BOULDER – “Welcome To The Fight” is just one of several slogans that have been connected to this year’s Colorado Buffaloes. They rode, rose and didn’t blink, now they have their biggest fight of the season. Advancing past Utah, clinching the Pac-12 South, finishing the regular season in the top 10 with a 10-2 record, the Buffs are going to Santa Clara to face Washington for the Pac-12 Title.
“‘Welcome to the fight’ and ‘Don’t blink’ They just kept going and they never blink,” MacIntyre said of the phrase that described the Rumble in the Rockies. “They don’t let anything get them down, they just keep playing. We’re going to find a way. That’s what you have to do if you want to be a championship team because you’re never going to always be pretty. You’d like to win every one of them 41-7, but that’s not going to happen.”
The title tilt, just like this week’s rumble was not expected to carry the implications for the Buffs that it does. But MacIntyre, who has been preaching ‘fight’ since day one of this season almost precariously predicted where the Buffs would be in December.
“Coach Mac sent a text out last year on December 31st,” Jordan Carrell recalled. “He said, ‘I can’t wait to coach you 2016 Pac-12 champs.’ Just looking back at that text, it is a great feeling to know that we made it to this championship and now it is time to really give Buff Nation what they deserve – and that is to win another championship out here in Colorado. I just can’t thank this team and these coaches enough for preparing us well… It’s going to be a great one on Friday in Levis Stadium.”
“I’m really excited for these young men that we have the opportunity to experience this. Washington’s goal is to win the Pac-12 and our goal is to win the Pac-12,” MacIntyre explained. “It’s going to be a great game. It’s exciting to have the best team in the north and the best team in the south going up against each other. It’s going to be spectacular. I think it’s been a while since either one of us to get to a championship game. It’s really exciting.”
From worst to first, the Buffaloes did it too, becoming the first team in conference history to do so.
“Very exciting to be able to grind one out. The defense really stepped up today and offensively, we were hot and cold. It just came down to one and one match ups but shout out to the defense holding Utah’s offense. It was really big all game. It’s a great feeling to put in the hard work with these guys and to finally get something out of it. We have been working hard for the whole time I’ve been here and we don’t have much to show for it but this year we do. I can’t thank the defense enough and guys like Devin [Ross]; the guys you all don’t really want to interview or talk to all the time, those guys are stepping up this year and making plays. I really struggled today in terms of keeping hold of the ball. I fumbled twice but the defense had my back today, the offensive line had my back and the receivers had my back. I think because we are such a close team now, it makes everything that much sweeter.”
Colorado’s efforts resulted in having their tickets punched to the title game. It will be the fifth conference championship game in program history (the four others came in the Big 12).
“It shows that we have so much potential even playing as bad as we did overall on the offensive side of the ball,” Devin Ross detailed. “It shows how much potential we have in the upcoming weeks so we have a lot of game planning to do for the next couple of weeks and we’ll execute.”
The fight in which the Buffs have displayed in each individual bout this season will be needed one more week if the team wants to go from No. 11 in the conference last season to No. 1.
As Mike MacIntyre might say this week, Welcome To The Title Fight.
