The Colorado Buffaloes finally made it to a bowl game after 3287 days, and the rust of nine years certainly showed. The Buffs were manhandled in every facet of the game by Oklahoma State and left the Alamo Bowl field with a 38-8 thrashing by the Cowboys.
Looking back on the game, the result was not really surprising. The Buffs have certainly moved up in the world of college football, but they are not really a Top 10 caliber team just yet. That time is coming, but today is not that day.
They are most certainly a team in the lower part of the Top 25, and that is heads and shoulders higher than they have been in more than a decade. Over the past 10 or so years (before this season), even marginal teams have put a hurting on the Buffaloes. This year Colorado put a hurting on the poor and marginal teams.
Against teams that did not end up in pre-bowl Top 25, Colorado went 9-0 this year. The Buffs outscored those teams 362-154. That's an average of around 40-17.
Against teams that did end up in the pre-bowl Top 25, the Buffaloes won only one of five games. They were outscored by those teams 150-73. That's an average of 30-14.
It was a tale of two seasons for the Colorado Buffaloes. Against the unranked teams, it was the best of times. Against the ranked teams, however, it continues to be tough sledding.
Some will argue who to fault for the numerical discrepancies, but it's a team game. The offense scored almost 4 touchdowns less against the good teams. The defense gave up an extra 13 points each game.
This writer would point out that turnovers by the offense and special teams led to extra points given up by the Buffs. And some would add that poor execution by the offense often kept the D on the field for extended periods, leading to fatigue. Others might point out that the higher scores given up by the Buffs were after the D gave in to the futility of their task when the offense or special teams quickly destroyed good defensive work.
Football is a game of momentum and passion. Once a unit feels that their work is futile, adrenaline falls and they become a step slower. Sometimes that is all that is needed to give up a big play. And with each big play, the sense of futility gets stronger.
The goal of these Buffaloes going into spring ball should be to maintain their dominance of the lesser teams, and learn how to play well against the Top 25. This is not just on the players, but more pointedly to the coaches.
Colorado's turnaround this year was wholly unexpected by the rest of the country and Pac-12. The Buffs had been so bad for so long that nobody expected their play to be so good. As Pac-12 South champions this year, they better realize that every team in the conference will be gunning for them next season. They better be ready.
The Buffs know now that they can go bowling every year by beating the bad and marginal teams on their schedule. If they want to win championships and bowl games, however, they need to take the next step.
The offensive coordinators and play callers need to realize that good defensive teams and coordinators will shut them down if they are too predictable in their play calling. And they need to be able to adjust their play calling when the opposing defense is doing something specific (like stacking the box) to slow them down. The play-calling cannot rely only on what they WANT to do. The Buffs are not that good yet. They need to attack what the defense is doing, and you don't attack a stacked box by running up the middle.
Another year of working with strength guru Drew Wilson will help immensely. The Buffs did the pushing around this year in the majority of their games, and next year should be even better.
MacIntyre should continue to hone his staff so that all those coach of the year awards he earned will lead to even better days ahead for the Buffaloes.
2016 was an excellent step for Colorado. Beating the teams you should beat is the mark of a good football team. Bowls will be the result as long as they continue to do just that.
Fans are hoping the year has really stoked the hunger to excel for the team. They ended the season with two lopsided losses. They should not want it to happen again and be willing to work hard enough to ensure that it doesn't.
The guess here is that the culture has effectively changed, and that The Rise will continue next year. Go Buffs!
Friday, December 30, 2016
Thursday, December 29, 2016
It's Been 3287 Days Since the Colorado Buffaloes Last Played in a Bowl Game
Before today, the last time the CU Buffs played in a bowl game was way back on December 30, 2007. The Independence Bowl opponent that day was Alabama. Yes, that Alabama.
In 2007, both the Buffs and the Crimson Tide had what their fans called disappointing seasons. Each team entered the Independence Bowl following 6-6 seasons.
