Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: Tuesday Tidbits
September 06, 2016 | Football, B.G. Brooks
Well-protected Liufau promises to keep his O-line well fed
EAT UP, BIG FELLAS: Last season, Colorado quarterbacks were sacked 41 times, which was obviously an area that needed to be addressed before the 2016 season began.
It was, and in Friday night's opener against Colorado State, Buffs QB Sefo Liufau was taken down only once. The well-protected Liufau completed 23-of-33 passes for 318 yards and one touchdown, and also ran 14 times for 66 yards CU's 44-7 rout of CSU.
His performance earned him Pac-12 offensive player of the week honors – and it also earned his offensive line a free meal.
Courtesy of Sefo.
"I'm taking them out Thursday," Liufau said Tuesday at CU's weekly media luncheon. "I found out yesterday that I was Pac-12 player of the week and Coach (Mike) MacIntyre made a joke about taking the O-Line out to dinner and it kind of stuck. I'm taking them out Thursday, that's what it looks like."
Asked if the dinner would be a black tie affair, Liufau quickly answered, "I don't have that kind of cash."
BUFFS ARE NOTICED . . . TWICE: CU received one vote in each of the AP and Coaches polls of Sept. 6, the first time since Sept. 21, 2008 that the Buffs received at least one vote in each (CU opened 3-0 that year and started getting attention after a 17-14 overtime win over West Virginia (CU had 39 points in the AP poll and 30 in the Coaches).Â
The Buffs lost 39-21 to Florida State at Jacksonville the following week, falling out of the USA Today poll but still earning two points in the AP's – the last time CU received at least one vote in either poll until this year (note: CU coach Mike MacIntyre votes in the Coaches poll, but he did not vote for his own team; UCLA occupied the 25th spot).
SECONDARY CAN GET BETTER: CU's backend was impressive against CSU, intercepting two passes (Chidobe Awuzie, Tedric Thompson) and breaking up four more. Also, three of the team's four top tacklers against the Rams were DBs, with Awuzie's nine tackles (eight unassisted) leading the Buffs.
But Awuzie says there's improvement to be made before Saturday's home opener against Idaho State (3:30 p.m., Folsom Field, Pac-12 Mountain).
"Definitely number one is communication," he said. "Followed by technique at number two. Those are two things that you can always get better at. In the last game the DB's, we were the ones who gave up the only touchdown, so we definitely need to sure up the communication on that play. I think we'll be fine. We have a bunch of leaders and seniors in our secondary so I feel like that if we keep communicating and working on our technique we'll be fine."
Awuzie also said although he had not been on campus after Friday night's win and the holiday weekend, he'd heard that the Buffs' big win had created a buzz.
"I heard that on Friday after the game there was a party for the football players," he said. "I don't think we've ever had that before. I think a lot of people are excited that we got that W and hopefully we keep getting W's."
KEEP PUSHING THE ACCELERATOR: The Buffs have tried to be an up-tempo offense, but the pace they opened with against the Rams was noticeably faster.
CSU coach Mike Bobo said his defense spent much of the first quarter looking to the sidelines for guidance and had problems lining up before the ball was snapped.
"I think the biggest thing is that a lot of teams, you can't practice tempo at that speed," Liufau said. "You can't get your scout teams to go over there and run at that speed and tempo. So I think that's the biggest challenge for teams. Teams coming into Folsom this year, it'll be a bigger challenge for them given the altitude.
"Hopefully we can use that to our advantage. We've done a really good job as an offense upping our tempo. When we have to we can slow it down but our main goal as an offense was to control tempo and the defense and when they can and can't sub players onto the field."
MacIntyre pointed to the implementation of "a couple things that help us go a little faster communication and signal-wise. Our kids are in excellent shape. It's all about getting that first first down. Everybody always says that. That's the truth. The way we signal, the way we look at it, and our code words, we shortened everything down. One word means tons of things now. Our kids know the offense so well that we've been able to streamline that. We have very quick signals now. All of that helps."
It also helps the CU defense, according to Awuzie. He and his defensive mates will face a handful of speed-it-up teams in the Pac-12, and practicing against Liufau and his offense is good prep work.
