Colorado Daily – Arizona

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Colorado Daily – Arizona

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November 2nd – Game Day!

… CU in a few minutes … 

Rick Gamboa: “Everybody has the energy; we just want to get out there and fix what we messed up”

From CUBuffs.com … In most instances, college football teams aren’t exactly overjoyed at the thought of a Friday night road game. It means a shorter week of preparation and a travel day, followed by a long day of sitting around a hotel waiting to play.

But for the Colorado Buffaloes, this hasn’t been one of those instances. In this case, Friday’s 8:45 p.m. Pac-12 matchup at Arizona couldn’t have gotten here soon enough. The Buffs (5-3 overall, 2-3 Pac-12) have been itching to get back on the field ever since last Saturday’s stunning 41-34 overtime loss to Oregon State.

“Everybody on the team, we want to get back out there as soon as possible,” senior linebacker and team captain Rick Gamboa said earlier this week. “There’s a lot of guys on the team that feel like we messed up. There’s one or two things we could have done as a team that could have helped us win. Everybody has the energy; we just want to get out there and fix what we messed up.”

The Buffs will get their chance against a suddenly hot Arizona team that improved to 4-5 overall and 3-3 in Pac-12 play last week with a convincing 44-15 win over No. 19 Oregon.

“We have a lot of good players and we need to step in and play,” head coach Mike MacIntyre said. “Hopefully their brotherhood, their team unity, understanding what they have to do and going to Arizona and playing well. I feel like this is a tight group of guys, I think that will definitely make a difference.”

… Continue reading story here …

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Play of CU secondary key to Arizona game

From the Daily Camera … Although the Buffs are reeling with a three-game losing streak — none more excruciating than the loss to Oregon State, which outscored the Buffs 38-3 in the final 24 minutes of regulation and overtime — they have a chance to finish the season on a high note.

Shoring up the secondary will be critical, however, as they look to regroup Friday night at Arizona (4-5, 3-3).

“Any time you get beat, it’s like a baseball player going through a slump, you keep swinging and then your contact will start happening,” said CU safeties coach and defensive passing game coordinator ShaDon Brown. “They have to keep playing and keep their confidence and keep attacking the ball. All of a sudden they’ll start making those plays.”

Brown points to the crew of former CU defensive backs now in the NFL.

“Those guys that are playing in the NFL that show up around here, you watched them when they were freshmen and sophomores,” Brown said. “Did they get beat? Yeah.

“Trey and those guys are sophomores. They’re going to have those growing pains.”

Right now, CU has to live through those growing pains, but likes the talent.

… Continue reading story here …

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November 1st

… CU in a few minutes … 

Daily Camera columnist Pat Rooney: CU program at a crossroads

From the Daily Camera … What’s next?

The best thing going for the reeling Colorado football team right now is the general mediocrity in the Pac-12 South. The worst? That depends what day it is. Or what game or even quarter it is.

With a promising season on the brink and questions about Mike MacIntyre’s ability to take the Buffaloes to the next level gathering more momentum, Colorado heads to the Tucson desert with an unenviable task. All the Buffs have to do to start resurrecting their season is to defeat an Arizona Wildcats program they have topped only twice in seven tries since joining the Pac-12 Conference.

Last weekend’s epic meltdown at home against last-place Oregon State shed fresh light on a season that began 5-0 and stirred talk of a second run to the Pac-12 title game in three seasons. Pac-12 title game? It’s not impossible, mathematically, but that goal has been relegated to the backburner. Bowl eligibility? It’s right there for the taking, but these Buffs haven’t shown they can get over that rather modest hurdle.

The final four games of the 2018 regular season finds a Colorado program at a crossroads.

… Continue reading story here …

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Neill Woelk (Thursday) Fast Five

From CUBuffs.com … Over the first two-thirds of the season, the 5-3 Colorado Buffaloes have played well in every facet of the game at one point or another.

When those moments have coincided, the results have been good — witness wins over UCLA and Arizona State, victories that continue to look better as the season progresses.

But lately, the Buffs haven’t been able to put offense, defense and special teams together for an entire game — and the result has been three straight losses.

No doubt, injuries have played a role. The Buffs have been without one of the nation’s most dynamic players, wide receiver Laviska Shenault Jr., for the last two games, and starting wide receiver Juwann Winfree also missed a significant stretch. Defensively, the Buffs have lost starting linebacker Jacob Callier and cornerback Chris Miller for the season, with starting corner Delrick Abrams Jr. also missing a couple of starts.

