BOULDER — If UCLA fills up its bulletin board with quotes from Colorado last weekend that just stopped short of guaranteeing a Buffaloes victory on Saturday in Pasadena, that’s no big deal, CU coach Jon Embree said today during his weekly media luncheon.
After the 48-29 victory over Arizona at Folsom Field, Embree and Buffs quarterback Tyler Hansen told reporters that Colorado will go into the Rose Bowl and end CU’s long road losing streak.
Colorado (2-9, 1-6 Pac-12) will face UCLA (5-5, 4-3) at 5:30 p.m. MST Saturday in the Rose Bowl. Embree said he doesn’t get caught up in any implications of so-called “bulletin-board material.” He wants his players to believe they can win, and if they voice that confidence publicly, so be it, he said.
“I expect to win and our guys expect to win,” Embree said. “I don’t get caught up in what Tyler said and what I said in the locker room. It’s the same thing each week — each team thinks they’re going to win.
“It’s no different here. We think we’re going to win this week. We thought we were going to win last week. We think we’re going to win in the future. It’s got to be a mindset.
“You have to think you’re going to win every time you go out there. I’ve been like that. Every time you go out and compete in something, you have to expect that you’re going to win. As corny as it sounds, the first step in winning is believing that you can.”
Embree said he is sure that his son, UCLA senior receiver Taylor Embree, “has said something to them about me saying we’re going in there and win,” Embree said. “And he’s guaranteed that they’re going to beat us.
“Does that make either team play any harder? It does not change how teams are going to play. (UCLA coach) Rick Neuheisel wants to beat Jon Embree’s behind — in anything we do. It goes back to noon hoops when he was here and I was his assistant.
“There’s not a coach in America that doesn’t go into a game thinking his team will win. So, whether it’s said in the locker room, whether it’s said publicly, to me it doesn’t change anything.”
Embree said the Buffs ought to be confident because they’re playing better.
“I like how we’re playing,” he said. “We have continuity. Our skill guys are back (from injuries). Our offensive line is playing together and they’re starting to figure some things out and making adjustments during the game and stuff that we don’t necessarily talk to them about.
“Defensively, I thought that was our best game communication-wise. I’ve been hammering those guys they’re probably tired of hearing me yell, ‘Communicate!’
“There were four or five great examples. We had a blitz coming, and (linebacker) Jon Major let (defensive end) David Goldberg know that Goldberg had (coverage on) the running back if the back did a swing route, which happened. Major and Goldberg made eye contact, and Goldberg was there to force an incompletion.
“Things like that early in the season, they weren’t happening.”
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