The Buffs started poorly, throwing an interception on their first offensive play. Alabama raced out to a 27-0 lead by early in the 2nd quarter before Colorado got their act together and made a game out of it. Unfortunately for the Buffs, the lead was too big to overcome and they lost by a final of 30-24.
Coincidentally, the Crimson Tide had played in the Independence Bowl the year before as well, where they lost to Oklahoma State, Colorado's opponent in today's Alamo Bowl.
After the game, Buffs fans were excited by how Colorado came back and looking forward to a bright future. Alas, twas not to be. The Buffs never won more than 5 games in a season over the next eight years, until breaking through in a big way this year to win 10 games.
We all know what happened to Alabama after barely holding on to beat the Buffs back in 2007... they have gone on to win FOUR national championships and are heavy favorites to win their 5th under Nick Saban this season.
"A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens most eloquently stated the differences in the two programs since that time.
The future looks very bright for the Colorado Buffaloes. The culture has changed for the better. The stands are full again. The university has world class facilities. Top recruits are hoping to come to Boulder. And football is fun again at Colorado.
The young men who made it happen should be in our good graces for as long as they live. The seniors going out this year came to Boulder at the worst time in the long and storied history of Colorado football. But they came determined to revive the program, and they achieved that goal against all odds.
The Buffaloes were picked to finish LAST in the Pac-12 South this year. Can't really blame the prognosticators, though, since that's where CU had been every year since joining the Pac-12. But the remarkable young men talked openly that their goal was to win the Pac-12 Championship.
Fans and media alike chuckled at the thought, and hoped that the Buffs would finally make it to a bowl game... ANY bowl game. But for the players, that goal was not high enough. They wanted to play in the Pac-12 title game and then they went out and EARNED it. It wasn't USC or UCLA or Utah or Arizona State representing the Pac-12 South, it was these Buffs.
And we couldn't be prouder. Go Buffs! Beat them Cowboys!
In 2007, both the Buffs and the Crimson Tide had what their fans called disappointing seasons. Each team entered the Independence Bowl following 6-6 seasons.
The Buffs started poorly, throwing an interception on their first offensive play. Alabama raced out to a 27-0 lead by early in the 2nd quarter before Colorado got their act together and made a game out of it. Unfortunately for the Buffs, the lead was too big to overcome and they lost by a final of 30-24.
Coincidentally, the Crimson Tide had played in the Independence Bowl the year before as well, where they lost to Oklahoma State, Colorado's opponent in today's Alamo Bowl.
After the game, Buffs fans were excited by how Colorado came back and looking forward to a bright future. Alas, twas not to be. The Buffs never won more than 5 games in a season over the next eight years, until breaking through in a big way this year to win 10 games.
We all know what happened to Alabama after barely holding on to beat the Buffs back in 2007... they have gone on to win FOUR national championships and are heavy favorites to win their 5th under Nick Saban this season.
"A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens most eloquently stated the differences in the two programs since that time.
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,All that changed this year as the Buffs put together a breakthrough year under National Coach of the Year Mike MacIntyre. They may not be back in Alabama's class just yet, but this year no team in the country (not including the NFL) appears to be in the same class as the Tide. The Buffs have made their way back to the Top 10 for the first time since the 2001 season.
we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."
The future looks very bright for the Colorado Buffaloes. The culture has changed for the better. The stands are full again. The university has world class facilities. Top recruits are hoping to come to Boulder. And football is fun again at Colorado.
The young men who made it happen should be in our good graces for as long as they live. The seniors going out this year came to Boulder at the worst time in the long and storied history of Colorado football. But they came determined to revive the program, and they achieved that goal against all odds.
The Buffaloes were picked to finish LAST in the Pac-12 South this year. Can't really blame the prognosticators, though, since that's where CU had been every year since joining the Pac-12. But the remarkable young men talked openly that their goal was to win the Pac-12 Championship.