Even special teams haven’t been immune. The Buffs began the season with one of the best one-two punches in the league in punter Alex Kinney and James Stefanou; Kinney has been out since the second game while Stefanou has missed the last two contests.

And, those are just the major injuries; there have been numerous others that have caused the Buffs to shuffle their lineups on both sides of the ball.

But as every coach will tell you, injuries play a role on every team — and the Buffs’ task is to figure out how to move forward.

Now, with a three-game losing streak hanging over their heads, the Buffs (2-3 Pac-12) head to the desert Friday for an 8:30 p.m. matchup with suddenly surging Arizona (4-5, 3-3). Colorado wants to erase the memory of last weekend’s overtime loss to Oregon State; doing it against a team coming off a dominant 44-15 thumping of No. 19 Oregon won’t be easy.

How can the Buffs end their skid and turn their season back in the right direction?

Our weekly Fast Five keys:

… Continue reading story here …

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October 31st

… CU in a few minutes … 

K.D. Nixon: “Coaches call the plays, but at the end of the day we’re out there playing between the lines”

From CUBuffs.com … Friday, the Buffs will face an Arizona defense coming off of perhaps its best performance of the year. In last week’s 44-15 win over No. 19 Oregon, the Wildcats to just 270 yards total offense (84 rushing, 186 passing). UA’s defense is giving up just 23.8 points per game in Pac-12 games, and has also forced a league-best 12 turnovers in conference games.

But the Buffs are anxious to get back on the field and turn their season back in the right direction.

“I think we’re ready to bounce back,” said wide receiver K.D. Nixon, who is coming off a career-best 13-catch, 198-yard effort. “We’ve had a good week of practice. We realize it’s our team. Coaches call the plays, but at the end of the day we’re out there playing between the lines.”

Montez voiced a similar sentiment.

“You need to have a chip on your shoulder and come out hungry,” Montez said. “Our guys have that and are doing a good job of keeping that attitude around the entire team. The attitude is still come out swinging. That has to be our attitude this week.”

… Continue reading story here …

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K.D. Nixon: “Sorry buff nation, I let y’all down! I’ll bounce back!”

From the Daily Camera … Judging solely by his Twitter feed, KD Nixon was heaping big helpings of guilt upon himself for Colorado’s incomprehensible meltdown at home Saturday against Oregon State.

The sophomore receiver humbly sent out the phrase, “Sorry buff nation, I let y’all down! I’ll bounce back!” in the aftermath of the Buffs squandering a four-touchdown lead in the second half. It was a commendable and surely heartfelt statement from Nixon, yet it was one that belied the fact he had just turned in a career-best game, and that his efforts were among the few individual performances that stood out amid the epic team-wide collapse.

With his good friend and fellow receiver Laviska Shenault still questionable due to a lingering toe injury, Nixon will attempt to build off the good parts of that Oregon State performance while forgetting about the bad when the Buffs look to rebound Friday night at Arizona (8:30 p.m. MT, FS1).

“I’m ready to bounce back,” Nixon said. “I’ve had a great two practices. Last week was disappointing (for) myself, but I’m ready to bounce back.”

… Continue reading story here …

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Arizona quarterback Kahlil Tate has turned into a dual threat quarterback 

From CUBuffs.com … The Buffs will have all eyes on Kahlil Tate, even though a new coaching staff and new offense have changed how Tate is utilized.

“He’s still a real dangerous guy,” said Buffs outside linebacker Drew Lewis, who was on the field last year against the Wildcats. “They still do a lot of RPO (read-pass option) stuff with him, and he can make plays with his legs. He’s throwing more this year, but he can hurt you in a lot of ways.”

Tate’s role has indeed changed under first-year head coach Kevin Sumlin and offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone. Hindered by an ankle injury early in the season, Tate — a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate — has rushed just 53 times for 138 yards while throwing for 1,604 yards and 14 touchdowns. At this pace, his rushing total this season won’t match his one-game total from last year’s game against the Buffs.

But he is now fully healthy, and last week carried seven times for 26 yards and threw for 189 yards in Arizona’s 44-15 thumping of No. 19 Oregon — the Wildcats’ biggest win of the year.

