The first two and a half quarters of the 2014 Rocky Mountain Showdown showcased an up-tempo, athletic, quick, and smart Colorado Buffaloes squad – a vintage Mike MacIntyre team. Colorado was in a position to pull away from the Colorado State Rams at multiple junctures of the game, but the youngest team in the PAC-12 simply failed to capitalize.
The failure to deliver an early knockout punch led to the youthful Buffs playing tentatively and ultimately gift-wrapping the Centennial Cup to Colorado State.
Perhaps among the major lasting disasters of the Hawkins and Embree coaching eras is the birth of a generation of ignorant, irrational, impatient, and bomb-throwing fans created during Colorado’s darkest years.
Many of the newest members of Buff Nation know virtually nothing about the pride and tradition of the program. Hence, the football IQ of a segment of the fanbase is at an all time low. After dropping the season opener, many of these reactionary fans quickly took to social media to harass the starting quarterback and call for the firing of Head Coach Mike MacIntyre – two acts of simply absurd behavior.
Those fans were not only wrong for acting in such a manner, but more importantly also displayed their football ignorance by failing to properly analyze the cause of the loss.
In fact, the loss to the Rams revealed that Colorado has a good football team. Let me repeat, Colorado has a good football team.
Fountain of Youth
Colorado has the youngest team in the PAC-12 conference. This inexperience can become a crucial issue when trying to deliver fatal blows to the opposing team. Nevertheless, time is of the essence, and Colorado must quickly learn the art of finishing each quarter on the road at UMASS this week.
Colorado opens as a 17-point favorite to beat UMASS. However, the young Buffs cannot overlook this opponent, as they must finish each quarter playing that same up-tempo, confident offense that had the Rams scrambling for answers for a majority of last week’s game.
Wake-Up Call
Despite being 0-1, this Colorado squad is deeper and better than the 2013 Colorado team. An early wake-up call followed by a great opportunity to fix some things on the road at UMASS can yield good dividends over the course of a 12-game season.
As Advertised
Sefo Liufau completed 24 of 39 passes for 241 yards, threw two touchdowns, and had no interceptions, while finishing with a quarterback rating of 130.4.
In addition, true freshman Shay Fields (who turned 18 in June) showed incredible poise and versatility as a young receiver catching 8 passes for 46 yards. The receiving corps -- led by Nelson Spruce -- is deep, so expect this unit to gel and to be prepared for the PAC-12's offensive shootouts.
What We Learned
This is a talented, but young Colorado team that is experiencing natural growing pains. To continue their development, the Buffs must successfully effectuate Coach Mac’s gameplan for four quarters in their tune-up game in Massachusetts.
This means tweaking the defensive line’s schemes, working on red zone efficiency, and learning the art of killer instinct. If the young Buffs can accomplish these goals, a 1-1 team going into the home opener against Arizona State will arguably be a much stronger team than a 2-0 CU team which limps through the first two games only to be rudely awakened in PAC-12 play courtesy of Todd Graham.
If the Buffs can execute their goals at UMASS, bowl aspirations will be alive and well next Saturday night.
By Sherwin Sadr
Contributing Writer for TheDailySportsHerald.com
Nice article. But you missed the facts that the coaches are responsible for that killer instinct. They were not prepared nor coached up during the game when they needed it the most. In addition the OC needs to step up his game
ReplyDeleteThat killer instinct comes with experience, and now due to the early wake-up call will become a point of emphasis for Mac and his staff.
DeleteThanks for the feedback everyone.
DeleteAnd the first comment proves the initial point of the article:
ReplyDelete"Perhaps among the major lasting disasters of the Hawkins and Embree coaching eras is the birth of a generation of ignorant, irrational, impatient, and bomb-throwing fans created during Colorado’s darkest years."
The details of the game of football are easily lost on "fans" who seem incapable of dealing with their emotions or maintaining any sense of perspective - simply looking for someone to blame. I would suggest blaming yourself for your need to find fault in order to feel better; try a different approach instead of just demanding that others should.
Agree Anonymous. In the second half (with the exception of the drive after the fumble recovery) I saw the CSU players jumping around all smiles when they scored or stopped the Buffs, even before they took the lead, while CU's players heads were already down. First game of the season at an NFL stadium against and in-state-rival that beat WSU in their bowl game by hang tough until the end. We all wanted them to roll ove CSU and it looked like they were going to too, so everyone got bent over it.
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to look at it from the perspective of youth and I agree with the statement "If the young Buffs can accomplish these goals, a 1-1 team going into the home opener against Arizona State will arguably be a much stronger team than a 2-0 CU team which limps through the first two games only to be rudely awakened in PAC-12 play courtesy of Todd Graham."
MarcusJBuff.
Buffzone poster.
The 17pt fav status on the road, where the Buffs have had their struggles corroborates that there is no need to sound the alarm. nice article.
ReplyDeleteI don't know guys. I was very pumped up for this team all summer and really believe in the coaching staff . .. . but I was really disappointed, beginning with the 3 straight up the gut attempts on the goal line, only to not go for it on 4th down. That was a game changing stop for the Rams . .. .
ReplyDeleteOnce their run game got rolling, it was alarming to watch our D flail as it did. There's nothing wrong with being supportive of the players and coaching staff overall, but critical of their game 1 performance.
The D line has been a major issue for a long time and it doesn't look like it's anywhere close to where we need it to be right now.
There were glimmers of hope on O and D, but the total meltdown vs the run was about as bad as you could fathom. Let's just be honest here.