Fans and media alike chuckled at the thought, and hoped that the Buffs would finally make it to a bowl game... ANY bowl game. But for the players, that goal was not high enough. They wanted to play in the Pac-12 title game and then they went out and EARNED it. It wasn't USC or UCLA or Utah or Arizona State representing the Pac-12 South, it was these Buffs.
And we couldn't be prouder. Go Buffs! Beat them Cowboys!
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Defensive Coordinator Extraodinaire Jim Leavitt Takes DC Job Under Oregon's New Head Coach Willie Taggart
The biggest fear of Colorado Buffs fans came to fruition today when it was announced that defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt had accepted a four year deal for the same position with the Oregon Ducks program.
The departure of Leavitt leaves Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre searching for a new defensive coordinator two weeks before Colorado's first bowl game in a decade.
Oregon fired Mark Helfrich following a 4-8 season, less than two years after playing for the national championship following the 2014 season. His replacement, Willie Taggart was hired by Oregon last week. Taggartt's first hire for his staff was Jim Leavitt.
Taggart was hired by Oregon after leading South Florida to a 10-2 record, the best in their history. Their football history is not long, however. They started their football program in the late 1990's under... Jim Leavitt.
Leavitt led the Bulls for four years at the Division I-AA level before the moved to the Division I level. By 2007, Leavitt led the Bulls into the polls, which topped at #2 in the country. It was the quickest any team had ever moved into a Top 10 ranked position following entrance into the top football level.
Leavitt was fired in 2010 after he was accused of striking a player. The school was later forced to pay Leavitt $2.75 Million for wrongful termination.
Leavitt was hired by Jim Harbaugh as linebackers coach for he San Francisco 49ers in 2011. During his time there, Leavitt coached two all pro linebackers and their stout defense led the 49ers to the Super Bowl. Leavitt and the other assistant coaches were released by the 49ers after Harbaugh left to coach at his alma mater, Michigan.
Jim Leavitt was hired by the University of Colorado in February of 2015. When he arrived, the Buffs were one of the worst defensive teams in the country.
In two seasons, he coached a remarkable turnaround that brought Colorado into the AP Top 10, aided substantially by a defense that was one of the best in the country this past season.
His efforts were nationally praised, and he was a finalist for the Broyles Award as the top assistant coach in the FBS. Although he lost out on the award, his work rebuilding a downtrodden defense caught the eyes of head coaches around the country.
Since he was only earning slightly more than $500,000 from Colorado, Leavitt was a prime target for schools willing to pay more. Early reports indicate that Leavitt's salary will more than double in Eugene, and may come close to tripling it by the end of his contract.
One of Taggart's closest friends is Jim Harbaugh (Taggart was best man at his wedding). Harbaugh is also a trusted advisor as a coach who went to the Super Bowl and is now the highest paid collegiate football coach.
Leavitt and Harbaugh both have proven themselves at the highest levels of football. Their work together, and Harbaugh's friendship with Taggart most certainly led to Leavitt's hiring.
Another possible impetus was that there was widespread suspicion that Mike MacIntyre was not the one who went after Leavitt in the first place, and that his hire at Colorado was at the strong urging of Athletic Director Rick George.
Many fans also spoke openly during Leavitt's tenure in Boulder that there was obvious friction between Mac and Leavitt. And it was pointed out many times that MacIntyre rarely, if ever, praised the work done by Leavitt.
Leavitt was loved in Boulder by fans. Many, including this writer, gave him much of the credit for Colorado's turnaround. It was well deserved praise, but none of it seemed to come from Mac.
As a manager for several decades, I can tell you that everyone wants to be appreciated by the person they are working for and with. Praise and honest appreciation are worth even more than money in many cases. They may have not been enough this time to keep a guy like Leavitt at Colorado, considering the size of the pay increase he will be getting. But leaving Boulder for more money AND appreciation was an easy choice.
Good luck to Jim Leavitt. He is an outstanding coach, and Oregon can expect great things from him in the future. I will miss watching him prowl the sidelines and the phenomenal defensive efforts he inspired.
And I will continue to follow him on twitter:
@CoachJimLeavitt
The departure of Leavitt leaves Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre searching for a new defensive coordinator two weeks before Colorado's first bowl game in a decade.
Oregon fired Mark Helfrich following a 4-8 season, less than two years after playing for the national championship following the 2014 season. His replacement, Willie Taggart was hired by Oregon last week. Taggartt's first hire for his staff was Jim Leavitt.
Taggart was hired by Oregon after leading South Florida to a 10-2 record, the best in their history. Their football history is not long, however. They started their football program in the late 1990's under... Jim Leavitt.
Leavitt led the Bulls for four years at the Division I-AA level before the moved to the Division I level. By 2007, Leavitt led the Bulls into the polls, which topped at #2 in the country. It was the quickest any team had ever moved into a Top 10 ranked position following entrance into the top football level.
Leavitt was fired in 2010 after he was accused of striking a player. The school was later forced to pay Leavitt $2.75 Million for wrongful termination.
Leavitt was hired by Jim Harbaugh as linebackers coach for he San Francisco 49ers in 2011. During his time there, Leavitt coached two all pro linebackers and their stout defense led the 49ers to the Super Bowl. Leavitt and the other assistant coaches were released by the 49ers after Harbaugh left to coach at his alma mater, Michigan.
Jim Leavitt was hired by the University of Colorado in February of 2015. When he arrived, the Buffs were one of the worst defensive teams in the country.
In two seasons, he coached a remarkable turnaround that brought Colorado into the AP Top 10, aided substantially by a defense that was one of the best in the country this past season.
His efforts were nationally praised, and he was a finalist for the Broyles Award as the top assistant coach in the FBS. Although he lost out on the award, his work rebuilding a downtrodden defense caught the eyes of head coaches around the country.
Since he was only earning slightly more than $500,000 from Colorado, Leavitt was a prime target for schools willing to pay more. Early reports indicate that Leavitt's salary will more than double in Eugene, and may come close to tripling it by the end of his contract.
One of Taggart's closest friends is Jim Harbaugh (Taggart was best man at his wedding). Harbaugh is also a trusted advisor as a coach who went to the Super Bowl and is now the highest paid collegiate football coach.
Leavitt and Harbaugh both have proven themselves at the highest levels of football. Their work together, and Harbaugh's friendship with Taggart most certainly led to Leavitt's hiring.
Another possible impetus was that there was widespread suspicion that Mike MacIntyre was not the one who went after Leavitt in the first place, and that his hire at Colorado was at the strong urging of Athletic Director Rick George.
Many fans also spoke openly during Leavitt's tenure in Boulder that there was obvious friction between Mac and Leavitt. And it was pointed out many times that MacIntyre rarely, if ever, praised the work done by Leavitt.
Leavitt was loved in Boulder by fans. Many, including this writer, gave him much of the credit for Colorado's turnaround. It was well deserved praise, but none of it seemed to come from Mac.
As a manager for several decades, I can tell you that everyone wants to be appreciated by the person they are working for and with. Praise and honest appreciation are worth even more than money in many cases. They may have not been enough this time to keep a guy like Leavitt at Colorado, considering the size of the pay increase he will be getting. But leaving Boulder for more money AND appreciation was an easy choice.
Good luck to Jim Leavitt. He is an outstanding coach, and Oregon can expect great things from him in the future. I will miss watching him prowl the sidelines and the phenomenal defensive efforts he inspired.
