Stanford Cardinal head coach David Shaw joined reporters on a Zoom conference call Tuesday afternoon to recap last Saturday's 35-14 loss at the hands of Oregon.

Shaw also looked down the barrel to the Cardinal's next task at hand: hosting Colorado this Saturday at Stanford Stadium.

First and foremost, Shaw seemed impressed that Colorado under Karl Dorrell, despite the latter's late hiring, no spring football and no summer sequences, was geared up and ready to go against UCLA.

While the Buffs' winning of the game may not have come as a surprise, the manner in which Colorado was able to overcome adversity leading into the season-opener did.

“I commend all the head coaches around the country that were new hires that didn't have spring football and still were able to come out and put their team together. (Colorado) was helped by having both coordinators coming back, but still, mixing the staff together and trying to work with their guys — I thought they came out and played great against UCLA."

Shaw didn't get into the ultra specific on Tuesday, but he did point to Colorado's immediate past, noting that more than a handful of games have come down to the wire only to not fall in favor of the Buffs.

In other words, Shaw understands that the Buffs are a team fully capable of delivering his team a loss.

"They’ve been one of the underrated teams in our conference for the last couple of years," he said of Colorado. "They’ve lost some tight games but they’ve won some really good games, too."

While the Buffs notched only one sack during Saturday's 48-42 win over UCLA, courtesy of senior DT Mustafa Johnson in the fourth quarter, when the Buffs' coaches cut the game film, they counted 13 total quarterback hurries.

Offensively, the first starts of QB Sam Noyer and RB Jarek Broussard don't need to be elaborated further. Both players undoubtedly exceeded expectation — externally, for sure, and perhaps to an extent, internally.

Nevertheless, Shaw pointed out

"Defensively, I think they do an outstanding job of mixing it up against you," he said. "They (make it) really difficult to stay on the field on third down — great blitz packages. Offensively, they’ve got playmakers. They played very well against UCLA."

Join the conversation on Colorado's impending road trip to Stanford at Buff Nation, the premiere message board community serving countless CU fanatics.

Ultimately, the Buffs nearly blew a 35-7 lead over UCLA Saturday. The defense allowed 478 yards of total offense to the Bruins.

But the way Shaw sees it, that Colorado was able to come out the gate and play with such energy in the season-opener makes them an opponent to approach with respect.

"I thought top to bottom, Colorado played with a lot of aggression, they played fast, they played physical — it didn’t look like a game one for them," Shaw said. "They created a ton of turnovers against UCLA, got great field position, turned those things into points and they played the way that you’re supposed to play — they played hard, played physical, created turnovers and scored in the red zone. That's what they did.”

Colorado and Stanford kickoff from Stanford Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 1:30 p.m. MST. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN2.