The sea of students and spectators that rushed Folsom Field last Saturday after Colorado’s 20-13 overtime victory against Cal were brought there just as much by surprise as euphoria.

The Buffs had entered the matchup as a two-touchdown underdog and for good reason. They were winless, having lost their first five games by an average of 29.8 points. It wasn’t just that Colorado was losing, but it looked inept. Within 24 hours of the fifth and final of those setbacks, the school fired coach Karl Dorrell.

For all the Buffs’ woes, their performance in their first game under interim head coach Mike Sanford shouldn’t have come as a shock. If anything, it has been the norm in college football this season.

A busier-than-usual coaching carousel at this early stage of the season – with five Power Five coaching changes in the first four weeks – has produced some interesting, largely positive results from the placeholders left to keep the various programs together. To this point, interim coaches like Sanford have fared better than the coaches they replaced.

At Georgia Tech, interim head coach Brent Key has led the Yellow Jackets to back-to-back wins after a 1-3 start led to the ouster of Geoff Collins. Since firing Scott Frost, Nebraska has gone 2-2 and played much more competitively under interim head coach Mickey Joseph. The week after Paul Chryst was fired, a 2-3 Wisconsin team with a previously inept offense throttled Northwestern, 42-7. In its third game since Herm Edwards was fired, Arizona State defeated a ranked Washington team.

The five Power Five schools that made an early-season coaching change combined to go 5-15 before those moves were made. After those firings, however, they’ve gone 7-5, with Sanford serving as the latest example of how a new voice and new presence leading a program can create a positive shift, even in the middle of a season.

“The word joy isn't probably the most football-centric term,” Sanford said following the win against Cal last Saturday. “It doesn't really equate to hard hits and tackles for loss and in passing touchdowns, but we established it really starting on the first day that we met. We said that for these next seven weeks, our culture is gonna be defined as joy and that's exactly what we've made the mission of what these next weeks are about.

“I said it when I had the opportunity to have this press conference. This isn't about me. This is about them. I’ve talked to the players and I'm teaching them the different levels and different definitions of what joy means. Joy is something that is completely independent of your circumstances. It's how you wake up every single morning. It's how you come to this facility. It's how we practice. I've seen a team that bought into that vision and we’ve got to continue to buy into that vision. This is a new challenge for us in this 2022 season – how do we bring joy, but also humility after a big win. That's the challenge.”

The victory against Cal, Colorado’s first of the season, was a confirmation of sorts of public comments from players in the preceding days about a new, invigorating energy that Sanford had instilled in the program.

It’s most visible in practices and on the sideline during games, with coaches bouncing around in a way they weren’t previously. Perhaps its most impactful manifestation has been in seemingly small tweaks that add up to a larger morale boost.

For the Cal game, Sanford named freshman walk-on Ben Finneseth a team captain, allowing the Durango native to represent his home state university at midfield in front of a packed stadium. Sanford informed the outside linebacker about it last Wednesday, calling him into his office to pass along the news. Finneseth said he almost teared up upon learning about the honor, describing it as “one of the proudest moments I’ve ever had.”

“I see myself in him and he brings me a lot of joy, even just seeing him,” Finneseth said of Sanford. “Everyone on this team trusts him. That’s what it comes down to. I love the man.”

Those efforts go beyond Finneseth.

Sanford has started what has been dubbed as the “Ralphie Bowl”, a Sunday scrimmage for players who were in the previous day’s game for fewer than 10 snaps. It boosts the morale of those who don’t see the field as often, allowing them to feel like they’re still a part of the team, regardless of their playing time. It also offers an opportunity for those lesser-used players to show what they can potentially provide for a team always on the search for difference-makers.

“That really helps us as a team or even as a coaching staff, to see this player can play on Saturdays and that we trust him,” inside linebacker Aubrey Smith said. “You never know, we might lead him versus USC or versus Oregon.”

Smith has benefited from the coaching change, as well. Sanford created new positions on defense for both him and senior Robert Barnes to more fully utilize their respective skill sets. Smith capitalized on the new opportunity, recording a season-high two tackles in the win against Cal, as well as a forced fumble that negated what would have been a 24-yard completion that put the Golden Bears in field goal range early in the fourth quarter, down by three.

“When he told me that, I was happy,” Smith said of the new position. “I was smiling the whole day.”

Sanford also reinstituted the Victory Club, an initiative started in 1982 by legendary Colorado coach Bill McCartney to honor players who graded out over 80% in a game and played a significant amount of snaps. Following the Cal win, 32 Buffs players earned Victory Club recognition.

Only a few weeks into Sanford’s tenure, there has been a broader cultural shift that goes beyond buzzwords and flowery language. In the interim head coach’s eyes, though, whatever success his team experiences only has so much to do with him.

“This is all for the players,” he said last Saturday. “This is all about the players. This is all about their response, their resolve. The stuff that I said here 10 days ago, everyone thought I was crazy. We talked about how unbelievable a group of resilient fighters that we have in our locker room. I think everybody had a chance to see that on full display today. I'm really proud of these players. I told him after the game, that's a great moment. It's a moment we're gonna celebrate, but we talked about a fresh season, a new season.”