I see stagnation of ideas and talent. It's uncanny how the futility of a Sefo led offense inside the red zone transferred to Apsay. CU's offense is painful to watch when its first and goal.
The fallacy in logic by some on this board points to comparison of MacIntyre's Buffs versus the impossibly low bar set by Embree's teams. The Buffs showed a large jump from being undeniably among the rock bottom worst of D1 football to a middling team that is low by P5 standards, but competitive with mid-level conferences.
Using easily accessible statistical measures, it's easy to see the Buffs are no longer at the rock bottom of 120 teams, but more in that 60-80 range. CU's current roster of players and coaches would seemingly be more competitive in a Mountain West or ConfUSA than they are in the PAC or B1G or SEC.
The logic that we don't see discussed enough is how the 2015 Buffs stack up against the 2014 MacIntyre team. At the most basic level, the conference win versus Oregon State this season is progress because 1 conference win is better than none.
If you look deeper, however, the 2014 Buffs played several teams to a tie during regulation, only going on to loose in OT. The 2015 Buffs are not making it to OT. The recurring theme between last year and this year is an absolute absense of a killer instinct that is capable of turning 2nd half Buff leads into a victory. The Buffs are exciting to watch versus Embree teams because under the Buffs now are mostly "competitive". Victory might be in reach against P12 foes late in the game. But no matter how competitve the Buffs may be, it remains very predictable that the Buffs will most certainly choke when the game is on the line.
This recurring story line of "close but no cigar" is the hallmark of the MacIntyre era thus far. It turns out that the influence of Jim Leavitt on defense has slowed down opponent's offenses, up until the point where the ball is handed back to an anemic offense who is okay at sustaining drives between the red zones, but absolutely horrid at turning red zone visits into points.
Two biggest areas of need for improvement, IMO, is with recruiting and inside the red zone preparation. If MacIntyre doesn't remedy these two areas in 2016, he's done. If he addresses these areas, his seat wouldn't be so hot. There is no appetite for fans for next season to be another "lose close" carbon copy of 2014 and 2015.
I'm on board with MacIntyre only if recruiting speed and size on par with the middle of the P12 conference, and the offense can not repetitively screw up first and goal.