And I will continue to follow him on twitter:
@CoachJimLeavitt
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Rest In Peace Rashaan Salaam 1974-2016
- Rashaan Salaam -- October 8, 1974 - December 5, 2016
- 1994 Heisman Trophy Winner & Consensus All-American
- 4th Player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season
- Rushed for 3,057 yards on 486 carries for his Colorado career (6.29 yards per carry)
- 1st Round NFL draft pick (1995)
- NFC Rookie of the Year (Chicago Bears)
- Youngest player in NFL history to rush for 1000 yards in a season
Saturday, December 3, 2016
Colorado's Offensive Shortcomings Exposed in 41-10 Loss to Washington in Pac-12 Championship Game
Once again, a top-notch defensive coordinator exposed the weaknesses of Colorado's offensive play caller, Brian Lindgren. The Huskies also exposed that Colorado's head coach Mike MacIntyre and the QB coach (Lindgren) sort of melt down emotionally and intellectually when Sefo Liufau gets injured.
The Colorado Buffaloes are a good football team. That is a good thing for long-suffering CU fans and students. The foundation and culture has been built for the Buffs to remain a Top 25 team for years to come.
The key to this foundation of Top 10 play is that the Buffs have one of the best defensive coordinators in all of college football in Jim Leavitt. They also have an excellent defensive staff in Joe Tumpkin, Charles Clark, and Jim Jeffcoat. Make no mistake about it, the outstanding D is the reason the Buffs won 10 games this year.
The great parts of being a Top 25 program are numerous. Lots of positive press and interest from top tier recruits combine with school and civic pride to make football fun and exciting for fans and players alike. Watch some of the videos from this year of jubilant students celebrating with their football playing classmates. The times have changed in Boulder.
The hard part of being a Top 25 team is that expectations are raised exponentially. Nobody is interested in the Buffs "playing a good game" and still coming up short. The Buffs had a decade of losing which led to fans grasping for any positive signs. After 10 wins this year, that's over.
Fans know that the Buffs will be playing excellent teams and that they probably will not win them all. They play in the Conference of Champions, and year in and year out they can expect that around half the teams in the Pac-12 will be Top 25 teams. And if they make it to the conference championship, they will likely be playing a Top 5 team.
It's tough sledding, but that's how competitive it is in the Power 5 conferences. Colorado needs to get used to that.
Every decent head coach and coordinator in football from high school on knows that you have to have a plan for each game. Every good coach knows that it should be a good plan. What makes a truly great coach is not only excellent planning, but also the ability to adapt to unexpected circumstances during the game.
The head coach needs to be on top it, for sure, but the coordinators are the ones who have to make the plans and then adjust during the game. It's their job.
Leavitt is excellent in all facets. He knew that Heisman candidate Jake Browning (he of the 65% completion percentage, 42 TD passes and only 7 interceptions) could dominate the game like he had against most of their opponents this year. Leavitt gambled that if the Buffs shut down Browning, the would be able to stay in the game. In fact, if someone was unable to watch the game and only read that the Buffs had held Browning to only 9 completions in 24 attempts, they would have likely assumed that the Buffs dominated the game.
Unfortunately for Leavitt and the Buffs, the offense did not seem to have a backup plan after it became clear that what they hoped for was not going to pan out. It's been a pattern against the better defenses all year. Another pattern is that the offensive play-caller tends to freeze up if Sefo Liufau goes down to injury.
What makes that strange is that when Steven Montez was expected to start a game this season, Lindgren seemed comfortable designing a call scheme for him. It worked against Oregon and Oregon State just fine.
But in the games against Michigan and Washington, it seemed as if Liufau's injured ankle has some sort of psychic connection to Lindgren's brain. Sprained ankle for one led to sprained brain for his coach.
Sefo Liufau injured his ankle in the first quarter in the game against Washington. It was a tough defensive battle with Washington holding a tenuous 14-7 lead at halftime. Montez had made some good throws and his team was ready to face adversity and follow him the rest of the game.
After watching Liufau struggle to walk on the sidelines and being led off to the locker room, every Buff fan felt bad for the young man. But they also hoped their team would overcome adversity and play strong in the second half.
