BOULDER — Tuesday marked the first day Colorado dialed in on the specific game plan for its first opponent of the season: Hawaii.
“Today was the day we started homing in on (the Rainbow Warriors) hard,” CU coach Mike MacIntyre said.
And if the tenor of practice weren’t telling enough, the “next opponent” flag just off the CU practice fields made no mistake of what was going on. It was changed to the Hawaii name and logo.
“That’s our first game coming up,” MacIntyre said. “Want to remind them what we’re doing, what we’re shooting for and here we go.”
A big part of the preparation is getting the plan down on how the defense plans to attack Hawaii quarterback Max Wittek.
Wittek, a transfer from USC (yes, that USC), was named the starter during the summer despite the fact that he sat out all of last season and despite the fact Hawaii already had a returning starter at the position.
Hawaii coach Norm Chow has showered praise upon Wittek, and on Tuesday Mac Intyre jumped on that bandwagon.
“No. 1, he can throw it 70, 80 yards,” MacIntyre said. “He’s got an extremely strong arm. He’s a big kid, powerful. He’s an excellent player, signed to USC and played there some. So he’s a great player.”
This week is essentially game week on the practice field because next week is so packed. The team leaves early — next Tuesday — for the Sept. 3 season opener (11 p.m. MDT) for a variety of reasons, none the least of which is an eight-hour flight and getting acclimated to a four-hour time difference.
But while they are in Hawaii, there are plenty of other activities planned for the team in addition to practice sessions there.
And yet, MacIntyre said the Buffs haven’t advanced into a fine-tuning phase before the game just yet.
“We’re still practicing,” he said. “We’ve got to keep working.”
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or
