A sunny Northern California afternoon was just giving way to evening when Mike MacIntyre paused his exit from Stanford Stadium deep in stadium's bowels.
Marked by the drained-yet-joyous expression that has become one of the many signatures of this most improbable of Colorado Buffaloes football seasons, MacIntyre graciously took a moment to answer just a few more questions about his team's latest triumph, a messy but critical 10-5 win against the Cardinal.
Attempting to tread carefully — bristling at even the mere suggestion of good fortune is as much a part of coaching DNA as video study and recruiting spiels — MacIntyre was asked to comment on how all the little things seemed to be falling into place for his Buffs, from Stanford's turnover on a botched first-and-goal snap that afternoon while knocking on the door of a go-ahead score to the rotating Pac-12 schedule that had Washington off the ledger this season.