BOULDER – As the Colorado Buffaloes beat the Northern Colorado Bears handily 41-21, they left a lot to be desired from Buffs fans. There are questions that remained unanswered and some questions that got answered this past Saturday. Here are some of the main takeaways from week three.
Stefanou answers the bell
One of the biggest questions going into the season was who’s going to kick field goals? Head coach Mike MacIntyre refused to give an answer to who was going to be his place kicker leading up to the game against Colorado State. There has only been one kicker attempt a field goal this season and that’s 30-year-old true freshman James Stefanou, who has gone 5-for-5 in his last two games. Has anyone else mentioned that he’s 30-years-old?
After missing one of his first two career attempts against CSU, Stefanou has been perfect since then and seems to be hitting his stride heading into Pac-12 play. Granted, the longest field goal he’s made was 40 yards, it makes sense to build his confidence with shorter kicks especially since this is the first time he’s ever played American football after coming out of Melbourne, Australia as a professional soccer player. Stefanou has shown he has immense talent kicking the football and could end up being the steal of the 2017 recruiting class. MacIntyre was finally able to get a talented kicker to want to kick at altitude.
Montez continues to grow as a passer
29-for-41 for 357 yards, four touchdowns, and an interception is a pretty good stat line any way you slice it. But like what was published after the game, it was the quietest career day that Steven Montez will have because it was against FCS competition and he didn’t look perfect. But he only made one really poor throw when he had Devin Ross open on a corner route and he severely overthrew him for his only interception of the day.
Montez had a lot more poise in the pocket than in the previous two games, he seemed way more willing to sit in there and throw a dart to one of his receivers. It also looks like Montez is starting to find chemistry with all four of his primary receiving targets. He’s starting to figure out each of their strengths, like utilizing Shay Fields’ speed when he has to improvise or throwing it back shoulder to Bryce Bobo and letting him go and get it. What jumped out the most was the chemistry he had with Ross. It looked like Montez knew that he could really utilize Ross’ speed over the middle against UNC’s safeties and he took full advantage of that. All four of the receivers had touchdowns on Saturday and if this offense wants to reach the heights that they believe they can get to, it will be because they have four ‘go-to’ receivers and not just one.
Next week will define this CU football team
The Washington game will tell us all we need to know about this Colorado Buffaloes team. The Buffs have scampered through their fist three games where they looked off against CSU and then didn’t dominate the way that people expected against their next two opponents. They’re going to need to show a different attitude against Washington, the same attitude that we saw last year when CU played in big games against Michigan and Oregon. If this team has the fight that MacIntyre says they do, they will have to show it against the Huskies. It’s no longer as much about talent as it is about having that will to win and not being intimidated by anyone, which is something the Buffs have yet to show this season. Everything will have to come together to be able to beat one of the top teams in the country but we will truly find out if this team has that ‘dawg’ mentality, as Phillip Lindsay likes to call it, this weekend.
