Mike Leach had a very similar record to Mike MacIntyre his first three seasons at Washington State. Now, in his fourth year there, the Cougars are ranked 24th. (AP Photo/Young Kwak)
Boulder — Some see Washington State’s rebuilding program much like Colorado’s. Coach Mike Leach is in his fourth year and was 12-25 the last three seasons. This year the Cougars are 7-3 (5-2 in the Pac-12), and this week they are ranked 24th in the AP poll, their first appearance in the top 25 since 2006. Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre is in his third year at CU, where his record is 10-25.
Washington State, which hosts the Buffs Saturday night, has a fancy new facility to help with recruiting. Colorado opened a new facility this season.
Leach sees a different similarity between the programs: Close games. But the Cougars are winning them, while the Buffs lose.
“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 at his weekly media conference Monday. “We’ve come out on top on some of them, but they’ve been close on all the same people we’re close on.”
Leach was asked if Colorado was more “dangerous” because it is running out of chances to win. After this week’s game the Buffs close their season next week at Utah.
“I think they’re dangerous anyway,” Leach said. “I think they play real hard. They do some good stuff and I think they’re explosive on both sides of the ball. They blitz more than most teams in our conference, and offensively they move the ball all over the place, got a little razzle-dazzle to them to keep you guessing.”
