Colorado seeking first road win since 2007
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In this photo taken Aug. 17
Millions travel to Hawaii every year to enjoy the sand, surf and sun. Buffaloes, however, apparently aren’t allowed anywhere near the water in Waikiki.
In hopes of snapping a 17-game road losing streak — 18 if you count a loss in the 2007 Independence Bowl — first-year Colorado coach Jon Embree didn’t allow any beach time for his players as they prepared to open the season at Hawaii on Saturday night.
"The only beach they’ll see is when they land and take off. I’m telling you, it’s a business trip," Embree said. "So they either have to get married and have a honeymoon there or maybe we go back there for a bowl game. It’s not about the beach."
The Buffaloes, making their debut as a member of the Pac-12, haven’t won on the road since beating Texas Tech on Oct. 27, 2007. And Embree isn’t shy about addressing the streak.
"It’s not OK to lose 18 in a row," he said. "The only way you get that point across is to talk about it. I think if you don’t talk about it you’re pretending like something hasn’t happened. You’re pretending like it’s not there. I’m not afraid of it and they’re not afraid of it. They understand the challenge that’s in front of them and looking forward to it."
Only five players on this year’s squad experienced Colorado’s last road victory, including senior guard Ryan Miller.
"It’s humongous. I don’t care what anybody says," Miller said about getting a road win. "This is where we’ve got to start. … We’re going to play football. We’re not going to enjoy the islands of aloha."
The game marks the first time that Colorado is opening with a true road game since whipping Wisconsin in 1995 in coach Rick Neuheisel’s debut.
But winning in the islands is no easy feat for any visiting team. The Warriors were 6-2 at Aloha Stadium last year, the fifth straight winning season at home. In addition to all the distractions of playing in paradise, Colorado had to endure a 3,300-mile flight and a four-hour time change.
Colorado will also be facing a Hawaii team still stinging from last year’s loss in Boulder. Hawaii controlled the first half and took a 10-0 lead into the locker room, but ran out of gas in the second half and lost 31-13.
"First half we were like, ‘Yeah. We’re doing it.’ Then it comes back to bite us in the butt," said Hawaii linebacker Corey Parades, who had a career-high 16 tackles in the game. "We can’t let that happen to us this year. That kind of stuff humbled us as a team and gave us a reality check."
Parades, who led the Warriors with 151 tackles last year, said the loss was a learning experience, which helped the team focus and regroup. Hawaii would win nine of its next 10 games, with its only loss coming to Boise State, and finish the season 10-4.
For Saturday, Parades is being moved to weakside linebacker from his usual middle linebacker position after Aaron Brown was suspended for the game because of his arrest a week ago following a fight at a Waikiki nightclub. Hawaii is also without starting 6-foot-4, 230-pound wideout Darius Bright, who was also arrested and replaced by Allen Sampson, generously listed as 5-foot-7 and 145 pounds.
While Hawaii returns six starters on defense, it returned only three on offense and lost a lot of firepower, including receivers Greg Salas, Kealoha Pilares and running back Alex Green, who were all drafted in the NFL.
The Warriors will still air it out behind quarterback Bryant Moniz, who last year led the nation in yards passing per game (360) and touchdown passes (39). He became just the 11th Football Bowl Subdivision quarterback to break 5,000 yards in a season. Moniz said the new faces are ready to step up.
"It’s just a different person in the helmet. We still have the same offense and our great coaching staff that taught Kealoha and Greg. Now they’re teaching new guys," Moniz said. "It’s just going to take some time to get comfortable in a game situation. But I think they’re ready and hungry."
Embree doesn’t think Hawaii’s offense will be any less effective.
"As long as they have the trigger guy it doesn’t really matter. I kind of equate it to Peyton Manning," he said. "He had guys go down last year and they just plugged some other guys in and he just kept on going. Their offense as long as they have their quarterback back there, they’ll be just fine."
Colorado will have senior quarterback Tyler Hansen, who hasn’t played a game since rupturing his spleen Oct. 23. Hansen said he’ll try to help control the ball and clock to help the defense out and keep Hawaii’s explosive offense off the field.
"They can’t do much on the sideline, so we’re going to try to keep them on the sideline as much as possible," he said.
Hawaii is favored to win the WAC in its final season in the league before leaving for the Mountain West Conference. Last year, it was picked to finish near the bottom, but ended up winning a share of the WAC title. The Warriors have relished the underdog position, but they’re in a new position this year without Boise State in the conference.
"I think we have good players. I think we have good leadership. I think we have a good, young team, but we’ve got to come out and perform," Hawaii coach Greg McMackin said. "I can’t predict (how we’re going to do this season). If I could do that, everybody in Vegas could be doing that. All I know is this team has really worked hard."
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Freelancer Monica Costello in Boulder, Colo., contributed to this report.
