BOULDER – Head coach Mike MacIntyre voiced the thoughts of most Colorado Buffaloes fans Tuesday, as he opened the weekly pregame press conference saying, “Our guys are kind of tired of practicing and ready to play a game. We’re excited about Friday night and it’ll be here before we blink.”

Friday will be the first real look that the public gets of the Buffs this season. It will be a showcase for the younger players earning their first snaps, as well as those returning and from significant injuries—Juwann Winfree and Derek McCartney, among others. This matchup will allow MacIntyre to gauge his players in the context of real competition, something he is really looking forward to seeing.

What MacIntyre is looking for from younger players

“It being our opening game, we’ll have to knock a little rust off and every year you have new guys playing, every team in America does,” MacIntyre said. “Every team in America has a couple guys injured or moved positions, so the guys we put out there, we always say ‘you have to star in your role so everyone else’s dreams can come true.’ So they have to star in their role and I believe they will go out there and play well.”

MacIntyre has plenty of confidence in his team, but he also has questions about how the younger players will respond to the bright lights and the big stage.

“We have guys out there that I know can make plays and do things. What happens when a guy makes a play on you – are you going to come back and compete? That’s what we talk about all the time, or are you going to push back and kinda not fight as hard? So that’s what I want to see out of those guys, because they’re gonna make plays on us, but when they make plays how are we going to respond? And with new guys who haven’t played as much, we’ve got quite a few guys who have played a lot, but we’ve got a few key positions where those guys are going to get tested. When they get a play made on them – which everybody does – how are they going to respond? That’s I’m interested to see. I think I know what’s going to happen but they have to go do it in the heat of the battle.”

CU’s plan to contain CSU’s Gallup

One of the biggest battles on the field this Friday will be between CSU’s talented receiver Michael Gallup and CU’s secondary (presumably Isaiah Oliver will handle this matchup). MacIntyre addressed the game plan for containing Gallup and complimented the wideout’s athletic abilities.

“He’s an excellent receiver. Last year they tried to get the ball to him quite a few times but they weren’t as successful as they were later in the season, I think they’ve got better timing with him and Nick, and how they’re utilizing him. He’s a big athlete and I noticed him in our game last year because he was a newcomer, and after he caught a couple balls I said ‘woo, that kid’s good.’ I could just tell his athleticism and his speed and his size on the field. He’ll make some of his catches, we just have to keep him from being too explosive and hopefully we can corral him a little bit.”

Stopping Gallup will be key to the Buffs success this week, but CU will have to prevail in every phase of the game to come out on top. Quarterback Steven Montez talked about the guys who protect him in the trenches, as well as what he expects from the offense at the Rocky Mountain Showdown.

Montez’s offensive attack

“The entire offensive line as a unit, I feel like they’ve gotten really strong together. I feel like this is the strongest offensive line that CU has had in a while – at least as long as I’ve been here.”

It starts in the trenches, but Montez sees plenty of ways where the Buffs can best the Rams offensively.

“We definitely can do some stuff with our receivers and our run game that can hurt the Rams defense a lot. There’s a lot of weaknesses in that defense and we’re going to try to exploit them the best that we can. I don’t know if I expect a shootout, but I expect us to score a lot of points.”

With plenty of confidence on the offensive side of the ball, many of the questions will lie with CU’s revamped defense. Safety Afolabi Laguda talked about a major improvement that the unit has made, as well as losing several teammates to the NFL.

Laguda on the new look of the Buffs defense:

“I think we have a quicker defense, a lot more speed in a lot more positions – especially up front, we have a quicker d-line. We have a great athlete in Drew Lewis – he can fly around, he kinda runs around like a defensive back but he’s built like a linebacker. So I think we have a faster defense, we can get sideline to sideline quicker.”

Laguda talked about losing several players to the NFL, but still holding on to their lessons.

“You can’t really make up for that, you just have to keep moving forward, just keep playing and try to bring the young guys up. We all know that Chidobe is irreplaceable – he lit up a room, lit up things on the field. I don’t think you can replace guys like that – you can only revamp or retool. Chido taught us in that defensive backs room where our hearts should be, so that kind of translated to this year.”

With so much left to be decided about the Buffs in 2017, the Rocky Mountain Showdown will give the first glimpse at several important changes. The new defense will finally have a chance to demonstrate what they are capable of, and the CU offense will get its first opportunity of the season to shine. No matter the outcome, football returns to Boulder on Friday.