Woelk: Former Buffs QB Klatt Remembers His Trip To Bench

BOULDER — Joel Klatt is one of the most productive and successful quarterbacks in Colorado history.

Klatt, now the lead college football analyst for Fox Sports, is still among CU's all-time leaders in passing yards (7,375) and touchdown passes (44). A three-year starter, he led the Buffs to two division titles (Big 12 North) and two consecutive bowl appearances in 2004 and 2005 — still the last time the Buffs played in a bowl in consecutive seasons.

But Klatt also knows what it is like to be benched. Midway through his junior season in Boulder, after consecutive losses in which the Buffs scored just 23 points combined, then-head coach Gary Barnett changed starters in the sixth game of the season, inserting James Cox into the lineup.

"I'm a pretty competitive guy and I was (ticked) off," Klatt said earlier this week. "I was not happy."

The circumstances are no doubt different between Klatt's situation in 2004 and the current situation at Colorado. Buffs starter Steven Montez was benched at halftime of last week's loss at Washington State, and head coach Mike MacIntyre threw the competition open this week between Montez and Sam Noyer.

Still, there are some similarities — and Klatt can certainly reflect from a personal standpoint on what it meant to be watching from the sidelines after starting 16 of the Buffs' previous 17 games.

"To begin with, that decision is never a decision in a vacuum for the parties involved like it is for the fans," Klatt said. "The fans view it in such a stark manner. It's either in or out — and that's just not always the case for the parties involved."

Still, there was no doubt Barnett was trying to inject some life into an offense that had struggled in its first two Big 12 games. Klatt had thrown five interceptions and just one touchdown in losses to Missouri and Oklahoma State and Barnett decided on a change for the Iowa State game.

"I was really pressing and forcing the issue," Klatt said. "Coming off the prior year, when we threw the ball really well, we lost all of our wide receiver production and lost some really good offensive linemen. We were a very young and inexperienced skill position group, outside of basically me and Bobby (Purify, running back). Trying to find our way was just maddeningly difficult. The timing never really quite got there. We were winning some games early, primarily because we were playing really strong defense."

The change, though, didn't last. Cox was ineffective in the first half against ISU, and Klatt reappeared in the second half of a 19-14 CU win, a game probably most remembered for CU kicker Mason Crosby booting four field goals, including kicks from 60 and 54 yards.

There were other circumstances that made the situation unique. The previous offseason, the CU program had become embroiled in a national controversy surrounding recruiting and Klatt had become the de facto spokesperson for the Buffs, patiently standing up time and again in front of the media to answer questions.

"It was difficult," Klatt said. "We had just come off that offseason. Candidly, I was really mad that I had kind of stood in the gap for the program and all of a sudden I was the convenient excuse. Granted, I wasn't playing well and we weren't playing well throwing the football, but that didn't stop me from being mad at the decision."

But the benching — even though it lasted only a half — was more than enough for Klatt. The following week, he returned to practice with one simple goal in mind.

"I can just remember thinking, 'When I get back on the field, I'm never coming off,'" Klatt said.

He lived up to that vow. Klatt started the following week and completed 25 of 46 passes for 346 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions at Texas A&M, where the Buffs dropped a heartbreaking loss in overtime to the No. 17 Aggies.

"I can remember specifically that week thinking to myself of going back to the basics," Klatt said. "I was done trying to take the 'next step' as a player and trying to do too much. I went back to what I felt made us successful throwing the ball the prior year. I simplified it within the offense. I stopped looking for too many things. I went back to my main coaching points: when this happens, you do X. When that happens, you do Y. I think that made us a lot better moving forward that season."

The Buffs then lost their next game at No. 8 Texas, a loss that dropped Colorado to 4-4 overall and 1-4 in conference play.

But just when everyone had counted the Buffs out, Klatt led CU to three straight wins: at Kansas, at home vs. Kansas State and at Nebraska. That was enough to give the Buffs the Big 12 North title via tiebreaker.

Colorado then lost to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game before thumping UTEP in the Houston Bowl to finish with an 8-5 record. Klatt finished that season with a 24-for-33, 333-yard, two-touchdown performance against the Miners.

Klatt's plan to return to the "basics" paid off.

"I was a big believer, and this is the way I was taught via Coach (offensive coordinator Shawn) Watson, that the offense had to be a part of you," Klatt said. "It's like driving a car. If you are driving a car and you're thinking about exactly how hard to push the brake, if you are thinking about every nuance of driving, you will drive yourself mad. You can't drive that way. Driving is just part of what we do. How we accelerate, turn on your blinker, put on your seatbelt. It's just what we do as part of driving.

"That's the way I always wanted to play quarterback, that it was just a part of what I was doing rather than trying to search for the next step. It was very much going back to that, the basics."

Klatt still watches the Buffs as closely as possible. He said he's seen a lack of "rhythm" in the CU offense, adding, "there's no doubt some fundamentals I'm sure they want to clean up."

But, Klatt just chuckled when asked if he would have made the same decision with CU's current quarterbacks. While an analyst by trade, he will always be a quarterback at heart.

It is why, while he and Barnett remain close to this day, Klatt refuses to say his head coach made the right decision 13 years ago.

"All I will say I was a better player and we were a better team because of it," he said.

REDSHIRTS CONFIRMED: Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre confirmed Wednesday that senior running back Donovan Lee and senior wide receiver Kabion Ento will redshirt this year and return for another season in 2018.

"I expect them both back," MacIntyre said. They have to take care of school but they've always done well in school, so they're on top of all of it now. I expect them back, which will be good, because they're both good players that would get a lot more playing time next year than they would this year. They're great kids and they love being here in Boulder."

Ento and Lee will both provide important depth at positions that will be hit by graduation this year. The Buffs lose senior running backs Phillip Lindsay and Michael Adkins II, as well as wide receivers Shay Fields, Bryce Bobo and Devin Ross.

Both will also be expected to vie for significant playing time next year, something that was not going to be the case this year if they had played.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu