Woelk: Special Group Of Seniors Ready For Buffs' Home Finale

BOULDER — "The pride and tradition of the Colorado Buffaloes will not be entrusted to the timid or the weak."

Since the days of Bill McCartney, that has been the mantra of the Colorado Buffaloes.

It still applies.

Late Saturday afternoon, a group of CU seniors who epitomize the saying to its very core will play their final game at Folsom Field in a 5:30 p.m. matchup with Utah. They will leave behind a legacy that will carry forward exactly what the slogan was meant to encourage in difficult times: "The Buffs are back."

Not that this group of seniors has written the last chapter in what has already been a storybook season. They believe there is much more to add to the story, beginning with the opportunity to complete a rare "worst-to-first" season.

With a 9-2 record (7-1 Pac-12), the ninth-ranked Buffs will play host Saturday to a formidable Utah squad (8-3, 5-3) with a Pac-12 South title on the line. A Colorado win will send the Buffs to the Dec. 2 conference championship game for a meeting with North champ Washington at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.; a Utah win will hand the division title to USC.

Either way, there will be more football for the Buffs this year after Senior Day, something that hasn't been the case for nearly a decade. But they would rather control their destiny for at least another week and a win Saturday would do just that.

Of the 27 players who will be honored on Senior Day, the vast majority are members of head coach Mike MacIntyre's first recruiting class at CU. They are players who bought into MacIntyre's sales pitch when he arrived in Boulder. With little else to peddle, MacIntyre sold those players a chance to leave a foundational impression on the program, a chance to build something on their own that would withstand the test of time.

Now, three years later, they have stared difficult times in the face, endured three years of struggles in the Pac-12, grown up and said, "Enough."

Enough losing. Enough coming close. Enough moral victories.

Those wet-behind-the-ears kids who came in with MacIntyre are now battle-hardened young men whose stated goal of changing the trajectory of Colorado football has gone from dream to reality.

"It means everything that this group of guys were able to get it done in their time," MacIntyre said earlier this week. "It's really unique to me that these guys' hard-earned work, all their blood, sweat, tears and body parts, that these guys get to do it. Not often in life does that happen. If we finish this like we want, it truly is a dream come true."

No matter what happens Saturday, the Buffs have already changed the face of CU football. They have a bowl game in their future, something the program hasn't seen since 2007. They will finish with a winning record, something CU hasn't accomplished since 2005. They have already won seven conference games, more than the previous combined total of Pac-12 victories (five) since CU entered the conference in 2011.

But they also have a chance at a championship. Since 1960, Colorado has won at least one conference title in every decade. This team has the chance to add this decade to the list.

"It means everything," said Buffs quarterback Sefo Liufau, who in many ways has become the face of the turnaround. "To be able to help turn the program around with this group of seniors and everyone else, it's a great feeling. Usually at this time of the year we're moseying about on the field and playing for pride. … We just have to remind ourselves that there's a lot more we're playing for so this week is very important for us."

The Utes will not arrive in a giving mood. Still stinging from a 30-28 loss to Oregon last week — a defeat that ended their hopes of claiming Utah's first-ever Pac-12 division title — they will no doubt pursue the role of spoiler with vigor.

There is some history in that regard. In 2011, a CU win in the regular season finale prevented the Utes from advancing to the championship game.

"We are in that role," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said earlier this week. "We win and USC goes (to the Pac-12 title game), we lose and Colorado goes. So I guess we are the spoiler in that sense. The first meeting during our first season in the Pac-12 that was the case for us. There may be some added incentive with that scenario."

The Buffs spent the week preparing with the same approach they have employed all season. They have done a good job of not looking too far into the future and keeping their focus on the immediate task at hand.

"I think we detach ourselves from the moment, and we look at going 1-0 each week," senior cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon said. "That's what we've been about all year. It makes it very easy to be successful each week when you just focus on that individual game, not the accolades or about what you're going to accomplish. Then, when the game is over and those accomplishments come, we definitely enjoy and appreciate them."

To take that next step, the Buffs must stop a Utah offense that is by no means fancy, but definitely productive. Running back Joe Williams has run for more than 1,000 yards in just the last five games. Quarterback Troy Williams has thrown for seven touchdowns and no interceptions in the last three.

The Buffs must also deal with a Utah defense that leads the Pac-12 in sacks (38), including 14 from defensive end Hunter Dimick. Utah is third in the conference in rushing defense (131.6 yards per game) and they've given up an average of just 23.6 points per game.

Utah is another Pac-12 team MacIntyre hadn't beaten in his three years in Boulder when the season began. Since then, he and the Buffs have crossed Oregon, Arizona State, Arizona, UCLA, Washington State and Stanford off that list.

The Utes, though, have won the last four against the Buffs, with every game since the two teams entered the Pac-12 decided by a touchdown or less. Colorado expects another close game Saturday.

"They're really good," MacIntyre said. "When you see them get off the bus, they're big and powerful. It's going to be a tough, tough contest. They beat us all the three years I've been here, so we have to find a way to beat them. All the games have been close and they've found a way to win in the end. We have to try to find a way to win it in the end."

BOWL OUTLOOK: While Colorado fans are clearly hoping for a Rose Bowl bid (or what is still a chance at a berth in the College Football Playoffs), a long list of scenarios still exists.

One that hasn't been discussed much is a possible CU spot in the Cotton Bowl.

According to Colorado sports information director Dave Plati, who worked with CFP officials to hash out the possible scenarios, a Cotton Bowl berth could happen if the Pac-12 champion does not earn a spot in the CFP semifinals. In that scenario, the conference champ would go to the Rose Bowl. If the conference title game loser still happened to be the highest-ranked CFP team not playing in the semifinals or Rose, Sugar and Orange bowls, the Cotton could select that team to play against the highest-ranked Group of Five team.

CU SENIORS

WR David Bagby

OLB Jimmie Gilbert