The Rise of the Colorado Buffaloes can be traced back to one word

BOULDER – The Colorado Buffaloes have transformed themselves into a new program, going from cellar dweller to division favorite in just nine weeks. A laughing stock of the country not long ago, the Buffs now find themselves legitimately in the hunt for the College Football Playoff.

Underneath the 6-2 record, the national publicity and the No. 15 ranking lies one big question, though—what changed?

What has made this group of young men so eager to make CU great again? What has propelled them to heights almost none saw possible? Coaches and players have credited their success to many different factors, but at the end of the day, their responses all come down to one word.

“A great leader creates new leaders, not followers,” said three-year captain Sefo Liufau. “I think the biggest thing in a leader is to not just have people follow you but to help others become better. If you just worry about yourself and having people follow you all the time, once you’re gone what do they have to fall back on? That’s the biggest key right there.”

For the first time in recent history, the Buffs are full of experience. Of the 119 athletes on head coach Mike MacIntyre’s roster, 56 of them are upperclassmen. MacIntyre and his staff have believed in the ability of this team since the very beginning, bringing in 109 of the 119 players on this year’s roster. These men have experienced it all with their coach.

“I’ll always keep saying how we were Coach Mac’s first class,” defensive back Chidobe Awuzie stated. “We really understood what he wanted out of us. We’ve been in this program for four years now, so we kind of have that understanding of what he wants from his leaders.  We’ve been through the battles, the blowouts, we’ve blown out some teams, and we’ve been in close games on the winning and losing end. All of that experience really built this team to where it is now.” 

“I’ve said since day one our leadership is good,” the head coach himself added in. “We have so many experienced guys, guys that have been through the battle and the work ethic. They understand that they have to show up every day to improve and keep going.”

The returning players on the 2016 roster had played in 1,072 games in their combined careers heading into the season, the most since the 2005 roster lead by head coach Gary Barnett—coincidentally the last Colorado team to be ranked nationally. With those 1,072 games played, leadership was born through hard work, determination, and motivation to improve. 

“The past three years have been really hard, that last game,” Awuzie remembered. “Knowing that we weren’t bowl eligible and seeing in those senior’s eyes that that was the last time they were going to play Colorado football. The tears in their eyes… it makes you realize that you don’t want to go out that way and that you owe these people something. That really built into us that we can’t make the same mistakes that we did as freshmen, sophomores, juniors, we’ve got to try and become leaders.” 

Awuzie and his teammates won’t have that feeling this season, already having met the six-win threshold necessary for bowl eligibility, but the team MacIntyre loves to call his “dream” is starting to see all of their aspirations become a reality.

The Buffaloes head into Week 10 with an overall record of 6-2 and a conference record of 4-1. The Buffs are nationally ranked in the AP poll at No. 21 and came in at an eye-popping No. 15 in the opening College Football Playoff Rankings.

Although they are succeeding in such a fashion, their past failures help them to remember that there is always room for improvement.

“We aren’t satisfied with where we’re currently at, we want to keep going strong,” said defensive captain Kenneth Olugbode. “All those younger guys need to understand that even though they are coming into things when CU is back on top. They need to understand where we came from and what we went through to get to this point.” 

Before the season began, the upperclassmen on this team knew it was their turn to take control and change things around for themselves. They have aspired to stay “modest and hungry,” as MacIntyre has said in the past, all the while handing off what they’ve learned to their teammates who hold the keys to the future of Colorado Football.

“The biggest thing I want to pass down is to never be satisfied, ” stated Liufau. “It’s easy to fall into a lull—I guess—for lack of better words. To be satisfied with 6-2 or whatever current success is going on, that can really cause a program to lose its edge. If you want to be a team that is always winning, you are always going to want to keep improving, always looking at games you can be better at.”

“I think we have shown them the worth ethic they need to put in, all the hard work,” added Olugbode of the culture they’ve built through their leadership. “When we had 2-10 seasons, we never gave up. They can never give up or give in; every day is a new day if they go out there, wake up and get to work.” 

As it stands, four more games remain in the 2016 regular season, four games for those seniors to solidify the legacy they have already put in place, the “Gold Games,” as MacIntyre calls them.

“It’s really weird; we have a max of five games left, give or take one more,” Liufau remarked. “I think it’s just really weird knowing I’ve played Colorado Football with these guys for four years now and after this year I won’t be playing with the people I’ve been with since my freshman year. It feels great to come out here, play the game that I love with these teammates, we’ve been through the good and the bad and just being able to come full circle is great.”

These upperclassmen have made their mark on the program. They go into their final games realizing that this moment that they’ve awaited for so long will soon fade into a memory. Like any other senior on campus, they are beginning to understand that their clock is ticking, and although other opportunities await, certain aspects of their lives will never be the same. The end is near.

The culture built into Colorado Football by Mike MacIntyre has helped these players in more ways than one. It has forced them to learn from their mistakes, grow, mature and experience a part of life that has not been easy. The brass of the Buffs have been to hell and back, but they were able to embrace their past and use it as motivation to lead themselves and their teammates into the bright future ahead.

The Colorado Buffaloes control their own destiny in the Pac-12 South, and the way this dream season is unfolding, “destiny” seems to be a reoccurring theme as these upperclassmen attempt to lead their school to greatness.