BOULDER — Colorado fans have heard it all before, but that doesn’t negate the sincerity of the heartache coach Mike MacIntyre expressed late Saturday night after yet another Pac-12 loss.
“I hurt for my team, I hurt for those kids,” MacIntyre said after the Buffs gave up 21 points to Arizona in the fourth quarter and . “I’m proud of how they always fight. We have to find ways to get it done. I’ll be hurting more in the middle of the night, to be honest with you.”
An offense that gave up eight sacks the week before at Arizona State suffered only two, and one was clearly a coverage sack as quarterback Sefo Liufau ran around in the backfield for a long time looking for a target.
Wide receiver Shay Fields had a huge game with eight catches for 168 yards and two touchdowns before suffering a high ankle sprain on his second score. Running back Phillip Lindsay rushed for 93 yards on 23 carries. The defense held Arizona scoreless in the second and third quarters, after it looked like the visitors would run the Buffs out of their own building early on. The Buffs even won the turnover battle, 2-1.
But it was yet another loss, causing MacIntyre to worry about his players losing hope.
“That’s what I was telling them after the game, how much I appreciate them, how much I love them, how much I care for them,” MacIntyre said. “This is tough when you’re a young man and putting all your heart and soul and time into something, but you have to find a way to keep moving forward. If you just shut it down and stop and give in, then you’re going to give in later on in life.”
Liufau had an interception and a fumble in each of the previous two games, but he had a clean game Saturday, throwing for 339 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for two more.
“We have a team of fighters,” Liufau said. “It sucks to lose, but we never quit.”
Two weeks earlier the Buffs were tied with Oregon 17-17 at halftime. The halftime score Saturday night was the same, and the Buffs took the lead at 24-17 early in the third quarter, but they couldn’t finish.
“Very frustrating, obviously,” said offensive tackle Stephane Nembot. “We fought hard and we thought we were putting ourselves in a position to win a game and it just didn’t happen. We have to go back out there and practice hard and focus on the next one. Keep pushing, basically, and keep fighting. That is all we can do right now.”
That next one is at Oregon State, 0-3 in the conference and 2-4 overall, but it looks like Liufau will be without his most explosive target. Fields had a 72-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter, and Saturday was his second 100-yard game of the season. He had five catches for 103 yards against Oregon.
‘Everybody has to step up and be able to pick up Shay’s load,” Liufau said. “He is a great player, and I hope he is not out for long, but we have plenty of guys who can stand up and be able to make big plays for us.”
John Meyer: jmeyer@denverpost.com or
Eye on… The Beavers
Colorado at Oregon State, 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Pac-12
For the record: The Beavers are 2-4, 0-3 after losing 52-31 to Washington State.
Who’s hot: Freshman quarterback Seth Collins rushed for 124 yards and a touchdown against Washington State. Collins leads the team with 486 yards.
Who’s not: The defense isn’t even slightly warm. Against Washington State, it had allowed 399 yards just in the first half. Washington State had 520 yards for the game.
Streaking: Senior running back Storm Woods is only the second player in Oregon State football history to have 2,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving.
Key stat: Wide receiver Victor Bolden became the fourth player in school history to return a kickoff 100 yards, doing it against Washington State.
FYI: Oregon State’s three eligible quarterbacks are all freshman, including Collins — a true freshman.
Irv Moss, The Denver Post
