It’s impossible to make a second first impression.
Colorado coach Jon Embree acknowledged as much following Saturday’s 34-17 loss to Hawaii at Aloha Stadium.
His first game as a head coach, at any level, was also the Buffaloes’ first as a member of the Pac-12 Conference.
The end result — a 17-point loss to a school from the Western Athletic Conference — isn’t what Embree envisions for the future of Colorado football.
"That’s not us," said Embree, an all-conference tight end for the Buffaloes in the mid-1980s. "What we just put on tape on the offensive side of the ball, that better not be us. We’re better than that."
Things seemed destined to go against Colorado from the very first play, when quarterback Tyler Hansen bobbled the snap from center and had to fall on it for a loss.
Later in the half, the Buffaloes lost left tackle David Bakhtiari to a knee injury and Hawaii made them pay with seven second-half sacks.
"That hurt a lot," said Hansen, who finished 16-for-30 for 223 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. "That definitely messed up a little bit of our chemistry."
Colorado managed to hold Hawaii’s run-and-shoot passing offense in check, winning the passing-yards battle 223 to 178.
The difference was the Buffaloes had no game plan to contain UH quarterback Bryant Moniz once out of the pocket.
Moniz rumbled for three touchdowns, including two that came off missed tackles.
The Buffaloes were able to get to Moniz, evidenced by the five sacks, but the missed ones in the backfield resulted in big plays.
"He beat us with his legs," Embree said of Moniz. "He made two plays where he was just better than us on that play and that’s what it came down to at the end."
After a first half in which it scored no points and totaled exactly 100 yards, Colorado made it a game in the fourth quarter, cutting Hawaii’s lead to 24-17.
The Buffaloes began spying on Moniz and brought its secondary up to take away the short throws, allowing linebackers Patrick Mahnke, Douglas Rippy and Josh Hartigan to each record a sack on a blitz.
Cornerback Travis Sandersfield, who finished with six tackles and a sack, stepped in front of a Moniz pass in the red zone and dropped what might have been an 85-yard interception return for a touchdown. Instead, Moniz completed a shovel pass to Joey Iosefa for a 22-yard touchdown on the next play and Colorado never threatened again.
"That hurts pretty bad not making the play, because we’re down by seven and who knows, I maybe can take it back," Sandersfield said. "That’s why it hurts real deep right now."
