
It meant the first significant playing time of the year for safety Derrion Rakestraw, a converted wide receiver who played 32 snaps, as well as some time for Aaron Maddox.
Meanwhile, at corner, Abrams came in and played 31 snaps, Dante Wigley played 66 and Trey Udoffia played all 99 defensive snaps. Each of them had tough moments, as Beavers backup quarterback Jake Luton threw for 310 yards and three touchdowns in the second half.
"We've struggled out there," MacIntyre said. "Just haven't played as good as we'd like to play. … We'll keep moving people around, keep trying to find the right guys who can make plays out there and keep trying to help them. But sometimes you get isolated out there and you have to use your eyes right, you have to make plays on the ball, you have to win one-on-one battles. Kind of like one-on-one basketball — you have to stop them from scoring sometimes. We haven't done as good a job of that as we would like."
Worthington is going through concussion protocol and his availability won't be known until later in the week. Trego will miss the first half of Friday's game as a result of the targeting call, meaning Rakestraw or Maddox could get a starting nod alongside Nick Fisher.
At the corners, Abrams came out healthy, and will likely play with either Udoffia or Wigley.
Also playing all 99 defensive snaps in the game were Fisher and Rick Gamboa, while linebacker Drew Lewis was in for 93.
BUFFS BITS: MacIntyre announced Monday that tight end Chris Bounds is taking a leave of absence for personal reasons. Brady Russell will continue to get more time in Bounds' absence, and it could mean time for Darrion Jones. … Running back Beau Bisharat suffered a rib injury and is being evaluated. … Wide receiver Laviska Shenault Jr. is still day-to-day with a toe injury.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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