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BOULDER - After two poor and porous performances, Colorado's defense unburdened itself of too much head work and made its afternoon against Wyoming an exercise in simplicity. It worked, too.
The Buffaloes, apparently feeling comfortable in their silver and gold throwback uniforms, shutout the Cowboys 24-0 and snapped a two-game losing streak on Saturday before 50,535 at Folsom Field. The shutout was CU's first since a 42-0 flogging of Miami (Ohio) here two seasons ago.
The victory was a welcome one for CU coach Dan Hawkins, who reiterated the minimal differences in winning and losing: "It's the little things that decide the game. Until you've gone through it a time or two and done some things and succeeded and failed, people don't get that it's the little things."
The Buffs (1-2) had given up an average of 500 yards and 38.5 points in its first two games. But in the week after a disheartening 54-38 loss at Toledo, the defensive staff drastically reduced the number of calls to be used against the Cowboys (1-2).
And apparently, less was more for the Buffs, who did not come close to yielding the number of "explosion plays" that devastated them in their previous two games. Of its 71 plays, Wyoming had only five that gained 10 or more yards.
Sophomore tailback Rodney "Speedy" Stewart led a CU ground game that finally found itself. He rushed 32 times for 127 yards and two touchdowns in a running game that netted 151 yards (187 before sack yardage).
"I didn't know how much I'd be used," said Stewart, who wasn't used in the first two games because of a sore hamstring. "But just to play, and to get a win and get our confidence back, that's a great feeling."
Hawkins said Stewart is "a guy that doesn't need a lot of rhythm. He can be stone cold on the sidelines, and go in there and play well. He is so doggone powerful. He breaks tackles, and he's a lot stronger than a guy his size ought to be."
CU won for the 12th time in 13 meetings with its neighbor to the north and now lead the series 26-2-1.
Article courtesy of CU Buffs.
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FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The CSU Rams collected five Nevada turnovers, including Elijah-Blu Smith's third interception in three games, and Grant Stucker threw two touchdown passes as the Rams defeated Nevada 35-20 at Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium Saturday.
Smith picked off a Colin Kaepernick pass with 3 minutes, 24 seconds left in the third quarter to put an end to a Wolf Pack drive that could've made it a one-score game. Instead, the Rams regained possession and maintained a 21-6 lead.
Nevada (0-2) had two turnovers while in CSU territory, which were wasted opportunities for the team.
"Sometimes things just don't go your way," Kaepernick said. "We all just have to get on the same page."
The Rams (3-0) were rather satisfied with their plus-five turnover margin on the day.
"We got four touchdowns off a turnover," CSU head coach Steve Fairchild said. "We got a turnover and went in and scored. They dialed it up for us and we were able to put together some time-consuming drives to keep the defense fresh. That was a good Nevada team. They were much better than what the score said against Notre Dame."
Smith said Saturday's takeaways will be difficult to top.
"Five turnovers; you can't get better than that," Smith said. "(The defense) showed up and we had a good game."
The rest of the Rams have noticed Smith's play-making ability.
"You could tell last year watching him play that he was going to be a big-time guy," senior safety Klint Kubiak said. "He is a great athlete and he is going to keep making plays like that all year."
Saturday's big play from Smith led to Stucker's second touchdown pass of the game 7 seconds into the fourth quarter off of play-action. Stucker found fullback Zac Pauga for 35 yards, Pauga's first career touchdown, to give CSU a 28-6 lead. That was all they would need to win the game.
CSU grabbed control of the game early on when it struck first less than 5 minutes into the contest on a John Mosure's 1-yard run at the 8:42 mark in the first quarter. This drive was started when Kaepernick fumbled at the Nevada 24-yard line and junior cornerback DeAngelo Wilkinson, making his first career start, pounced on the loose ball.
CSU increased the lead to two scores when wide receiver Dion Morton took a lateral from Stucker and threw a 25-yard touchdown to tight end Eric Peitz. Morton, who was a quarterback in high school, got his second touchdown pass in two games on the play.
"It makes it feel a little easier," Morton said. "I had not caught a touchdown pass at that point yet and it felt good to get the receivers going."
The Rams' five forced turnovers were their most since Oct. 20, 2007, at UNLV. Kubiak had a diving INT early in the second quarter to go along with Smith's, and CSU also recovered three Nevada fumbles.
Junior linebacker Alex Williams recovered two fumbles, first from Wolf Pack running back Vai Taua with 3:35 left in the first half. The Wolf Pack had driven to the CSU 35 and was looking to make it a 14-7 game. Instead, CSU held on and prevented an opponent from scoring in the first half for the first time since Sept. 13, 2003, against Weber State.
Turnovers limited any chances Nevada had of keeping up with CSU in the game.
Article courtesy of CSU Rams.
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Click here to read about Air Force's win
Click here to read about UNC's loss
