In around two hours, Ralphie the Buffalo will lead the CU Buffs onto Folsom Field as they take the field against the UMass Minutemen. Last year the Minutemen held an 11 point lead in the second half before the Buffs rallied to a three point victory at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
It was one of only two victories for the Buffs in 2014. The other was against Hawaii, who got their revenge last week as the Buffs fell 28-20 against the Rainbow Warriors.
The Buffs came into the season brimming with confidence and spoke openly about a bowl game at the end of the season. A month's worth of miscues (or, as head coach Mike MacIntyre put it, "shooting themselves in the foot, the leg, the head") doomed the Buffs to their 9th straight loss despite a strong effort from the revitalized defense under Jim Leavitt.
The Buffs enter this game knowing that any loss before the beginning of Pac-12 play pretty much dooms this team to yet another losing year. No bowl, no nothing. That means the Buffs have to hold serve against the Minutemen, CSU next week, and then a school called Nicholls before taking on the Pac-12. To paraphrase Stuart Whitehair over at "CU at the Game" -- Who the hell is Nicholls?
The Buffs are steadfastly claiming that they have not lost their confidence. That is good. Unfortunately, the head coach and offensive coordinator (and the Special Teams guy) all seem to think there was nothing wrong last week. They seem to be in some serious denial.
MacIntyre claims that Hawaii was able to put "a little bit of pressure" on quarterback Sefo Liufau. The reality? Four sacks, numerous knockdowns, little time to throw, and unplanned scrambles because the blocking schemes were a mess. If that only qualifies as "a little bit" most fans shudder to think what it will be like when the Buffs play a top defensive team.
OC Brian Lindgren sees no problem with the Buffs play calling last week, despite the fact that the team averaged only 4 yards a play both running and passing the ball. That's pretty scary when you throw the ball 40 times and only get 159 yards for the effort. Lindgren also completely abandoned the running game after starting to dominate on the ground. The offense also wasted two of three timeouts for no apparent reason, and as the game was winding down, seemed completely oblivious to the fact the clock was running. Sure, the refs botched the last play, but that was to be expected because they were pretty awful all day.
Fans all hope that special teams doesn't do all it can to lose the game. To take a quote from the movie "The Big Chill" (they were watching the Michigan game and making many mistakes) -- "Come on, Bo (Schembechler) , teach 'em the basics!" Just insert Toby (Neinas) for Bo.
Expect the defense to take it to Mass. They know that they might be ones needing to score points if Lindgren and Neinas put the Buffs in a hole again. Mike MacIntyre does not usually panic, but if the Buffs come up short today he will need to start working on his resume.
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