Some of us watching the game on TV knew it was a bad omen when the sideline reporter quoted MacIntyre as saying "We need to get Sefo Liufau back in this game" instead of stating that Buffs needed to adjust and rally behind Montez. He was stating that ONLY Liufau could lead the Buffs to victory. He was wrong.
Despite the lopsided loss, apparently Mac and Lindgren got what they needed because they put an injured Sefo Liufau back in and that decision and typically bad play-calling led to three interceptions.
The first interception was a pick-six and the Buffs were down 21-7 with 14 seconds gone in the 3rd quarter. A close defensive game quickly became a rout as Liufau was unable to follow through on his throws which caused them to sail high, often into the arms of Washington defenders..
Although Liufau finished the game with only 3 completions in 13 attempts (and 3 interceptions), neither MacIntyre nor Lindgren could fathom the idea of taking Liufau out of the game to rest his sprained ankle. No, apparently the idea of taking him out would be admitting they screwed up.
What Mac and Lindgren need to realize is that whether they admit it or not, they screwed up and screwed their team.
Some simple stats --
While Montez was in the game, the Buffs and Huskies each scored 7 points.
With Sefo Luifau in the lineup at quarterback, the Huskies outscored the Buffs 34-3.
Draw you own conclusions.
When MacIntyre and Lindgren opted to put an injured QB back in to start the 3rd quarter, they risked an entire season's worth of hard work by 100 guys to protect the legacy of one guy.
It's an old adage that the good of the many outweighs the good of the few, or the one. Unfortunately for the many on the Colorado sidelines (and in the stands and watching on TV) last night, the few who could have made the right choice instead opted for the good of the few (or the one).
--------------------------------
But hey, it was a successful season. Nobody expected 10 wins. Nobody expected the Rose Bowl either, and the Colorado coaches shouldn't expect it now either. If they lost a close defensive game to the #4 team in the country, they could have argued that Colorado deserved the Rose Bowl if Washington was in the Playoffs. But a 41-10 destruction is another matter. Most folks on the east coast didn't even see the game, they just saw the score this morning and figured the Colorado got beaten across the board
But the truth is that only one of the big three of the Buffs (Leavitt) did the job well. Mac and Lindgren faced adversity and found themselves wanting. Again.
I hear it's lovely in San Antonio.
The Colorado Buffaloes are a good football team. That is a good thing for long-suffering CU fans and students. The foundation and culture has been built for the Buffs to remain a Top 25 team for years to come.
The key to this foundation of Top 10 play is that the Buffs have one of the best defensive coordinators in all of college football in Jim Leavitt. They also have an excellent defensive staff in Joe Tumpkin, Charles Clark, and Jim Jeffcoat. Make no mistake about it, the outstanding D is the reason the Buffs won 10 games this year.
The great parts of being a Top 25 program are numerous. Lots of positive press and interest from top tier recruits combine with school and civic pride to make football fun and exciting for fans and players alike. Watch some of the videos from this year of jubilant students celebrating with their football playing classmates. The times have changed in Boulder.
The hard part of being a Top 25 team is that expectations are raised exponentially. Nobody is interested in the Buffs "playing a good game" and still coming up short. The Buffs had a decade of losing which led to fans grasping for any positive signs. After 10 wins this year, that's over.
Fans know that the Buffs will be playing excellent teams and that they probably will not win them all. They play in the Conference of Champions, and year in and year out they can expect that around half the teams in the Pac-12 will be Top 25 teams. And if they make it to the conference championship, they will likely be playing a Top 5 team.
It's tough sledding, but that's how competitive it is in the Power 5 conferences. Colorado needs to get used to that.
Every decent head coach and coordinator in football from high school on knows that you have to have a plan for each game. Every good coach knows that it should be a good plan. What makes a truly great coach is not only excellent planning, but also the ability to adapt to unexpected circumstances during the game.
