It was a tight game early, but Colorado pulled away in the second half behind a great defensive effort and offensive explosion. CUSportsNation.com dissects five things learned from the Buffaloes 38-16 win in its Pac-12 opener.
1. The Buffs adjusted in a tough, hard-fought game
In the first three games of the season, the Buffs have had an up-tempo offense that uses a lot of screens and smoke and mirrors. That is not what we saw tonight.
Of course, the offense tonight was led by quarterback Steven Montez, running back Travon McMillian, and wide receiver Laviska Shenault Jr., as expected, but the Buffs' offense was different. It felt like CU was much more physical throughout the game and ran the ball consistently well. The Buffaloes controlled the clock much more than we've seen in games past. I have to give a lot of credit to offensive coordinator Darrin Chiaverini and the coaching staff for this adjustment.
The long drives wore down UCLA and that was a recipe for success. Colorado had the ball for 34:47 (compared to UCLA's 25:13) and ran for 209 yards. Don't get it twisted -- Colorado is no finesse football team. Chiaverini loves throwing the rock around, but when it comes down to it, running the football is very important, as is adjusting to what is going to be most effective.
The Buffaloes' most important drives of the game were long ones. In the second quarter, a 12 play, 80-yard drive took 5:51 off the clock, which was CU's longest scoring drive of the season. This gave the Buffs a 14-10 lead, and a 13 play, 67-yard drive that took 5:45 off the clock was the dagger that gave CU a 28-16 advantage.
Defensively, I haven't been more impressed all season. Let's get right to that.
