BOULDER – Don’t mention numbers to Sefo Liufau – not right now, anyway. Not after his team’s fifth consecutive loss.
The Colorado quarterback set a school-record for completions in a season during a 38-23 loss to Washington on Saturday.
But that hardly mattered, because for the seventh consecutive season, the Buffaloes (2-7, 0-6 Pac-12) won’t be headed to a bowl game.
This loss cemented that reality.
“I don’t know how much numbers count for if you don’t have the win,” said Liufau, who completed 36 passes Saturday to give him 274 and break the single-season mark (241) set by Joel Klatt in 2005. “It’s glamorous to have the records. That’s nice. Overall, everyone here is for the team. We want to get team success over individual success.”
For a change, Colorado actually jumped out to an early lead.
And then, poof, it quickly vanished. Just the way the season has gone.
The Buffaloes turned the ball over four times, including Travis Feeney’s 30-yard interception return for a touchdown. They also had a special teams breakdown, which allowed an 87-yard punt return for a score by Dante Pettis.
If that wasn’t enough, Colorado couldn’t stop linebacker-turned-tailback Shaq Thompson, who rushed for 174 yards and a score, as the Huskies (6-3, 2-3 Pac-12) snapped a two-game slide.
And now, with no bowl game as an incentive, the Buffaloes will try to pick up the pieces. After all, there still are three games still left.
“You can’t just throw the rest of the season away and say it’s over with,” said Liufau, who threw an interception and lost a fumble. “You have an opportunity to continue to build, continue to learn and get better. That’s the way we have to look at it.”
After being outscored 45-0 in the first quarter by UCLA and USC the last two weeks, the Buffaloes jumped out to a 10-7 lead. Liufau found D.D. Goodson for a 30-yard touchdown on their initial drive of the game. It was the first lead the Buffaloes have had over Washington since joining the Pac-12.
They took a 20-17 lead into the locker room, only to have the game unravel from there – getting outscored 21-3 in the second half.
Pettis hauled in a 28-yard touchdown pass from Cyler Miles, and the extra point gave the Huskies their first lead with 5 minutes, 38 seconds remaining in the third. A minute later, Feeney stepped in front of a Liufau pass and returned it for a score.
Pettis finished off the scoring with his punt return early in the fourth.
Just when the Buffaloes have one area figured out – in this case, their slow starts – something else develops.
“Got to keep finding a way to be an overall football team,” CU head coach Mike MacIntyre said. “Just very, very disheartening.
“We kind of gave them the game.”
MacIntyre knew this wasn’t going to be a quick fix when he arrived in Boulder. It was going to take time.
“When I came here, we were the worst BCS program in the country,” MacIntyre said. “We’re in fourth quarters. We’re in football games. We’re going to win some. We’re going to get there. So, I don’t look at this like, ‘Oh, the world is coming to an end,’ by any stretch.”
Spruce set a school record, too, finishing with 13 catches to give him 90 receptions, which broke the single-season record set by Paul Richardson last year.
“Even though we’re not bowl-eligible anymore, we still need to attack every game, like we’re still fighting for a bowl game,” Spruce said. “If we do let off the gas at all, we’re going to fall back and lose all the progress we made. I don’t think the team’s mentality will be hurt at all after this.”