He is, the Buffs know, no doubt still a threat.

“Everybody who was here last year, we all remember what happened,” CU senior linebacker Rick Gamboa said. “I don’t think it’s something many people have forgotten. On film, you see him as the same guy. He makes people miss, he outruns DBs in the open field.”

But, Gamboa added, it is also obvious the Wildcats are using him much more in the passing game.

“You see it when you try to stop him as a runner and you’re leaving DBs out in coverage, he’s going to deliver a pass, especially because everybody focuses on making sure he’s not running the ball,” Gamboa said. “He’s able to pick you apart passing the ball since you’ve got everybody filling the box.”

… Continue reading story here …

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Players only meeting declared to be a success

From CUBuffs.com … Several CU players spoke again Tuesday about a Monday morning players-only meeting in which older and younger players were given the opportunity to speak up.

“It was a great thing,” quarterback Steven Montez said. “There were a lot of great things said in that meeting. There were a lot of good things said from older guys all the way to younger guys. Younger guys stepped up and said what they thought was going on, how we can fix it and how we can get back on track. … We needed to look ourselves in the mirror and get back to what our goals were in the beginning of the season. We can still accomplish all of the goals that we wanted to accomplish. It was a good, productive meeting.”

Indeed, the Buffs are well-aware that with a 5-3 record — and trailing Pac-12 South leader Utah by just a game in the loss column in the conference standings — the goals they set in the preseason are still very much attainable.

“It brought us closer together as a group and a unit,” Landman said. “We developed goals in the beginning of the year and were able to do that again in the player meeting and develop some more goals of what we wanted to accomplish in the year and what it is going to take to accomplish those goals. We want to go to the Pac-12 Championship. We want to win out and win the South.”

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October 30th

… CU in a few minutes … 

Mike MacIntyre Tuesday press conference: 

From YouTube, courtesy of CUSportsNation:

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Rick George: “Mike and I will sit down at the end of the year”

From the Daily Camera … Like the players and coaches, athletic director Rick George hasn’t been happy with the results the past three weeks — especially Saturday — but remains confident with four games to play.

“I share the frustration and the disappointment that our fans have of certainly not accepting the outcome of that game and the way we played in the second half,” he said. “Beyond that, we have a third of the season left, there’s still a lot to be done. I’m confident in coach MacIntyre and his staff, that he’ll get the guys ready to play and I’m very supportive of our student athletes. They go out there and fight their butt off every week. We have to go win a game Friday night.”

While some fans have been calling for MacIntyre to be fired after the loss to Oregon State, George said he won’t have a knee-jerk reaction to one game.

“As I always do, Mike and I will sit down at the end of the year and we’ll talk about he good, bad and indifferent,” he said. “I don’t see that changing at this point.”

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Nick Fisher: “We want to play ball and show that what we showed these last thee games, we can do better than that”

From the Daily Camera … Following a devastating and stunning loss to Oregon State, the leaders of the Colorado football team brought the group together.

“We had a talk earlier and I think that put everyone’s heads on straight and today was good,” senior safety Nick Fisher said Monday. “You could see it in everyone’s eyes. We want to play ball and show that what we showed these last thee games, we can do better than that.”

CU (5-3, 2-3 Pac-12) is riding a three-game losing streak heading into Friday’s matchup at Arizona (4-5, 3-3), but no loss was more crushing than Saturday’s 41-34 overtime defeat against Oregon State.

Leading 31-3 with less than 24 minutes to go, the Buffs were outscored 38-3 the rest of the way. Oregon State was a 24-point underdog with a 22-game road losing streak that was the nation’s longest.

With a short week ahead, the Buffs got back to work on Sunday, but priority No. 1 is getting right mentally.

“There’s a lot more to that (loss) to get you mentally, because you second guess a million different things,” head coach Mike MacIntyre said. “You show it to them on film, you have to talk to them as players and coaches and everybody has to fess up on different things they made mistakes on.”

