Stanford's Shaw Has High Praise for CU's MacIntyre
November 07, 2015 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Moments after his Stanford team had dealt the Colorado Buffaloes a 42-10 loss Saturday, Cardinal coach David Shaw offered an unsolicited, strong endorsement of CU coach Mike MacIntyre.
"First of all, I have to say this: not enough credit is given to Mike MacIntyre and the job he's done here at Colorado," Shaw said. "They're fighting everybody. They're really close. You can see it by the way we played offense today. They made a lot of things very difficult."
Since joining the Pac-12, the Buffs have been dominated by the Cardinal, being outscored 96-7 in their last two meetings. While Saturday's score wasn't much closer, Shaw said it wasn't indicative of the game.
"The score doesn't look like it, but we had to come with reverses and trick plays because we thought they were very sound, fought very hard and were very physical," Shaw said. "I think Coach MacIntyre has done a phenomenal job here."
SERIES COUNT: Stanford now leads the the all-time series 6-3, including a 3-0 edge in Pac-12 games. Colorado still has a 3-2 lead in games in Boulder.
PICK FOR THOMPSON: CU safety Tedric Thompson recorded his first interception of the season (he had three last year), and returned it 71 yards to the Stanford 3-yard line.
The Buffs, however, came away empty, failing to score.
"I really felt like I should have scored," Thompson said. "I was upset with myself for that. We had a lot of opportunities to help our offense out and get this win, but we weren't able to capitalize."
STAND-UP SEFO: Buffs quarterback Sefo Liufau, who threw for 125 yards and was also CU's leading rusher with 43 yards, told the media after the game, "I will take blame."
Liufau did have one interception that ultimately led to a Stanford touchdown, but his was far from the only mistake of the day.
"It all comes down to me," Liufau said.
LINDSAY'S DAY: A month ago against Arizona, Phillip Lindsay had a 23-carry, 91-yard day. Since then, though, his carries have tailed off, with more of the work going to Donovan Lee and Patrick Carr. Last week, Carr had 100 yards and a touchdown vs. UCLA. Saturday, Lindsay carried five times for 14 yards while Lee had seven for 17 and Carr had seven for 16.
"We're playing him more on special teams," MacIntyre said. "Phillip is going to keep playing; it depends on what we're planning on doing in the football game. Different roles change on the team as the season goes along at different times."
PLAY COUNT: A week after running 114 offensive plays against UCLA, the Buffs were held to a season-low 53 against Stanford. It's the fewest number of plays since 2012, when the Buffs had just 44 vs. Stanford.
SPRUCE PLAY: CU wideout Nelson Spruce caught five passes for 75 yards, adding to his school and Pac-12 record of career receptions (272). He also went over the 3,000-yard mark (3,022) and has caught at least one pass in 35 straight games.