"In practice I feel like they go high-tempo, in fact we have what's called a high-energy period during practice where we don't really take a break and just keep going for up to eight plays straight," Awuzie said. "I think it really paid off for the offense, but I really think it helped the defense as well because we're going to be facing some really up-tempo teams. I'm really proud of our offense, and we play at such a high altitude why not use that to our advantage."
NOT A POLITICAL STATEMENT: And possibly not even a fashion statement. But it is a CU goal, a long-standing one at that.
Some of the Buffs are wearing new ball caps, created by junior Danny Galloway's dad. Printed on the front of the hats is, "Make CU Great Again." You've undoubtedly heard another version of that.
Said MacIntyre: "I'm fine with it. His dad did it. His dad went to school here and is very proud. I thought it was a good thing. The kids wanted to wear them."
Galloway, a reserve receiver, is from Lone Tree. He attended Highlands Ranch High School, then went to Willamette College (Salem, Ore.) for two seasons before transferring to CU for the 2015 spring semester.
BIGGER ISN'T BETTER: Former walk-on tailback Kyle Evans, who earned a scholarship midway through August camp, rushed eight times for 41 yards and scored his first collegiate TD against CU.
The first thing you'll notice about Evans is he's not that noticeable; he's 5-6, 175. He plays much, much bigger, but MacIntyre acknowledges that Evans' stature isn't what many might expect in an upper division college player. But there's more to him.
"He's pretty short," said MacIntyre. "I saw his dad at our 'Stampede' the night before the game. He came up to me and said hi. He was all excited and thanking me (for giving Kyle a scholarship)."
Which drew this response from MacIntyre: "'No, your son earned it. It wasn't anything given to him. He's a really good football player.' When I saw Kyle I said, 'Kyle I saw your dad.' He goes, 'Yeah he's shorter than me isn't he.'"
MacIntyre called Evans "a very good runner; he's very strong and powerful. Pound for pound he's extremely strong. He's also explosive and has good vision. He's kept working and working and improved into a really good football player. I was glad he decided to walk-on here. He's from the San Jose area (MacIntyre came to CU from San Jose State) and went to Archbishop Mitty High School. We're excited to have him."
NOT OVERLOOKING THE BENGALS: With the Rams put away decisively, the Buffs now focus on Idaho State, a first-time FCS opponent that opened with a 47-3 win against Simon Fraser.
Idaho State, of the Big Sky Conference, is 0-12 against Pac-12 opponents while CU is 11-6 against Big Sky members. The Buffs' most memorable recent loss against a Big Sky member was 19-10 to Montana State in 2006 in Dan Hawkins' CU debut.
Montana State's coach was Mike Kramer, who now coaches Idaho State and is 17-41 in five seasons. MacIntyre, who has never coached against Idaho State, said the Buffs have been shown highlights of Montana State's win in Boulder.
"All we have to do is tell them about the head coach Mike Kramer," MacIntyre said. "He's a heck of a coach; he's won everywhere he's been. He's not afraid of coming in here, I know that."
In Tuesday morning's work, the Buffs weren't as crisp as MacIntyre would have liked. "Tuesday practices are always tough, because you put the pads back on," he said. "We got a lot accomplished today in practice. The guys that were beat up a little bit have been in the training room and being observant in the meetings. All of that type of stuff tells you that they're ready to go. They've got to keep pushing."
Asked to describe the team's attitude after the blowout opening win, Liufau said, "Definitely not cocky. I think that being in the program for three years when you're in a lot of close games, you get into this mindset of not wanting to give any up and that's definitely the mindset of this team going into this week.
"We don't want to give any games away, we don't want to have any close games if possible. So we treat Idaho State with the greatest respect. They're a great team and anything can happen in any given week in college football, so we want to come I out strong and put our best foot forward."
