Woody Paige: Now defensive Buffs are no bluff

The Buffs were not bluffing Saturday afternoon in Tucson.

The University of Colorado football defense allowed the fewest points (7) in a road game since late October of 2016.

Then, the Buffaloes won at Stanford 10-5, and that season was also their last bowl appearance in a non pandemic-shortened season. Remember the Alamo.

That also was the last time the Buffs finished with a winning record (10-4) after starting 5-2 and becoming a conference contender.

These Buffs, after deep-freezing Arizona 34-7, are 5-2 and becoming a conference contender – in the Big 12 rather than the Pac-12.

Defense has come back to CU for the first time in quite a while.

In 2022 and 2023 the Buffaloes were incinerated in 15 games for 42-plus points, including more than 50 three times and 63 once.

Back when Colorado actually played some decent defense Robert Livingston was a 29-year-old defensive assistant with the Cincinnati Bengals and Samuel Okunlola and Keaton Wade were barely teenagers in Massachusetts and Tennessee.

Livingston was hired by CU head coach Deion Sanders this year to be the defensive coordinator in Boulder, and defensive ends-edge rushers Okunlola and Wade transferred to Colorado from Pittsburgh and Kentucky.

Actually, all the defensive starters Saturday are college relocators.

The Buffs they are a-changin’ this Autumn. They surrendered 31 points twice, but permitted just single digits to Arizona and Colorado State. Could there be a stone-cold shocking shutout in their future?

CU deserves a bye next Saturday instead of a bye-bye.

The Buffs next play in one of those late-night specials Saturday at Folsom Field against Cincinnati – not Livingston’s former team, but the Bearcats, who also are 5-2. Should be a good one. Both have exceptional offenses. Cincinnati defeated the other Arizona team (State) 24-14 on Saturday.

The Bearcats rushed for 191 yards and three touchdowns against the Sun Devils, but guess what? The Buffs, who are not known for running with the football, rushed for 148 yards and two touchdowns against the Wildcats. Cincinnati scored all 24 points in the first half, and Colorado scored 28 in the first half and coasted to 34. Shedeur Sanders, who ended up 23 for 33 passing and 250 yards, was able to watch the game’s conclusion from the sideline because of the rare blowout – after Travis Hunter, the Heisman Hunter, retired early after landing on his good shoulder after playing despite an injured bad shoulder.

But two lesser-known CU receivers came to the forefront. LaJohntay Wester had eight receptions for 127 yards, and Will Sheppard contributed four catches for 54 yards and a touchdown.

But the Buffs defense ruled in the game and flummoxed Arizona.

Seven sacks! They’ve had an amazing 16 in the past three games.

Livingston gets to keep his job. As if he were in trouble. He’s in line for a head coaching position soon. The elder Sanders searched far and wide for a defensive coordinator, and the 38-year-old coach who had spent 12 seasons, primarily as a secondary assistant, with the Bengals received glowing recommendations from associates and especially Mike Zimmer, who had been a confidante to Sanders before being named the Cowboys defensive coordinator. Livingston brought his fierce, fresh attitude and a 4-2-5 defense to Colorado. But he had been very frustrated when his troops, unfamiliar with him and each other, struggled. He got advice from outside the program to be more aggressive and attacking, and the Buffs’ defense responded.

Okunlola, who just turned 21, and Wade, who is still 20, each had two sacks. Arizona quarterback Noah Fifta needed an ark or an offensive line. When he wasn’t sacked, hurried and hassled and intercepted once and fumbled another time, Fifta managed just 138 passing yards, although he scrambled around for 107. He had only one touchdown toss.

The Buffs are tied for third place in the first season back in the Big 12, and with one more victory, they’ll at least be in a post-season game named for a tool shed, a condiment or a mortgage company. But after a brutal 31-28 loss to Kansas State at home the previous Saturday, the Buffs can dream. They’ve won three conference games – two away from home – and should win three more, or more, in their final five. They have won back-to-back road games for 27-plus points for the first time since 1987.

Because the Buffaloes have discovered a new instrument – defense.

The Buffs: No Bluff.