Colorado University Athletics
MacIntyre Pleased With Buffs' Bowl Focus
December 26, 2016 | Football, Neill Woelk
SAN ANTONIO — Two days into their stay in San Antonio, the Colorado Buffaloes are starting to shake off the novelty of the "bowl experience" and get down to the business of playing a football game.
"We're just here to win a game," junior safety Afolabi Laguda said after Monday's practice, CU's second in San Antonio. "The festivities that come with the bowl game are great, but the focus is to win the game and send my seniors out on a good note. I know what my priorities are and I know the older guys on the team do as well."
Indeed, while the Buffs are no doubt enjoying their time in San Antonio before Thursday's Valero Alamo Bowl matchup with Oklahoma State (7 p.m., ESPN), it's also not hard to tell they are ready to play a game. By the time Thursday's kickoff arrives, it will have been nearly four weeks since the Buffs last played — and the memory of the Pac-12 Championship loss to Washington is one they would like to replace with something a little more enjoyable.
"It just wasn't a good way to go out on the regular season," Laguda said. "It's kind of bad because it's a long gap between being out on the field again, but it keeps the fire in our belly. I think we'll be ready to come out and play this Thursday."
The Buff have had two crisp practices at University of the Incarnate Word, their home away from home this week. Monday's practice saw both the No. 1 offense and defense get good repetitions in against the scout teams as well as some snaps against each other, and head coach Mike MacIntyre liked what he saw.
"We had good intensity," MacIntyre said. "We flew around to the ball. I was excited the way the guys came to practice."
While there have been plenty of activities to keep players busy in their off time — Monday included a team trip to SeaWorld San Antonio — MacIntyre said the level of concentration in team meetings and film sessions has been good.
"They've been focused in meetings, they've been focused and ready to go at practice," MacIntyre said. "I haven't had to take the Louisville Slugger out, so to speak, to try to get 'em going. They really had a good practice."
The players appear quite capable of separating business from pleasure.
"There was a lot of intensity in practice," linebacker Rick Gamboa said after Monday's workout. "That's one of the main keys for us. There's a lot going on outside of practice, so when we come out here we want to stay focused and pay attention to what's going on."
LINDGREN ON LIUFAU: Thursday's game will be the last time CU offensive co-coordinator and quarterbacks coach Brian Lindgren will coach Buffs quarterback Sefo Liufau.
The two came together in the same year; Lindgren with MacIntyre when the staff arrived in 2013 and Liufau as part of their first recruiting class.
Since then, Lindgren has helped Liufau progress and develop, a process he is obviously proud of.
"It's been an absolutely pleasure to watch it and be involved with him," Lindgren said. "He's just an impressive person and he's faced a lot of adversity in his time at Colorado, from injuries that he had to overcome this past offseason to just kind of the ups and downs and kind of going through building a program. We were very young when we started out with a lot of these seniors and guys that have been here, and they've taken a lot of lumps, and he took a lot of heat as a quarterback during those tough times Just to see him and how he handled it and to stick with the process and keep working hard, it's been a real pleasure to see him kind of break through this year and get us to where we're at today."
OFFENSIVE REDEMPTION: Buffs offensive co-coordinator Darrin Chiaverini said the Buffs are anxious to get the offense back on the field and make up for a sub-par performance against Washington in their last game.
"We have our work cut out for us and we're excited to play," Chiaverini said. "Obviously the last time we played we weren't at our best, and we want an opportunity to get back out there and show what we're about."
BUSINESS AS USUAL: While the Buffs are technically down a coach with the departure of defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt, practices have been virtually the same. Safeties coach Joe Tumpkin, who will call the defensive signals in Thursday's game, has taken over coaching linebackers while cornerbacks coach Charles Clark has added the safeties to his duties.
MacIntyre, meanwhile, has added an "extra set of eyes" to the proceedings, and there's been no noticeable difference in the way practices have proceeded.
"It's been good," MacIntyre said. "A relatively smooth situation. The linebacker know what they've been doing — we're doing the same things we did all year. We have an experienced defense. They'll do fine."
BALL SECURITY: Asked what concerns him most about Oklahoma State, MacIntyre said one thing that immediately comes to mind is an opportunistic defense. The Cowboys produced 24 defensive takeaways this season (tied for 20th in the nation) and gave up just 14.
"Their defense causes a lot of turnovers, they're very aggressive, they tackle real well and they're physical, so we've got to come with a physical state of mind on offense," MacIntyre said. "We didn't protect the ball very well in the Pac-12 Championship game (three interceptions). We've got to make sure that we protect the ball, but we've still got to throw it and compete."
DETMER AT PRACTICE: Former Colorado star quarterback Koy Detmer and son Koal attended the Buffs' practice on Monday.
Detmer, whose name is still prominent in the CU record books after a standout career with the Buffs from 1992-96, is now the head coach at Mission High School in Mission, Texas, where he played high school ball.
"It's good to see Colorado playing well again," Detmer said. "I'm glad to see them winning games and get back in a bowl game. I really like what they did with their offense, and I like what they did with their defense. They were really aggressive on both sides of the ball this year."
SCHEDULE: The Buffs will practice again Tuesday at UIW, then have a walkthrough at the Alamodome on Wednesday.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