Added Awuzie: "We still only have one goal, and Colorado State was kind of a speed bump on the way to that goal. They were definitely a great team, and we went 1-0 that week and we're trying to go 1-0 this week. It's just the same mindset, we're really even keeled right now. Everybody on this team is pretty humble, and 'Coach Mac' stressed that to us the other night to be humble and hungry. So we're still humble and hungry and we know that we have a lot of work to turn this program around. Our confidence has always been high throughout the entire time I've been here, no matter what."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
It was, and in Friday night's opener against Colorado State, Buffs QB Sefo Liufau was taken down only once. The well-protected Liufau completed 23-of-33 passes for 318 yards and one touchdown, and also ran 14 times for 66 yards CU's 44-7 rout of CSU.
His performance earned him Pac-12 offensive player of the week honors – and it also earned his offensive line a free meal.
Courtesy of Sefo.
"I'm taking them out Thursday," Liufau said Tuesday at CU's weekly media luncheon. "I found out yesterday that I was Pac-12 player of the week and Coach (Mike) MacIntyre made a joke about taking the O-Line out to dinner and it kind of stuck. I'm taking them out Thursday, that's what it looks like."
Asked if the dinner would be a black tie affair, Liufau quickly answered, "I don't have that kind of cash."
BUFFS ARE NOTICED . . . TWICE: CU received one vote in each of the AP and Coaches polls of Sept. 6, the first time since Sept. 21, 2008 that the Buffs received at least one vote in each (CU opened 3-0 that year and started getting attention after a 17-14 overtime win over West Virginia (CU had 39 points in the AP poll and 30 in the Coaches).Â
The Buffs lost 39-21 to Florida State at Jacksonville the following week, falling out of the USA Today poll but still earning two points in the AP's – the last time CU received at least one vote in either poll until this year (note: CU coach Mike MacIntyre votes in the Coaches poll, but he did not vote for his own team; UCLA occupied the 25th spot).
SECONDARY CAN GET BETTER: CU's backend was impressive against CSU, intercepting two passes (Chidobe Awuzie, Tedric Thompson) and breaking up four more. Also, three of the team's four top tacklers against the Rams were DBs, with Awuzie's nine tackles (eight unassisted) leading the Buffs.
But Awuzie says there's improvement to be made before Saturday's home opener against Idaho State (3:30 p.m., Folsom Field, Pac-12 Mountain).
"Definitely number one is communication," he said. "Followed by technique at number two. Those are two things that you can always get better at. In the last game the DB's, we were the ones who gave up the only touchdown, so we definitely need to sure up the communication on that play. I think we'll be fine. We have a bunch of leaders and seniors in our secondary so I feel like that if we keep communicating and working on our technique we'll be fine."
Awuzie also said although he had not been on campus after Friday night's win and the holiday weekend, he'd heard that the Buffs' big win had created a buzz.
"I heard that on Friday after the game there was a party for the football players," he said. "I don't think we've ever had that before. I think a lot of people are excited that we got that W and hopefully we keep getting W's."
KEEP PUSHING THE ACCELERATOR: The Buffs have tried to be an up-tempo offense, but the pace they opened with against the Rams was noticeably faster.
CSU coach Mike Bobo said his defense spent much of the first quarter looking to the sidelines for guidance and had problems lining up before the ball was snapped.
"I think the biggest thing is that a lot of teams, you can't practice tempo at that speed," Liufau said. "You can't get your scout teams to go over there and run at that speed and tempo. So I think that's the biggest challenge for teams. Teams coming into Folsom this year, it'll be a bigger challenge for them given the altitude.
"Hopefully we can use that to our advantage. We've done a really good job as an offense upping our tempo. When we have to we can slow it down but our main goal as an offense was to control tempo and the defense and when they can and can't sub players onto the field."
MacIntyre pointed to the implementation of "a couple things that help us go a little faster communication and signal-wise. Our kids are in excellent shape. It's all about getting that first first down. Everybody always says that. That's the truth. The way we signal, the way we look at it, and our code words, we shortened everything down. One word means tons of things now. Our kids know the offense so well that we've been able to streamline that. We have very quick signals now. All of that helps."
It also helps the CU defense, according to Awuzie. He and his defensive mates will face a handful of speed-it-up teams in the Pac-12, and practicing against Liufau and his offense is good prep work.
"In practice I feel like they go high-tempo, in fact we have what's called a high-energy period during practice where we don't really take a break and just keep going for up to eight plays straight," Awuzie said. "I think it really paid off for the offense, but I really think it helped the defense as well because we're going to be facing some really up-tempo teams. I'm really proud of our offense, and we play at such a high altitude why not use that to our advantage."
NOT A POLITICAL STATEMENT: And possibly not even a fashion statement. But it is a CU goal, a long-standing one at that.
Some of the Buffs are wearing new ball caps, created by junior Danny Galloway's dad. Printed on the front of the hats is, "Make CU Great Again." You've undoubtedly heard another version of that.
Said MacIntyre: "I'm fine with it. His dad did it. His dad went to school here and is very proud. I thought it was a good thing. The kids wanted to wear them."
Galloway, a reserve receiver, is from Lone Tree. He attended Highlands Ranch High School, then went to Willamette College (Salem, Ore.) for two seasons before transferring to CU for the 2015 spring semester.
BIGGER ISN'T BETTER: Former walk-on tailback Kyle Evans, who earned a scholarship midway through August camp, rushed eight times for 41 yards and scored his first collegiate TD against CU.
The first thing you'll notice about Evans is he's not that noticeable; he's 5-6, 175. He plays much, much bigger, but MacIntyre acknowledges that Evans' stature isn't what many might expect in an upper division college player. But there's more to him.
"He's pretty short," said MacIntyre. "I saw his dad at our 'Stampede' the night before the game. He came up to me and said hi. He was all excited and thanking me (for giving Kyle a scholarship)."
Which drew this response from MacIntyre: "'No, your son earned it. It wasn't anything given to him. He's a really good football player.' When I saw Kyle I said, 'Kyle I saw your dad.' He goes, 'Yeah he's shorter than me isn't he.'"
MacIntyre called Evans "a very good runner; he's very strong and powerful. Pound for pound he's extremely strong. He's also explosive and has good vision. He's kept working and working and improved into a really good football player. I was glad he decided to walk-on here. He's from the San Jose area (MacIntyre came to CU from San Jose State) and went to Archbishop Mitty High School. We're excited to have him."
NOT OVERLOOKING THE BENGALS: With the Rams put away decisively, the Buffs now focus on Idaho State, a first-time FCS opponent that opened with a 47-3 win against Simon Fraser.
Idaho State, of the Big Sky Conference, is 0-12 against Pac-12 opponents while CU is 11-6 against Big Sky members. The Buffs' most memorable recent loss against a Big Sky member was 19-10 to Montana State in 2006 in Dan Hawkins' CU debut.
Montana State's coach was Mike Kramer, who now coaches Idaho State and is 17-41 in five seasons. MacIntyre, who has never coached against Idaho State, said the Buffs have been shown highlights of Montana State's win in Boulder.
"All we have to do is tell them about the head coach Mike Kramer," MacIntyre said. "He's a heck of a coach; he's won everywhere he's been. He's not afraid of coming in here, I know that."
In Tuesday morning's work, the Buffs weren't as crisp as MacIntyre would have liked. "Tuesday practices are always tough, because you put the pads back on," he said. "We got a lot accomplished today in practice. The guys that were beat up a little bit have been in the training room and being observant in the meetings. All of that type of stuff tells you that they're ready to go. They've got to keep pushing."
Asked to describe the team's attitude after the blowout opening win, Liufau said, "Definitely not cocky. I think that being in the program for three years when you're in a lot of close games, you get into this mindset of not wanting to give any up and that's definitely the mindset of this team going into this week.
"We don't want to give any games away, we don't want to have any close games if possible. So we treat Idaho State with the greatest respect. They're a great team and anything can happen in any given week in college football, so we want to come I out strong and put our best foot forward."
Added Awuzie: "We still only have one goal, and Colorado State was kind of a speed bump on the way to that goal. They were definitely a great team, and we went 1-0 that week and we're trying to go 1-0 this week. It's just the same mindset, we're really even keeled right now. Everybody on this team is pretty humble, and 'Coach Mac' stressed that to us the other night to be humble and hungry. So we're still humble and hungry and we know that we have a lot of work to turn this program around. Our confidence has always been high throughout the entire time I've been here, no matter what."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
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