Buffs Excited About Alamo Bowl Bid

BOULDER — For the second time in his head coaching career, Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre has led his team to a bowl berth.

But this time around, MacIntyre will actually get to coach the game.

In 2012, MacIntyre's San Jose State Spartans finished with a 10-2 regular season record and earned a spot in the Military Bowl. But before the Spartans could play in that game, MacIntyre accepted the job as Colorado's head coach. He then watched the SJSU game from home, texting back and forth with his assistants while they took care of the game-day duties.

Guaranteed, MacIntyre won't be texting his assistants on Dec. 29. Instead, he'll be on the sidelines in the Alamodome when his 10-3 Buffaloes (No. 10 College Football Playoffs rankings, No. 11 AP) meet 9-3 Oklahoma State (12/13) in the 7 p.m. Valero Alamo Bowl (ESPN). It will be just one of five bowl games this year with two teams ranked in the CFP top 12.

"That was a tough thing," MacIntyre said of the 2012 bowl game. "All the assistants got to coach in it, then come (to Colorado). I watched it in the living room, texting back and forth with them on the phone before the game and at halftime. That was tough. This will be a lot of fun to experience this with these young men."

MacIntyre met with the media Sunday afternoon at the CU Champions Center just after the Buffs formally accepted the Alamo Bowl bid — and he refused to take the bait when asked whether he and his players were "disappointed" at not earning a Rose Bowl berth.

"We're excited about playing in the Alamo Bowl," MacIntyre said. "We're playing the 12th ranked team in the nation. It's going to be a heck of a game. Our kids are excited about playing in that bowl."

No doubt, the Buffs wouldn't have minded a Rose Bowl invite. MacIntyre said exactly that after CU's 41-10 loss to Washington in Friday night's Pac-12 Championship game.

But "disappointed" is hardly a fair description for a team that has already firmly entrenched itself into the record books. The Buffs produced the biggest turnaround in Pac-12 history (from 1-8 to 8-1 in conference play), won a Pac-12 South title, and have already notched only the eighth 10-win season in CU history — with the chance to still become only the fourth Buffs team ever to win 11 games.

Throw in the fact that this will be CU's first appearance in a bowl game since 2007, and the Buffs are quite happy to be playing in the Alamo Bowl, especially when you consider the "experts" picked the Buffs to finish last in the Pac-12 South.

"I'm really excited," said CU tackle Jeromy Irwin. "I haven't been back to Texas and played a game there since high school. I always play on the West Coast in the Pac-12, so it's pretty nice to go home."

The matchup with Oklahoma State will be the first time CU has faced an old Big 12 foe since leaving the conference after the 2010 season. Colorado holds a 26-19-1 all-time series edge against OSU, but the Cowboys did win the last two, collecting wins in 2008 and '09.

"Oklahoma State's an excellent football team, really high-powered," MacIntyre said. "Mike (Gundy) has done a great job there. It's going to be a heck of a football game with a great atmosphere. We're excited about Colorado going to their first bowl game in 10 years. It's exciting for us to get the monkey off our back for the bowl games and it's a lot of fun. Our kids will be excited about it."

Led by quarterback Mason Rudolph, the Cowboys had the 17th-ranked offense in the nation, averaging 492 yards per game. Rudolph threw for 3,777 yards and 25 touchdowns while throwing just four interceptions.  

While a bowl game is no doubt a reward for a good season, one of the biggest benefits of playing in the postseason is the 15 extra practices teams are given to prepare for bowls. The Buffs will open their bowl practices on Friday, then spread them out throughout the month. They are tentatively scheduled to leave for San Antonio on Dec. 24.

"It will be big for us on the practices, especially for the younger guys, there's no doubt about it," MacIntyre said. "They're going to be able to utilize that. We'll get an extra 10 or 15 practices in with those guys, which is awesome. It's an extra spring practice, which will help accelerate their learning curve and their skill level. With the recruiting side of it, we have a recruiting weekend this weekend coming up and we have some practices around that. That'll be good for those guys to see our practices."

11th WIN POSSIBLE: If the Buffs defeat Oklahoma State, they will finish with an 11-3 record. Only three other teams in CU history have finished with 11 wins: the 1989 team (11-1), the 1990 team (11-1-1) and the 1994 squad (11-1). All three of those teams were coached by Bill McCartney, meaning MacIntyre could become just the second coach in CU history to coach a team to 11 wins.

PAC-12 BOWLS: Six Pac-12 teams will play in the postseason this year. Conference champ Washington will face Alabama in the Dec. 31 Peach Bowl in a CFP semifinal; Washington State will play Minnesota in the Dec. 27 Holiday Bowl; Utah will face Indiana in the Dec. 28 Foster Farms Bowl; Stanford plays North Carolina in the Dec. 30 Hyundai Sun Bowl; and USC will play Penn State in the Jan. 2 Rose Bowl.

2017 SCHEDULE: While the dates haven't been set, the Buffs do know their Pac-12 opponents for next season. CU will play host to Arizona, Cal, USC and Washington next year; and will play at Arizona State, Oregon State, UCLA, Utah and Washington State.

RECRUITING BONUS: Colorado has always made the state of Texas a recruiting priority, and playing a bowl game there will no doubt help. CU currently has 10 players from Texas on its roster: OLB Jimmie Gilbert, OL Jonathan Huckins, DB Uryan Hudson, OL Jeromy Irwin, TE Sean Irwin, OL Sam Kronshage, DT Eddy Lopez, QB Steven Montez, LS Austin Shaw and LB Jacob Stoltenberg.

Overall, Colorado has had 133 lettermen from Texas in its history. Some of the more famous include PK Mason Crosby, WR Cliff Branch, TE J.V. Cain, TB Hugh Charles, TB Charlie Davis, QB Koy Detmer, CB Chris Hudson, C Andre Gurode, TE Matt Lepsis, S Michael Lewis, OLB Kanavis McGhee, C Bryan Stoltenberg, DT Art Walker and OLB Alfred Williams.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu