Takeaways From Buffs' Win Over UCF
September 29, 2024 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — If you checked the Big 12 standings Sunday morning, you saw three teams atop the standings with 2-0 league records: BYU, Colorado and Texas Tech.
For those of you keeping score at home, those teams were picked ninth (Texas Tech), 11th (Colorado) and 13th (BYU) in the Big 12 preseason media poll.
So much for expert analysis.
But fact is, all those folks who tried to predict the Big 12 order of finish in the preseason were basically throwing darts in the dark. The only thing resembling a guarantee when the season began was that there would be plenty of parity in the conference, and the results thus far have borne that out.
Utah, just about everyone's pick to win the league but a team once again missing its starting quarterback, is now 1-1 in conference play after a 23-10 loss to Arizona. Kansas State already has a blowout loss to BYU on its resumé, Oklahoma State has two league losses, Arizona is also 1-1 in conference play and … well, you get the picture.
This is almost certainly a league that won't be decided until the final weekend. It's hard to imagine anyone making it through the conference slate unscathed, and it's already fun guessing how far down the list of tiebreakers officials will have to go in order to determine the two qualifiers for the conference championship game.
Sunday morning's latest AP national rankings reflected that parity. No Big 12 team is ranked in the top 15. The highest ranked Big 12 squads are 4-0 Iowa State (16), 5-0 BYU (17), 4-1 Utah (18) and 4-1 Kansas State (20).
In the "others receiving votes" category are Arizona, Oklahoma State and … you guessed it, Colorado.
Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders' team no doubt turned a few heads Saturday with a 48-21 thumping of Central Florida. The Buffs were solid in all three phases, limited their mistakes, created opportunities and took advantage of those opportunities. The game might have been the most complete performance by a Buffs squad in years.
Now, it's hard to look at CU's remaining schedule and see a team the Buffs can't beat. (Of course, the flip side of that argument is that all that parity suggests the reverse is also true.)
But what we do know is the Buffs have continued to improve on a weekly basis, which leads us to our takeaways from Saturday's 48-21 win over UCF:
1. Nebraska game turning point. Since the end of the first half of CU's 28-10 loss in Lincoln, the Buffs have been a different team.
In the 14 quarters since halftime of that game, Colorado has outscored opponents 124-61 while outgaining them 1,417-1,236. The Buffs' defense has forced nine turnovers in that stretch while the offense has turned it over just twice, and CU has not given up more than seven points in the second half all season.
A different team? Not really — but the resilience the Buffs showed in that second half in Lincoln has carried over. CU is now a confident team with some wind in its sails and it all might have started at halftime of a disappointing road loss.
2. Depth continues to show. A year ago, the Buffs had no room for error when it came to quality reserves. As the season wore on and injuries took their toll, Colorado simply didn't have the horses to fill in the holes.
But this year is a different story. The Buffs have already lost a handful of key contributors for a game or two — and reserves have stepped in and produced more than adequately.
At different junctures this season, the Buffs have been missing a starting safety (Shilo Sanders), a starting defensive lineman (Chidozie Nwankwo), a key running back (Dallan Hayden), a defensive end (Dayon Hayes) and a starting offensive lineman (Khalil Benson).
In every instance, the Buffs have plugged in a reserve and not skipped a beat. That's a good sign not only for this year but the future. Development of depth is critical and in Year Two of the Coach Prime Era, the Buffs are showing they can succeed in that area.
3. Defensive coordinator Robert Livingston continues to impress. When Livingston arrived in Boulder, he had never called a defensive game. He also came without any preconceived notions. Instead of forcing a playbook on his players, he found out where they excelled and crafted a defensive plan accordingly.
The result has been not only much better results than a year ago, but also a group of defenders who love his approach.
"The way he coaches, the scheme that he sets up for us — it's a scheme that all of us love to play," said safety Cam'Ron Silmon-Craig after Saturday's win. "They play to all our strengths."
4. Shoutout to O-line coach Phil Loadholt. There might not have been a more-maligned group in the Big 12 than CU's offensive line, which had given up 16 sacks in the first four games. At the same time, CU's running attack also struggled.
But Loadholt has continued to push and prod his group, mixing and matching the lineup while also stressing technique and perseverance.