The head coach needs to be on top it, for sure, but the coordinators are the ones who have to make the plans and then adjust during the game. It's their job.
Leavitt is excellent in all facets. He knew that Heisman candidate Jake Browning (he of the 65% completion percentage, 42 TD passes and only 7 interceptions) could dominate the game like he had against most of their opponents this year. Leavitt gambled that if the Buffs shut down Browning, the would be able to stay in the game. In fact, if someone was unable to watch the game and only read that the Buffs had held Browning to only 9 completions in 24 attempts, they would have likely assumed that the Buffs dominated the game.
Unfortunately for Leavitt and the Buffs, the offense did not seem to have a backup plan after it became clear that what they hoped for was not going to pan out. It's been a pattern against the better defenses all year. Another pattern is that the offensive play-caller tends to freeze up if Sefo Liufau goes down to injury.
What makes that strange is that when Steven Montez was expected to start a game this season, Lindgren seemed comfortable designing a call scheme for him. It worked against Oregon and Oregon State just fine.
But in the games against Michigan and Washington, it seemed as if Liufau's injured ankle has some sort of psychic connection to Lindgren's brain. Sprained ankle for one led to sprained brain for his coach.
Sefo Liufau injured his ankle in the first quarter in the game against Washington. It was a tough defensive battle with Washington holding a tenuous 14-7 lead at halftime. Montez had made some good throws and his team was ready to face adversity and follow him the rest of the game.
After watching Liufau struggle to walk on the sidelines and being led off to the locker room, every Buff fan felt bad for the young man. But they also hoped their team would overcome adversity and play strong in the second half.
Some of us watching the game on TV knew it was a bad omen when the sideline reporter quoted MacIntyre as saying "We need to get Sefo Liufau back in this game" instead of stating that Buffs needed to adjust and rally behind Montez. He was stating that ONLY Liufau could lead the Buffs to victory. He was wrong.
Despite the lopsided loss, apparently Mac and Lindgren got what they needed because they put an injured Sefo Liufau back in and that decision and typically bad play-calling led to three interceptions.
The first interception was a pick-six and the Buffs were down 21-7 with 14 seconds gone in the 3rd quarter. A close defensive game quickly became a rout as Liufau was unable to follow through on his throws which caused them to sail high, often into the arms of Washington defenders..
Although Liufau finished the game with only 3 completions in 13 attempts (and 3 interceptions), neither MacIntyre nor Lindgren could fathom the idea of taking Liufau out of the game to rest his sprained ankle. No, apparently the idea of taking him out would be admitting they screwed up.
What Mac and Lindgren need to realize is that whether they admit it or not, they screwed up and screwed their team.
Some simple stats --
While Montez was in the game, the Buffs and Huskies each scored 7 points.
With Sefo Luifau in the lineup at quarterback, the Huskies outscored the Buffs 34-3.
Draw you own conclusions.
When MacIntyre and Lindgren opted to put an injured QB back in to start the 3rd quarter, they risked an entire season's worth of hard work by 100 guys to protect the legacy of one guy.
It's an old adage that the good of the many outweighs the good of the few, or the one. Unfortunately for the many on the Colorado sidelines (and in the stands and watching on TV) last night, the few who could have made the right choice instead opted for the good of the few (or the one).
--------------------------------
But hey, it was a successful season. Nobody expected 10 wins. Nobody expected the Rose Bowl either, and the Colorado coaches shouldn't expect it now either. If they lost a close defensive game to the #4 team in the country, they could have argued that Colorado deserved the Rose Bowl if Washington was in the Playoffs. But a 41-10 destruction is another matter. Most folks on the east coast didn't even see the game, they just saw the score this morning and figured the Colorado got beaten across the board
But the truth is that only one of the big three of the Buffs (Leavitt) did the job well. Mac and Lindgren faced adversity and found themselves wanting. Again.
I hear it's lovely in San Antonio.
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