Last Saturday presented an opportunity for Colorado to make a statement, and it delivered. The Buffs established themselves as a true Big 12 contender with their most complete game of the Deion Sanders era, a 48-21 blowout of previously-unbeaten UCF on the road. There were a lot of positives to take from Saturday's game, as well as a few things that they can clean up during the bye week.
Here are five takeaways after taking a second look at the game.
Run game goes wild
The Buffs’ run game was a major story on Saturday, as Colorado rushed for 128 yards as a team on 29 carries. Their performance on the ground was a big boost for the offense and gave them the necessary balance to have a huge day.
The variation in the run game was a great sight to see. The Buffs still landed heavily on their inside zone/split zone schemes on 17 of their 24 designed run calls in this one, but they mixed it up with some gap scheme concepts as well. The most successful was a power play where left guard Tyler Brown and tight end Sav’ell Smalls pulled across the formation. Check out the strong side safety for UCF follow the flow of the pullers and overrun the play, leaving a wide open cutback for Dallan Hayden to score the touchdown.
