As Karl Dorrell astutely pointed out after the Buffs' 20-17 win over Washington on Senior Day, a quick glance at the postgame statistics (without seeing the final score) would have led one to assume a comfortable Huskies victory.

Washington out-gained the Buffaloes in total, 426-183, with most of the Huskies' offense coming through the air (388 yards vs. CU's 112).

The Huskies were highly efficient on third down, converting third-and-long after third-and-long with almost total impunity, going 14-of-21 on the night.

Colorado (4-7, 3-5 Pac-12) was lousy in that department, going 2-of-13 on third down tries.

After the Buffaloes managed a field goal on their opening possession of the game, their next six drives all resulted in punts, with 20 plays generating a grand total of 50 yards.

But at the end of the day, Colorado's poor offensive showing mattered less than the Huskies basically holding a loaded handgun to their foot and pulling the trigger several times.

Washington's self-inflicted wounds were two fumbles, the first of which graduate transfer linebacker Jack Lamb scooped and ran back 88 yards for a touchdown, with the second setting CU up at UW's 4-yard line in the third quarter, plus a pair of interceptions thrown by Dylan Morris.

“It’s interesting to look at that stat sheet and you would say, ‘How did they win that game?’" Dorrell said after the win.

"I think we were opportunistic with the turnovers that gave us an opportunity to get some points on the board (and) I think the defense did a lot of bending and bending but didn’t break. Offensively, we still didn’t have a lot of production but the production came when (we) needed it.”

The Buffaloes managed eight tackles for loss Saturday, limiting Washington to just 38 yards of rushing on the night.

But through the air, the Huskies had their way with CU's defense and secondary. Nine of UW's 14 third down conversions were on 3rd-and-6 or longer.

“On those third-and-longs, we’ve got to get bette pressure," junior outside linebacker Carson Wells said. "We can’t just let the quarterback just sit there and wait on the cross route to just outrun everybody. But we just kept playing."

"The whole time, we kept telling each other that we were playing for each other. The first turnover inside the 5-yard line, that Jack (Lamb) took all the way back, we just kept playing the whole time. It was bend but don’t break — we kept fighting the whole game.”

Ultimately, when the Buffs needed stops the most, they managed them.

On Washington's opening possession, after driving all the way to CU's 3-yard line, a botched snap led to Lamb finding the loose ball before taking it to the house from 88 yards out.

CU caught another break in the third quarter, when Morris was picked off by grad transfer linebacker Robert Barnes, who came down with the interception after it was tipped by safety Mark Perry, intended for UW's Taj Davis.

Barnes later came up clutch again in the third quarter, recovering a Huskies fumble at their own 7-yard line that set up a key Cole Becker field goal.

Colorado's final turnover generated may have been the most decisive of the bunch, with freshman corner Nikko Reed picking off Morris in the Buffs' endzone on 1-on-1 coverage, at which point UW was threatening, trailing 13-10, at CU's 28-yard line.

For the Buffaloes, Saturday was far from a perfect win.

It might be fair to say that Washington lost the game more than the Buffs won it.

But for a team ineligible to play in a postseason bowl, and hoping to send its seniors off on a positive note, a win is a win.

"We definitely have a lot of work to do," Dorrell said. "Our situation is that we’re playing with some newer players because of injuries, we're a little bit nicked up, but the bottom line is we’ve got to fix those things and we know that."

"We found a way to overcome it and get a victory, and I think that at least makes us be able to swallow that fact. But we still have a lot of work to do.”