The result Saturday was CU's best rushing effort of the season (128 yards, 4.4 yards per carry) and a clean pocket for Shedeur Sanders for much of the afternoon.
5. And a shoutout to offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur. After decades in the NFL, Shurmur has quickly adjusted to the college game. He's put QB Sanders in position to succeed and is making the most of what is arguably one of the deepest receiving corps in the nation.
He's also showing a knack for making the most out of a few precious minutes. There was no better example than the final seconds of the first half Saturday when CU took over at the UCF 35-yard line with 7 seconds on the clock. Shurmur called a quick pass to running back Micah Welch that gained 7 yards and still left 2 seconds on the clock.
That put the Buffs in the comfort zone of kicker Alejandro Mata, who knocked through a 46-yard field goal as time expired to give the Buffs a 27-14 lead at the break.
6. Little plays that made a big difference. Speaking of that end-of-half sequence, it wouldn't have been possible without a big 27-yard punt return from Jimmy Horn Jr.
Horn fielded the kick, raced around the corner of the coverage team and picked up valuable yardage — then skipped out of bounds to stop the clock and give CU enough time to complete the scoring drive. It was a heads-up play that many folks won't remember, but one that could have been a difference-maker in a close game.
7. Big-play defense. As we mentioned earlier, CU's defense has produced nine turnovers in the last three games, leading to 28 points. Those are the kind of momentum-shifting plays that can make a difference in close games.
But CU's red zone defense also came up big Saturday at UCF. Colorado twice turned the Knights away when they were knocking on the door of the end zone. A first-and-goal at the 5-yard line ended with an interception by CU's Preston Hodge and a first-and-goal from the 2 ended just short of the goal line on a fourth-down tackle by Nikhai Hill-Green.
In a 48-21 win, it's hard to say that the first red zone stop was a difference maker — but it certainly swung momentum in CU's direction and helped set the tone for the rest of the day.
8. Improved third-down percentage. A year ago, Colorado allowed opponents to successfully convert third-down tries 47 percent of the time while the CU offense was successful on just 39 percent of its attempts.
So far this year, the numbers have flipped. CU is successfully converting 45 percent of its third-down attempts while holding opponents to just a 35 percent success rate. On Saturday, UCF was just 6-for-18 on third down attempts.
Those overall numbers amount to roughly four different drive outcomes a game — two more unsuccessful possessions by the opponent and two more successful marches for the Buffs.
That's a significant difference.
9. Second-half dominance. We touched on this earlier, but it's difficult to overstate the importance of the Buffs' effort in the second half.
In five games this year, Colorado has outscored the opponents 73-26 in the second half, plus 7-0 in overtime. That's a testament to CU's conditioning, depth and halftime adjustments. While the Buffs have been outscored in both the first and second quarters, they have dominated the third and fourth periods — one very big reason behind their 4-1 record.
10. Our weekly Travis Hunter reminder. Every week, Colorado's two-way star just offers up more evidence that he should be a strong candidate for the Heisman Trophy.
Saturday, he finished with nine catches for 89 yards and a touchdown, two tackles, a pass breakup and an interception — his second game this year with a TD reception and an interception. For the season, he has 46 catches for 561 yards and six touchdowns on offense, with 16 tackles (two for loss), three pass breakups, two interceptions and a forced fumble on defense.
He's also played more than 650 snaps this year, an average of more than 130 per game. That's a number nobody in the modern era could have imagined — until Hunter came along.
Is he the most outstanding player in college football? Voters will make that decision — and we would love to hear their case for anyone other than Hunter.
11. Confidence breeds confidence. We'll go back to that second half in Nebraska, where the Buffs didn't quit after being dominated in the first half.
Even though CU still came home with a loss, the Buffs gained a modicum of confidence from their second-half effort in Lincoln. That translated into a big win on the road against Colorado State, then a near-miraculous win over Baylor the week after.
Saturday's victory over UCF simply saw that increased confidence manifest itself into a dominating performance in every phase of the game.
Now, the Buffs have two weeks to prepare for what will no doubt be an important conference showdown with Kansas State on Oct. 12 in Boulder. The Wildcats also have a bye week directly ahead, meaning the game in Boulder will pair two well-rested and well-prepared teams.
That's the kind of matchup Coach Prime and his team have been pointing to — and there's no doubt they will be carrying some well-earned confidence into the game.
