Last Friday night, Colorado went into halftime with a comfortable 29-0 lead over Stanford, only to see that lead dissolve in the second half as the Cardinal scored 19 points in the second quarter and 17 points in the final quarter to force overtime.
After trading touchdowns in the first overtime, Stanford kicked a field goal in the second overtime to cap an improbable comeback win for Troy Taylor's squad.
The disappointing loss dropped Colorado to 4-3 and the win for Stanford marked their first victory over an FBS opponent for the year.
For Colorado it was the culmination of some early season momentum starting to wear off, and issues that some of the assistant coaches have noticed in practice continued to show up on film come game day.
Earlier in the week, Coach Prime asked his guys how many of them wanted to play in the NFL, to which about 80% of the guys in the room raised their hands.
That is how director of quality control Dennis Thurman opened his opportunity to speak in front of the team, by reminding them all of that moment.
Thurman played nine season in the NFL as a corner, and then spent 18 seasons in the league as an assistant, including stops as a defensive coordinator with the Jets and Bills.
In his very candid talk with the team, he went as far as to call dudes out.
"I don't have a specific position that I'm watching, or coaching right now, so I walk around and I watch all of you guys."
"Some of you have the most horrific practice habits I've ever seen," Thurman shares.
"I hear you guys bitching about your coach. I hear you guys complaining about him getting after you. I hear all of that. I don't say anything, but I hear it, and you don't want to accept the truth."
"Most of you who are not playing, or in your mind are feeling like you aren't getting a chance, it's because you haven't earned a chance."
"You guys say you love it, but then you complain about the work that you have to put in. You don't love it. You do not love it, because if you love something, what do you do? You take care of it."
After Thurman, linebackers coach Andre Hart continues along the same line of messaging.
"See, mastery, if you want to be a master about something, if you want to go to the NFL, if you want to accomplish your dreams, mastery is practice."
"For a master, you're not practicing to get better, it's just the purpose of practicing because it is not result driven, it is the process of it. Don't confuse movement and progress as the same thing. Just because you're at practice and you're moving around doesn't mean you're making progress. You have to have the technique, the focus, the understanding of what you've been taught and you are practicing that every day to become a master."
Two great messages from the Colorado staff here.
Say what you want about Prime, no one can every accuse him or his program of not being completely transparent, and that's a big reason why Colorado continues to pick up fans, win or lose.