MacIntyre's Buffs Ready For Visit From Bruins

BOULDER — As the Colorado Buffaloes' number of wins has grown this year, so has the magnitude of each game.

Thursday night, the 6-2 Buffs will play what could legitimately be called their biggest game of the season when they play host to 3-5 UCLA in a 7 p.m. contest at Folsom Field (Fox Sports 1). At stake will not only be maintaining their Pac-12 South lead, but also the national notoriety that comes with a nationally televised night game against a marquee name foe.

"Each game is like a championship game because destiny is in our hands and each team is going to come out and try and win," Buffs quarterback Sefo Liufau said earlier this week. "With three out of the last four games being at home, they're just really important games. The opportunity is in front of us. Usually during this time of the season we're playing for pride and now we have something to play for."

Indeed, for the first time since beginning play in the Pac-12 in 2011, the Buffs have the chance to produce a true November to remember. Currently atop the Pac-12 South standings with a 4-1 conference mark, the Buffs will enter the game ranked No. 21 in the latest Associated Press poll, No. 20 in the USA Today/Coaches poll and No. 15 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings.

All of that, of course, could come crashing down in a hurry with one slip-up against the Bruins.

Thursday's matchup at Folsom, where the Buffs are 3-0 this season, is an interesting twist on a familiar script.

Since entering the Pac-12, the Buffs have gone 0-5 against the Bruins, including a pair of agonizingly close defeats the last two years. But that storyline from past seasons has been flipped. This year, it's the Buffs battling for a division title and a chance to play in the conference championship game while the Bruins, with a 1-4 conference mark, are simply trying to remain in the hunt for bowl eligibility.

Nobody in the Colorado locker room, however, is taking the Bruins lightly. UCLA's record does not reflect the Bruins' talent level. UCLA took seventh-ranked Texas A&M to overtime before falling in the season opener, and has lost by just one score to Utah, Washington State and Arizona State in its last three games.

"UCLA is an excellent football team with a lot of excellent football players," head coach Mike MacIntyre said. "They've played an extremely tough schedule, so they don't have quite as many wins as people would think they would. They're a really, really good football team. They're very talented. They've beat us the last three years I've been here, so it's going to be an extremely tough contest. We've got our work cut out for us."

One talented Bruins who almost certainly won't be in the UCLA lineup Thursday is Josh Rosen, just about everyone's pick as the preseason first team all-conference quarterback. Rosen has been nursing a shoulder injury and is rumored to be out for the season.

But his replacement, fifth-year senior Mike Fafaul, is coming off a 40-for-70, 464-yard, five-touchdown effort against Utah in a wild 52-45 loss to the Utes 10 days ago.

"He's making all the throws, he's doing a lot of good things," MacIntyre said. "Their offense has changed quite a bit with him. It's been interesting to watch what they've done. They threw the ball a ton, they've got great, skilled athletes to get the ball in space. It's going to be extremely tough for us."

Indeed, the Bruins have changed from a team that opened the year determined to establish a running game to a team that seems perfectly willing to throw on almost every down. While Bruins offensive coordinator Kennedy Polamalu (a former CU assistant under Rick Neuheisel) has said UCLA would like to run the ball a little more this week, it won't be easy. The Bruins are dead last in the Pac-12 in rushing, averaging just 85.5 yards per game while the Buff boast the Pac-12's fourth-ranked rush defense, giving up just 129 yards per game.

If the Bruins go to the air as expected, it will be a challenge for CU's secondary. Colorado is second in the Pac-12 in interceptions, and Fafaul had four interceptions to go with his five touchdowns against the Utes.

"We know they're not going to run the ball a lot but we do know it's going to be a big game for the DBs to play in space," CU cornerback Chidobe Awuzie said. "They'll still run some screens, which are basically run plays. We have to make tackles and we're going to have to play the ball in the air."

Offensively, the Buffs will aim to get their offense back and firing on all cylinders. While CU did have a good day in terms of yardage in its last outing, the Buffs' point production fell short in a 10-5 win over Stanford.

Thursday, they would like to get those points back on the board and take advantage of what they know is an edge provided by the altitude in Boulder.

"The key thing is getting into a rhythm," said co-offensive coordinator Darrin Chiaverini. "We have to get Sefo into a rhythm, get our run game into a rhythm. If we can do those things, get first downs, get our tempo going, it's going to affect the other defense, no question about it."

The Buffs will no doubt try to establish a run game early. CU junior Phillip Lindsay is coming off back-to-back 100-yard efforts (219 vs. Arizona State, 131 vs. Stanford) and the Bruins are coming off a dreadful performance by their run defense. Utah's Joe Williams ran for 332 yards and four touchdowns against UCLA, with touchdown runs of 3, 43, 55 and 64 yards.

When the Buffs throw, they'll need a better day from Liufau, who had his first sub-par game of the season vs. Stanford. Liufau said he missed eight throws in the game, something that's been atypical for him this year, as he's still third in the conference in completion percentage (67.4).

"It ultimately comes down to making plays," Liufau said. "The receivers are there, so it comes down to waiting a half a second longer and taking the hit and getting the ball off. Or straight up just making the throw. It's not like we're going to reinvent the wheel, because the throws are there. It just comes down to me giving the ball to our playmakers and letting them go run."

BROADCAST: The game will be televised by FS1 with Joe Davis, Brady Quinn and Jenny Taft. KOA Radio will broadcast the game with Mark Johnson and Gary Barnett.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu