BOULDER — You want to know why the Buffs would run through Hades in a gasoline suit, to paraphrase the late Pete Rose, for Robert Livingston? Because he’ll do the same for them. No matter how badly his lungs burn.
“I always thought he was a very confident young man. Whenever something would go wrong, a mistake, he wouldn’t let it bother him,” Jimmye Laycock, who coached CU’s wunderkind defensive coordinator at William & Mary, told me recently by phone. “He wasn’t cocky about it. He was very confident about it. (He’d say), ‘We’ll get it next time.’ ”
True story: As punishment for the penalty incurred while celebrating a Travis Hunter interception at CSU last month, CU defenders were required the next week to run five gassers for every flag tossed at the victorious Buffs. Rather than pile on, rather than play the bad cop, Livingston ran those gassers right alongside his guys.
“CU got somebody who brought solid stability to that defense,” Laycock said. “He’s not going to be a fly-by-night, knee-jerk-reaction type of guy, and try to change things overnight. He’ll build it the right way.”
He’s built a beast. The Buffs went rolling into a massive home showdown with Cincinnati late Saturday night giving up 21.9 points per game, a stat that might not blow your mind at first glance. But it should when you frame it within the knowledge that a) CU’s posted that number while taking on the pass-happy, spread offenses in the Big 12; b) the Buffs gave up 34.8 points per game a year ago; and c) CU’s defenses, relatively speaking, have largely stunk over the last decade.
Stat to clip and save: The Buffs since 2014 have finished a season giving up less than 22 points a game just once — in 2016 when CU went 10-2 and shocked the experts by winning the Pac-12 South. Defense wins you-know-whats.
In his first season as a play-caller anywhere, at any level, Livingston has the Buffs putting up Jim Leavitt numbers. Which means Deion Sanders’ secret weapon is becoming less of a secret each week.
CU’s giving up 12.3 points per game on the road over their last three trips away from BoCo. In four road tilts on the season, they’ve surrendered just 3.3 points per game after halftime. Nebraska, CSU, UCF and Arizona all followed the same script — if you don’t get the Buffs early, you’re not getting ’em at all. Period.
“Just being around him, he brings excitement, he brings joy,” CU defensive ends coach Vincent Dancy said of Livingston recently. “You can see the smile because that’s what he makes you do — even though it’s a bad play, he’s still smiling. He’s still upbeat. He’s still running around. He still has a lot of joy on the sideline, man. The way these guys play, they play off him. As you can see.”
It’s not just the coaches. Or the players. It’s the optics. One of the prevailing images of last fall at Folsom Field was the visage of then-defensive coordinator Charles Kelly, whose face fluctuated between two expressions during the course of a game — growing concern and outright panic. Livingston, by contrast, has come off as a cross between Arthur Fonzarelli and Bill Belichick, a beacon of cool and confidence.
It’s taken a village to turn around one of the worst defenses in the FBS in 2023. Does Travis Hunter help? Oh, no question. Better players? Sure. Better coaching? No question. A bunch of transfer wins? Absolutely. Simpler schemes that allow guys to fly around more and think less? Apparently.
But there’s been something intangible going on here, too. A trust. A confidence that trickles down not just from the head coach with the gold jacket, but from the coordinator, himself a standout safety at William & Mary under Laycock all those years ago.
“I love his energy,” Buffs defensive tackle Chidoze Nwankwo said of his coordinator.
“Having him around is just exciting. It makes you want to play for him. It makes you want to just go to work and attack every day.”
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The Buffs locker room had one eye on the portal and one eye on a killer Pac-12 slate last year. It showed, especially late. Livingston was brought in from the Bengals for his ability to unify and rally NFL guys with NFL talent and NFL egos. He’d learned under some of the the best, from Laycock and collegiate defensive coordinator Bob Shoop to Cincy coaches Marvin Lewis, Mike Zimmer and Lou Anarumo, the latter of whom is one of the few play-callers on the planet who’ll tie Patrick Mahomes in knots schematically.
Livingston’s Cover-1 base hasn’t just improved from quarter to quarter, half to half — it’s taken on layers, added wrinkles, from week to week. Before the Arizona game, his old boss Lewis had encouraged him to mix up his looks, and it paid off big-time in Tucson. The Wildcats, who boast future NFL studs at wideout (Tetairoa McMillan) and quarterback (Noah Fifita), were stifled to seven points, 138 passing yards and 245 total yards. The Buffs piled up seven sacks while turning the hosts away on eight of 11 third-down attempts — all while only having the services of Hunter for the first half.
“Very confident guy. Very confident approach,” Laycock said. “I don’t remember him getting really high or really low on things. Which has served him well in coaching.”
Very well, now that you mention it.
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