Colorado University Athletics
Woelk: Buffs Take Another Step Forward, Turn Attention To Pac-12 Opener Vs. Huskies
September 16, 2017 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Nobody has to tell the Colorado Buffaloes who's next.
With a 3-0 record under their belts and memories of last year's Pac-12 championship game still fresh enough to sting, the Buffs open conference play next Saturday at home with defending league champion and sixth-ranked Washington set to pay a Folsom Field visit (8 p.m., FS1).
Saturday afternoon, the Buffs took care of their last bit of non-conference business, putting away Northern Colorado 41-21. The Buffs' offense enjoyed its most productive day of the year while the defense — although giving up its first touchdown of the season and three long touchdown passes — still came up with key stops when most needed.
Now the Buffs can turn their attention to the meat of the schedule — and after Saturday's game, CU head coach Mike MacIntyre had no need to remind his players who's coming to town next. Everyone who was there a year ago remembers the 2016 conference title game, when Washington outscored Colorado 27-3 in the second half to take a 41-10 win.
"You can't forget it," MacIntyre said. "Our young men will use it as motivation. I won't have to say much about it at all."
Saturday's performance, while by no means perfect, was enough to leave the Buffs with a quiet measure of confidence, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. Sophomore quarterback Steven Montez finished with career highs in attempts (41), completions (29), yards (357) and touchdowns (4), and combined with his 68 yards rushing, joined a list of just three other quarterbacks in CU history with a pair of 400-yard total offense games.
"I think we're continually getting better," Montez said. "I think we're starting to gel a little bit more. I think the O-line is starting to come together, our receivers and quarterback are starting to come together and I think it's just starting to show out there."
Maybe most indicative of the offense's progress was the lengthy scoring drives. The Buffs had four marches to the end zone that covered at least 73 yards, and on each, Montez and his receivers came up with big plays. Four different wide receivers caught at least four passes and all four had touchdown catches.
Perfect? By no means — but in terms of steady progress, the Buffs took another important step in that direction Saturday, something they knew they needed to see with the conference opener just ahead.
"In sports, nothing goes perfectly very often," head coach Mike MacIntyre said. "You have to learn how to adapt and how to handle adversity and handle situations and keep playing. When we won against Washington State and Utah at the end of the year (last season), we were behind and we came back. We just kept playing. It wasn't always pretty but we found a way to win
"I believe this team has the same fortitude and same effort to be able to do that."
The Buffs will need every bit of that fortitude against the Huskies, a team that reached the College Football Playoffs last season and is among the favorites to make a return trip.
"I think we look at it as a chance at a little redemption," said Buffs left tackle Jeromy Irwin, who returned to the lineup after a two-game hiatus. "They got on us pretty bad in the championship game last year and we have to go in with the mindset that we're getting another shot. We're getting a shot at a really good team with really good players and really good coaches. They're at the top of the pack and it's a challenge we have to be ready for."
The Buffs will spend the next week cleaning up areas that still showed some chinks on Saturday. That includes a defense that uncharacteristically gave up a three long touchdown passes, including a pair to wide receiver Alex Wesley.
"They had a good scheme and they got us early with a couple long ones," Buffs cornerback Isaiah Oliver said. "But actually, it's not a bad thing that it happened today. Now we know what to look for, what our weaknesses are and what we need to correct. We know when we come out against Washington what we're probably going to see."
Maybe the biggest bright spot for the defense was its ability to come up with stops when most needed. After the Bears had scored on back-to-back possessions to cut CU's lead to 28-21, the Buffs fumbled deep in UNC territory.
Colorado responded by forcing a punt — and never allowed the Bears past midfield again the rest of the game.
"When you have that sudden change and have to jump up and stop them, that makes you feel good when you do that," said linebacker Drew Lewis, who was credited with a team-high nine tackles and a quarterback hurry. "We gave up some plays, but when we had to get the ball back for our offense when we really needed it, we did that. We made a lot of plays and all that stuff adds up."
Bottom line?
Thus far we've seen a defense with plenty of playmakers and an offense capable of putting together long drives and producing big plays. We've seen the Buffs play well enough in stretches on both sides of the ball to believe they can be a factor in the Pac-12 title chase.
But what we haven't seen is how these Buffs match up against one of the nation's elite teams. Saturday, we'll get that barometer.
The guess here is that the Buffs will show up.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
