BOULDER — The parallels are impossible to miss. Perhaps they offer hope to long-suffering Colorado fans.
Mike Leach compiled a 12-25 record over the first three years of his rebuilding project at Washington State. If Colorado pulls upsets in its last two games — at Washington State on Saturday and at Utah next week — MacIntyre will have an identical three-year record at CU.
Leach, now in his fourth year, has the Cougars at 7-3 overall, (5-2 in the Pac-12), and ranked 24th in the Associated Press poll, their first appearance in the top 25 since 2006.
Another parallel: Last year Washington State opened a new facility it touts as one of the best in the country — and a boon to recruiting. This year CU opened a new facility it touts in similar fashion.
With the exception of its victory at Oregon State last month, CU has been unable to “finish” Pac-12 games the past two seasons. Last year the Buffs lost four conference games by a total of 15 points, two in double overtime. This year they have lost three by a total of 14 points. Washington State, by contrast, has won conference games this year by seven (Oregon), three (Arizona) and four (UCLA) points. Against UCLA last week, the Cougars scored the winning touchdown with three seconds left.
“They’ve won some dramatic games,” MacIntyre said.
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Every school is different, of course, and Washington’s State challenges are not all the same as CU’s: Different demographics, different recruiting areas, different academic standards.
“You play in the same conference, but you play different schedules,” MacIntyre said. “But Mike has done an excellent job there. You can see his program, what he’s trying to do. You just keep working, you set your program in place, you set your culture in place and then you keep recruiting to it. You keep working and keep watching your team mature to it. They’ve done that in a lot of ways.”
Leach sees in CU in a very similar situation.
“They’re kind of in the same spot we are now, from the standpoint a lot of these games have been kind of by an eyelash,” Leach said on the Pac 12 media teleconference. “We’ve come out on top on some of them, but they’ve been close on all the same people we’re close on.”
Either Washington State has learned to “finish” — which CU has not — or Washington State has been as lucky as CU has been unlucky.
“Definitely they’ve turned the corner,” MacIntyre said. “They’ve made some plays. If they would have overthrown one of those balls, or a couple of them got tipped away, you might not say they turned the corner. I think that’s what he’s saying — they’re close, and they’ve made some of the plays. That’s a credit to them. We need to try to make some more plays like that in close games.”
Senior CU defensive end Justin Solis won’t be around next year to see if MacIntyre’s fourth season unfolds the way Leach’s has.
“I can see the similarities between the two programs,” Solis said. “Unfortunately, we haven’t done as well as they have this season, but I feel like this team is really on the up. I feel like in the coming years, these guys are going to be a good team. I just hope I did enough to help in this whole rebuilding process.”
John Meyer: jmeyer@denverpost.com or @johnmeyer