… Continue reading story here …

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October 29th

… CU in a few minutes … 

Brother, can you spare $10 million? … the costs associated with a buyout of Mike MacIntyre’s contract

For those of you who have been inquiring as to how much it would cost to buyout Mike MacIntyre’s contract, you are looking at eight figures … and that doesn’t include buyouts for assistants, plus all of the extra millions which would go the contracts for the new coaching staff, which would almost inevitably be more expensive than the existing contracts for CU’s coaching staff …

From the Denver Post (December 3, 2017):

Per the terms of MacIntyre’s 5-year/$16.25 million extension signed last summer, his buyout is reduced in each of the next several years — 2017: $13.15 million, 2018: $9.975 million, 2019: $6.725 million, and after 2020: $3.4 million.

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From the Daily Camera (6/16/2017):

Here’s the breakdown of MacIntyre’s annual base and supplemental salary:

2017: $2,800,000
2018: $2,875,000
2019: $2,950,000
2020: $3,025,000
2021: $3,100,000
If employed on Dec. 31, 2021: $100,000

Potential incentives MacIntyre can earn each year. Maximum annual incentive total: $2.15 million (could only be reached if Buffs win the CFP national title)

• 1. Academic progress towards graduation for football players: Up to $100,000
• 2. Welfare and development of football players, including citizenship: Up to $100,000
• 3. Development of football program outreach, culture and reputation on campus: Up to $100,000
• 4. If football team attains graduation success rate of 75% each year: $50,000
• 5. If football team attains an APR rating of 980 after the academic year: $25,000
• 6. Football team wins 7 games in the regular season: $50,000
• 7. Each regular season win after 7 wins: $25,000
• 8. MacIntyre is selected Pac-12 Coach of the Year: $50,000
• 9. Football team wins Pac-12 Championship game: $50,000
• 10. MacIntyre wins AP and/or Walter Camp coach of the year: $100,000
• 11. Football team plays in a bowl game not affiliated with the College Football Playoff system: $200,000
• 12. Football team plays in a College Football Playoff bowl game: $250,000
• 13. Football team appears in College Football Playoff championship game: $400,000
• 14. Football team wins national championship: $750,000

If MacIntyre is fired without cause, he is entitled to claim the remaining balance of his base and supplemental salary, as well as the total amount for items 1, 2 and 3 of incentive salary listed above.

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Mike MacIntyre post-practice talk with media (Mon.)

From YouTube, courtesy of BuffStampede.com:

As noted in the talk, tight end Chris Bounds is taking a leave of absence from the team for personal reasons. MacIntyre: “Chris Bounds is taking a leave of absence for personal reasons right now — his own choosing, everything on his side of it. He’s going through some personal things he needs to take care of.” While not utilized in the passing game (with the exception of the Washington game), Bounds was often a lead blocker on many of CU’s running plays … and will be missed.

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Steven Montez: “We lost and now we just have to bounce back”

From the Daily Camera … In the moments following Travon McMillian’s 75-yard touchdown burst down the middle of the Folsom Field turf on Saturday, all seemed to be well for the Colorado football team.

Following two straight losses, the Buffaloes were blowing out an overmatched foe at home and poised to secure bowl eligibility and keep themselves in the running for the Pac-12 South division.

The Buffs, it seemed, were back on track.

Everything changed during the final 24 minutes Saturday, as the Buffs (5-3, 2-3 Pac-12) stunningly lost to last-place Oregon State, 41-34, in overtime.

The wheels fell off, as head coach Mike MacIntyre said afterward, but this may have been more disastrous than a single-game collapse. This is the type of loss that can derail a season and change the course of a program.

… Continue reading story here …

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Neill Woelk’s Ten Takeaways from the Oregon State disaster

From CUBuffs.com … One day later, Saturday’s 41-34 Colorado loss to Oregon State isn’t any easier to digest.

An afternoon of missed opportunities — actually 30 minutes of missed opportunities — resulted in one of the more disappointing and stunning defeats in CU history.

Still, the Buffs have no choice but to move on. How the Buffs react this week — coaches and players — will be interesting to watch. There is no reason this team can’t be competitive for the final four regular season games, but it will take plenty more than Xs and Os to do the trick.

Meanwhile, as much as it may sting, they will have to learn from their Saturday mistakes.

