I'd like to see this team come out and actually put someone away. We've only had 3 wins that were by more than 1 score, and only 1 of those was a really "comfortable" win
Wyoming, 31-14. This wasn't truly in the bag until we scored with 2:00 left.
Oregon State, 52-31. We were never really in danger, but after pretty much doing whatever we wanted in the first 20 minutes (building a 31-10 lead with 10:00 left before halftime), we went to sleep. Offense was shut out in the 2nd half, and the D struggled to get them off the field.
ASU, 38-24. It was in reach for ASU until Dom broke their backs with the long 1-play drive with 4:00 left.
That being said...with CU's QB being a largely unknown quantity, it's tough to say what they're going to do. My guess - lean on the ground game, keep our O off the field as much as possible. Their D is actually pretty good against the pass - numbers are pretty similar to Stanford and UCLA, both of which our offense struggled against. Not so good against the run - actually pretty similar to us - giving up 201 YPG and 5 YPC. Their offense is middle of the pack, with a slight lean toward the pass. Should be manageable for a backup QB...although Liufau was a strong runner. Their protection is a bit below average.
If CU can move the ball on the ground, this one's going to be close. It'll negate Falk and keep the score down. D needs to step up early and force them off the field, or get takeaways, and the O needs to jump on them. If we can get up a few scores and force them to throw, I think we've got them.
CU averages about 22 ppg in conference play. Normally, I'd say that should go down with a backup QB, but our D isn't as good as some they've faced, and they're coming off of UCLA-Stanford-USC, which is a tough stretch. I'm calling that roughly a wash.
We put up 28 and 31 against Stanford and UCLA. CU's D looks similar.
Final: WSU 30, CU 24