BOULDER — The question was an obvious one: How does Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre prevent his team from looking past Nicholls State — an FCS opponent that comes to Boulder Saturday on a 20-game losing streak — with Oregon coming to town the following week?
In fact, it’s such an obvious question, MacIntyre asked it of the players on his “leadership council” when they gathered for their weekly meeting with him on Monday. They came up with a good answer.
“They said, ‘Coach, show the Sac State game,’ ” MacIntyre said Tuesday.
MacIntyre wasn’t here when Sacramento State came to Boulder and beat CU 30-28 in 2012, but some of his players were. MacIntyre took their advice and put together a lowlight reel from that game to show the team.
“They say a picture’s worth a thousand words,” MacIntyre said. “That might have been a million words. That’s all I needed to say. The young men who played in that game are the ones that brought it up.”
This is the second week in a row that will tax MacIntyre’s powers of persuasion. Last week the challenge was to convince his team to prepare for the Rocky Mountain Showdown against rival Colorado State as if it were just another game. This week he has to get them motivated against an opponent that lost last week to Incarnate Word.
“I think it’s true in anything you do in life, you have to take care of yourself,” MacIntyre said. “If you’re playing an opponent everybody thinks is a great opponent or everybody thinks is poor opponent, you have to take care of yourself, individually and as a team. You have to focus on what you need to do to execute.”
Quarterback Sefo Liufau said that challenge this week will test the maturity of the team.
“You have to respect each opponent,” Liufau said. “Nicholls State is a great team. People will say, ‘Ah, this is an easy game,’ but I think they’re a good team and we have to come out ready to play.”
Short at running back
CU has only one healthy running back this week in Christian Powell. MacIntyre said he won’t know which of his other running backs will be able to go Saturday, so wide receiver Donovan Lee has been moved to the backfield.
“He played running back in high school, he’s played some running back for us in practice,” MacIntyre said. “We’ll just have to see at the end of the week how the other guys feel.”
John Meyer: jmeyer@denverpost.com or