What did those of us who watched learn from the loss? Our weekly 10 Takeaways:

… Continue reading story here …

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October 28th 

… CU in a few minutes … 

Colorado opens as a four-point underdog to Arizona

… A surprise to me, considering that home teams usually get three-point bump. I was expecting a least a touchdown spread … 

From 5Dimes … Pac-12 games … 

Arizona … a 4.0-point favorite at home against Colorado … Friday, 8:30 p.m., MT, FS1

Arizona State … a 7.0-point underdog at home against No. 16 Utah … Saturday, 2:00 p.m., MT, Pac-12 Networks

Oregon … a 13.0-point favorite at home against UCLA … 5:30 p.m., MT, Fox

Oregon State … at home against USC (no line – probably waiting for word on USC quarterbacks) … 8:00 p.m., MT, FS1

Washington State … an 11.0-point favorite at home against California … TBA

Washington … a 9.5-point favorite at home against Stanford … TBA

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Pac-12 down to two team in the Associated Press poll … Washington State and Utah

From CBS Sports … The AP Top 25 poll looks brand new after a crazy week of shakeups in college football.

Week 9 action featured tons of losses for ranked teams, opening up spots in the poll for Houston, Fresno State, Utah State, Virginia and Syracuse to join the rankings. Mississippi State and Boston College also moved up into the poll, returning to the realm of the ranked after falling out earlier in the year.  The changeover of seven slots in the rankings is the biggest change in the AP Top 25 era (since 1989).

Washington State was one of the big winners from the shakeup, moving up four spots to crash the top 10 after beating Stanford. The Cougars are now in first place in the Pac-12 North and the conference’s best remaining hope in the College FootballPlayoff race. Utah, now the favorite in the Pac-12 South, moved up seven spots to No. 16 and Penn State moved up three spots to No. 14 after ending a two-game skid with a win against Iowa. Texas and Texas A&M each made some of the biggest moves down, each falling nine spots to No. 15 and No. 25, respectively.

The Associated Press poll: 

Others Receiving Votes: Washington (6-3) 120; Northwestern (5-3) 86; Georgia Southern (7-1) 62; Michigan State (5-3) 51; Cincinnati (7-1) 45; Iowa State (4-3) 42; South Florida (7-1) 29; Stanford (5-3) 26; Oklahoma State (5-3) 24; UAB (7-1) 17; Oregon (5-3) 13; Wisconsin (5-3) 12; Auburn (5-3) 7; San Diego State (6-2) 6; Army West Point (6-2) 6; NC State (5-2) 5; California (5-3) 2; Buffalo (7-1) 1

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USA Today/Coaches’ poll

Others Receiving Votes: Texas A&M (5-3) 167; Cincinnati (7-1) 116; South Florida (7-1) 87; Michigan State (5-3) 48; Wisconsin (5-3) 41; NC State (5-2) 40; Northwestern (5-3) 40; Miami (FL) (5-3) 38; Georgia Southern (7-1) 32; Oklahoma State (5-3) 31; UAB (7-1) 24; Stanford (5-3) 21; Auburn (5-3) 21; Oregon (5-3) 20; San Diego State (6-2) 16; Buffalo (7-1) 14; Army West Point (6-2) 13; South Carolina (4-3) 11; Iowa State (4-3) 6; FIU (6-2) 6; Virginia Tech (4-3) 5; Duke (5-3) 3; Pittsburgh (4-4) 3; Boise State (6-2) 2

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Neill Woelk: One simple goal this week – win a game

From CUBuffs.com … The Colorado Buffaloes’ goal this week should be a simple one:

Win a game.

Forget any designs on the Pac-12 South, forget bowl eligibility, forget about anything else other than one, simple task:

Go to work on Monday, tune out the noise — and there will be plenty of that — and figure out a way to go to Arizona next Friday and end a three-game losing streak.

It won’t be easy. Saturday’s 41-34 loss to Oregon State in overtime was, in the words of head coach Mike MacIntyre, “a gut-wrencher.” The manner in which it happened certainly fits the description. The Buffs let a 31-3 lead melt away, and with it, any serious hopes of thrusting themselves into the heart of the Pac-12 South race.

“We were rolling and I guess the wheels just rolled off,” MacIntyre said. “We didn’t play well enough. They made some plays on us in the end and we didn’t.”

But while the Buffs will have to look at Saturday’s game, figure out what went wrong and address those problems, they will do themselves no good by looking back and wondering what might have been.

Instead, they must look ahead and know there is still time to reap a reward from this season. With four games remaining, the opportunity to produce a successful season still exists — but it has to start with one game.

… Continue reading story here …

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This post, about the Arizona game, from the 2018 Season, is filed under Article.
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