During his time as head coach at Colorado, Mike MacIntyre has proven that he’s an emotional man on the sidelines.
His emotions got the best of him during Saturday’s 41-24 loss to Oregon, though.
Early in the third quarter, with the game tied at 17-17, CU safeties coach Joe Tumpkin was given a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. MacIntyre went nuts, yelling at Tumpkin and pushing his assistant coach three times in the chest.
On Tuesday, MacIntyre said he was sorry for the incident.
“First of all, it was unfortunate the way it was handled,” MacIntyre said. “That’s not who I am.”
MacIntyre said the situation started when safety Ryan Moeller was slammed to the ground by an Oregon player after a play.
“I asked the official, ‘Are you all going to call that?’ ” MacIntyre said. “He goes, ‘Coach you better get your coaches off the field or I’m going to throw a penalty.’ I turned and saw some of our coaches on the field.”
Tumpkin was several yards onto the field, yelling at officials and got flagged. MacIntyre ran up to Tumpkin and pushed him in the chest three times and vehemently yelled as his assistant.
“I was intense at the moment,” MacIntyre said. “We’re in the heat of a battle. I will not handle it that way again. I’ve got to do a better job of our coaches controlling themselves and me controlling myself. I’m sorry the way it was handled, and Joe and I are fine. There are no issues there whatsoever. That’s something that will not happen again.”
Ramping up
During the past two weeks, quarterback Sefo Liufau was limited in the amount of throws he made during practice, as he nursed a sore shoulder.
Liufau said Tuesday, however, that he’s increasing his workload as he starts to feel better.
“I’ve already thrown a lot more this week than last week,” he said.
That’s a good thing for the Buffs, who could use a sharp Liufau. He’s completed just 58.7 percent of his passes this year, down from his career percentage of 63.3 coming into the season.
“He’s been limited on the amount of throwing reps that he’s taken during the week,” offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren said. “I think that’s hurt him a little bit. I think his percentage will go up and I think we’ll start moving the ball more consistently.”
Double duty for Gonzalez?
So far this season, Diego Gonzalez has handled all of CU’s place-kicking duties, while Chris Graham has handled all kickoffs.
One of the reasons for the split duties was to allow Gonzalez a chance to gain some comfort doing just one job. Through five games he’s 19-for-19 on extra points and leads the Pac-12 with nine fields.
Graham has done a solid job. Only 13 of his 33 kickoffs have gone into the end zone for touchbacks, but he has done a good job with kick placement and CU’s coverage unit has been among the best in the Pac-12. Last week, however, Oregon’s Charles Nelson burned the Buffs with 124 yards on four returns.
On Tuesday, MacIntyre said the Buffs might start using Gonzalez in both roles.
“We’re looking at Diego having a chance to kick off some now that we feel very comfortable about him with field goals,” MacIntyre said.
Notable
Receiver Shay Fields is averaging 12.3 yards per catch so far this season, a big jump from his 9.7 average in 2014. … CU has had three kicks blocked this year (two punts, one field goal). The Buffs didn’t have any blocked in 2014 and only two combined from 2012-14.
Brian Howell: howellb@dailycamera.com, on Twitter: @BrianHowell33.
