After true freshman wideout Brenden Rice hauled in a 34-yard touchdown pass, the first of his career, from Sam Noyer midway through the third quarter against Stanford, there was immediate speculation that both Rice and Noyer had made some mutual adjustments at the line of scrimmage.

Specifically, when Rice lined up against Cardinal cornerback Salim Turner-Muhammad, the latter showed his hand by peeking over to Noyer a few times as Kary Kutsch prepared to snap the ball.

Turner-Muhammad blitzed and did not face any blockers in trying to get to Noyer. But luckily for the Buffs, before the former could do any damage, the ball had comfortably left Noyer's hands would soon be in the possession of Rice, who marched down the left sideline into the endzone without issue.

When you watch the replay, Noyer and Rice clearly are in communication before the ball's snapped.

Rice confirmed that he and Noyer anticipated the cornerback blitz while also noticing that no other Stanford DBs would be in position to be anywhere near him once he set out on his route.

At that point, an easy touchdown was just moments away.

“Honestly, I was at the line of scrimmage and I saw the corner peeking," Rice said. "I’m looking at Sam, (saying) ‘check, check, check, cat, cat!’ signaling that the corner’s about to come in for the blitz and that I was going to be wide open downfield. I saw no safety over the top, so I knew nobody could roll around and catch me. (I knew) it would be a hot ball."

"As soon as (Noyer got the snap) — throw it, touchdown, easy.”

From his vantage point on the sideline, Darrin Chiaverini realized pretty quickly that Noyer and Rice sniffed out what Stanford was looking to do on defense and reacted quickly in real time to counter it.

“I think Sam and Brenden both saw the corner — the corner kept coming but (Stanford) didn’t bring the safety over the top," Chiaverini said. "Sam saw they weren’t capped over there. When they brought the blitz, it was an easy throw and catch."

"That’s good communication — Sam was locked in on that and so was Brenden. That was a good job.”

Join the conversation on Brenden Rice and his first collegiate touchdown at Buff Nation, the premiere message board community serving countless CU fanatics.