Monday was just another day in the office for Colorado coach Karl Dorrell and staff as they reviewed the inopportune moments from Saturday, adding onto the pile of “work” that needs to be done, specifically on offense.

“We got a lot of work to do,” Dorrell said. “We had that discussion with our team. They understand where we are. We’re in a hole, but we can get ourselves out of it -- we can -- if we play better football.”

Coming off a deflating 41-10 loss to Air Force, the No. 1 rushing offense, this collective hole is at risk of deepening further as the Buffs now take on the No. 2 rushing offense in the country this Saturday at Minnesota.

There were some positive defensive series for the Buffs against Air Force, but ultimately they couldn’t stop the run, allowing 435 yards. Colorado is ranked last out of 131 FBS teams in rush defense, giving up an average of 355 yards per game on the ground.

Playing an Air Force team that almost exclusively runs can skew those numbers, sure, but that doesn't explain away the 275 rushing yards allowed to TCU (which ran for 180 against FCS-level Tarleton State a week later).

And now comes the Gophers, who rush for 297 yards against New Mexico State and 307 against FCS-level Western Illinois. Minnesota is led by running backs Mohamed Ibrahim (262 rushing yards, 6.0 yards per carry, 4 TDs) and Treyson Potts (168, 6.2 and 3 TDs), with quarterback Tanner Morgan (461 passing yards, 1 TD, 0 INTs through two games) managing the offense.

“They got a six-year quarterback that really understands their offense really well,” Dorrell said. “He doesn't make a lot of mistakes. They have two, I think two excellent runners. The one, their starter, didn’t play against us a year ago, so he's back and then the other one played very well against us a year ago, he's back. So they have depth and they can run the ball effectively. They have a big offensive line.

"But you know, we do feel in a lot of ways the kind of game that we just went through was a deep rushing attack with different schemes, but [the] deep rushing attack is really going to help us prepare better for this week going through the week we had last week.”

Potts carried the ball 26 times for 121 yards and 3 TDs in Minnesota's 30-0 win over Colorado in Boulder last year. The Gophers rushed for 277 yards overall in that game

Dorrell and the defense aim to patch up those defensive holes against the run game this week, but the offense requires just as much if not more intensive work in order to play “complementary” football he seeks after only gaining 3 points off the Falcons’ three turnovers Saturday.

The quarterback competition between Brendon Lewis and J.T. Shrout continues as more of a standoff of dueling struggles, as their suboptimal performances in the last games provided no solution at the position. Offensive coordinator Mike Sanford and Dorrell return to practice this week to assess who will start against the Gophers.

“We just don’t feel that there’s any separation,” Dorrell said. “We feel like this is a really important week to really impress them both about who wants a shot. So I think that’s more of our attitude. They both had a chance to be the offense. They both had some inconsistencies, now let’s go into this week, it’s a competition.”

There’s no specific timeline settle on a full-time starter. The decision for game days is decided upon who is having the better week.

As if the momentum wasn't already against the Buffs, Minnesota is a listed as 27.5-point favorite Saturday.

That reflects the outside expectations for 0-2 Colorado, but Dorrell is focused on the internal mindset of his team.

“It’s probably more of a ‘win-now’ mentality,” Dorrell said. “We shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times. We get 10 games left to really start to turn this thing around and we still got a lot of football left, we have the season of our conference left. So there's still a lot of football for us to emerge and get involved with. But we need to really have a sense of urgency about fixing things in a hurry.”

Dorrell officially requested a review of safety Trevor Woods’ targeting penalty in the third quarter against Air Force. However, Dorrell is not confident that the appeal will be overturned.

Woods will most likely sit out in the first half against Minnesota due to the carryover of the penalty, but Dorrell will have him participating in the second.

Safety Isaiah Lewis went into the locker room on Saturday due to laceration on his leg. It’s since been stitched up and he’ll be able to play.

Outside linebacker Alvin Williams is no longer participating with Colorado’s program due a suspension enforced by CU’s campus. The potential or timeline for a return is unknown.