The Buffs time needs to be soon

Neill Woelk of the Daily Camera addressed an issue Wednesday that bears watching.

How long will and should CU get compliments for effort over success?

To his, credit, coach Dan Hawkins isn't comfortable with the well-intentioned words of others on the Buffaloes he leads into games. He's quoted as saying in Woelk's column "I'm thinking, 'Don't ever thank me for losing a football game.' If you're a competitor, that's how you feel. You have to be grateful for the support, but inside, you have to be saying, 'Uh-oh, that's not the deal.'"

Face it, right now fans are looking for any small victory to grab on to, even if it isn't a win. Playing it close seems to count and the team's ability to keep proper perspective and not become a unit of alarmists has fed into that response.

However, CU is not content, nor should it be with the rapidly accumulating losses piling up like cord wood. The players and coaches are simply accepting the transition the program is in and the reality that getting the school into the win column is a process.

Woelk writes that the Buffs need to finally put the complete effort on the field, one that will result in victory before they again hear "good job."

He's right. The standards have to be raised in fan's minds. This is fifth game of the season. It is time for CU to begin making the plays it hasn't been and stop the plays it has been allowing, and emerge with a victory. Hawkins will get a pass this season on the overall won-loss record but it would be a difficult sell to lose eight or nine games. Few predicted a Bowl Championship Series game as a reward in 2006 but even fewer voiced the potential for a miserable season.

Time for the Buffs to start making some victory speeches and accept losing a little more grudgingly.