BOULDER — At some point, “want to” must give way to “follow through.”
Colorado’s defensive backs are tired of talking. They have been for a while. Their intentions are clear. And so far this season, they’re letting everything they have said they want to be actually take place on the field.
Turnovers are the issue.
Last season, the Buffaloes were one of the worst teams in the nation at taking the ball away, creating just 11 turnovers. But one season, one new defensive coordinator and one big boost in confidence later, CU has been creating turnovers like they’re going out of style.
Through three games the Buffs (2-1) have six takeaways, triple what they had through three games last season. Five are interceptions, and that number already eclipses last season’s total of three.
Why?
“I just feel like last year we didn’t communicate as much as a defense,” said junior safety Tedric Thompson. “I feel like this year we’re communicating a lot more. Being our third year with coach (Mike MacIntyre) and bringing in (defensive coordinator Jim) Leavitt, I just think that we’re believing in what Coach Mac is saying, and Coach Leavitt bringing that NFL mentality to us. Just us communicating more and us believing in each other more, that’s why the defense is able to create more turnovers and just have a lot more fun this year.”
Sound simple? It isn’t. Preseason practices were stuffed with drills designed to raise the defense’s aggressiveness and its ability to catch footballs that were tipped into the air or thrown errantly. Because there is no interception without the catch.
CU is catching those passes now. Junior linebacker Kenneth Olugbode returned an interception 60 yards for a touchdown during the Buffs’ 27-24 overtime victory over Colorado State in the Rocky Mountain Showdown in Denver last week.
Winning those matchups on the field has become a good-natured contest among defensive backs, Thompson said.
“On the low, yeah,” he said, smiling. “Like (senior cornerback Kenneth Crawley) is my roommate, so he’ll say it here and there. I think it’s fun. We’re competing against each other, but at the end of the day it’s all still just fun. We have to create those turnovers to give (quarterback) Sefo (Liufau) and the offense the ball back. But at the end of the year I know it’s going to be a competition, like at the banquet, to see who has the most interceptions. Especially in the defensive back end.”
The combination of turnovers caused by the defense and turnovers prevented by the offense is of most interest to Mac- Intyre, who didn’t let two full minutes go by at his weekly news conference before mentioning it. CU’s offense has not turned the ball over in its last two games.
“You always hear it, but last year we were minus-10 in the turnover ratio,” MacIntyre said. “This year we’re doing really well on that side of it. So if we come out of the game causing more takeaways and have less turnovers than the opponent, we’ve got a great opportunity to win football games. Because our talent level is to a point where we can stay with these people and be able to finish games.”
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or @dempseypost
