There was a lot of hand wringing among the Buff faithful last week when most assumed that MacIntyre's "game time" decision about Liufau and his injured ankle was in reality an admission that Sefo would be out for the game. At Oregon.
Flash back to two years ago, when an injured Sefo Liufau was unable to start. Jordan Gehrke was thrown to the wolves against a #3 Oregon team that would go on to play in the national championship game. Oregon, led by Heisman winner Marcus Mariota and Royce Freeman, put almost 600 yards of offense on the Buffs, while holding CU to 240. The final score was 44-10, but the game was not really that close. Oregon took their foot off the pedal, emptied the bench, and did not score in the 4th.
With the Buffs heading off to Autzen Stadium with Sefo injured again, CU fans were feeling deja vu all over again. An ill-prepared Montez had finished the game at Michigan after Liufau's injury with a big zero under the number of completed passes as the Wolverines took over the game in the second half. The young man from El Paso truly got a baptism by fire in Ann Arbor.
Many commenters on sites such as this were ready to concede the game to Oregon and hope for better health from Sefo down the road. But a funny thing happened for Montez with the Big House experience and a week to work with the #1 offense in practice.
Montez stepped up and became "The Man" for Colorado.
In his first college start, against a team that was only 16 games removed from the national championship game, Montez became the first QB in Colorado history to throw for 300 yards while also running for more than 100. Darian Hagan never did it. Neither did Kordell Stewart or Sefo Liufau. Montez is now in the Colorado record books after one start.
Not all the credit goes to Montez however. He got a lot of help. Sefo was there before and after each drive to calm the redshirt freshman and give advice and words of encouragement. Also on the sidelines to help was co-OC Darrin Chiaverini.
But the biggest kudos need to go to the much maligned Brian Lindgen.
Co-OC Lindgren is also the quarterbacks coach. He got Montez ready for the game during practice and was in his ear all during the game. Every time Montez came back to the bench, he was soon on the headset talking to Lindgren up in the booth.
Moving forward in Pac-12 play, the Buffs face 4 teams in the next five weeks that they have never beaten (0-14) since joining the conference. They've been outscored in those games 623-279. Of course, if the win at Oregon proved anything it's that past history does not necessarily predict future performance. Thank goodness.
One can't imagine this Colorado team getting complacent now after finally getting a breakthrough win. If anything, these Buffs will probably work even harder now that they've gotten a taste of a big win over a good team.
Whatever happens over the remainder of the season, Colorado fans can be sure that the Buffs will be in good hands at quarterback. Both Sefo Liufau and Steven Montez are tough as nails and can quarterback the Buffs to lots of yards and enough points to win against anyone in the country.
With the best CU defensive team in a decade, this Colorado team has the chance to not only make a bowl game, but to also contend for a conference title. It bodes well that even right after the big win in Eugene, the players were ready to put the game behind them and get ready to go 1-0 next week too. And the next week, and the next week...
Go Buffs!
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