Embree and Buffs lose season opener

The first game for the Colorado Buffaloes under new head coach Jon Embree didn’t go as well as planned.

“Not good. Not A great debut,” Embree said following the 34-17 loss to the Hawai’i Warriors.

The loss makes it 18 consecutive road losses for the Buffaloes, a streak that dates back to October of 2007. Embree emphasized, during the offseason, the ineptitude of the Buffs to win away from the friendly confines of Folsom Field.

“There is no bright side. I’m not a moral victory type guy. We did not win,” said the former Colorado tight end was 7-13 in true road games over his career in the mid-1980’s, “That was our goal. We got to end this losing streak on the road. That is the goal right now. We didn’t do that.”

Colorado’s offense got off to a slow start at Aloha Stadium.  “We were off in the first half. I don’t know what that was,” Embree concluded, the first play was an extremely inauspicious start for the Buffs, “I mean, you fumble the snap on the first play of the game.” CU punted on their first 5 possessions, and went into halftime with 100 total yards of offense.

Bryant Moniz led the nation in passing a year ago with 5,040 yards through the air. But it was his legs, including a touchdown run of 57 yards that surprised some of the Warrior faithful and led the home team into the half up 17-0. “Mo Might not lead the nation in passing this week, but he might lead the nation in rushing,” said Hawai’i head coach McMackin about his now dual threat quarterback.

“You have to give him some credit, too. Seventeen (Moniz) is a heck of a player,” Embree and the Buffs defenders were preparing for an aerial attack from the Warrior senior, “He’s a stronger guy than what I thought. He ran though a lot of tackles.”

Even though CU went into the half, there was still quite a bit of confidence remaining in the Buffs locker room.

“I told the teams at halftime don’t worry about it. Let’s just come out and play and we did. I felt at halftime like we were going to win,” said Embree. The Buffs took only 3 minutes to do just that. A 15 yard strike by senior Tyler Hansen to sophomore Paul Richardson put the ball in the end zone for the first time on the season for the Buffs.

But Hawai’i stole the momentum right back. A 48 yard kickoff return gave the Warriors a short field ending in another Moniz touchdown scamper, one of three on the day, from 1 yard out.

Colorado continued to battle back though, the same combination met up on the next drive, Hansen to Richardson, this time from 21 yards out. Down ten, 24-14, and an ensuing fumble recovery by Conrad Obi and the Buffs put CU in position to strike. Will Oliver made a 34 yard field goal to open the 4^th quarter, to make it a one possession game, at 24-17.

After trading punts, Hawai’i started to put distance between themselves and the Buffs. Joey Iosefa took a shovel pass from Moniz 22 yards to the end zone, extending the lead to 31-17 with only 6:17 to play. Tyler Hansen was then intercepted on a 4^th and 6 from inside the Colorado 30, and Hawai’i tacked on a field goal to put the game away.

“It’s a great win, a great team win. I’m really proud of our players and our coaches,” said McMackin who saw a 10-0 lead disappear, losing 31-17 in Boulder last year, “We let one get away last year (at Colorado). We had that chip on our shoulders. We’ve been working really hard for this.”

The 34-17 loss for the Buffs is not what Jon Embree and company had in mind when they got on the 7 hour plane ride to the Aloha State. But patience is key for Embree and the rest of the Buffs, especially with a Pac-12 opponent (although it is not a conference matchup this year) in California coming to Boulder next week.

“We have to get ready for Cal. We don’t have any choice. That’s who’s coming in,” finished Embree, the Buffs lost 52-7 in 2010, “They whipped our butts last year. We just got to go. We need to get better.”