Colorado Football: 3 takeaways from convincing win over Colorado State

1. Mel Tucker’s fingerprints are showing

The statistics will tell you the defense didn’t exactly play well, and the stats would be right, but you saw glimpses of what Mel Tucker wants the Buffaloes want to be on defense.

The Buffaloes tackled well tonight. The Rams made some big plays, but the Buffaloes didn’t miss many tackles. Colorado created turnovers. Mikial picked Colin Hill off twice, and the defense recovered two forced fumbles one returned to the endzone by linebacker Jonathan Van Diest.

They were physical along the offensive line. It took the Buffalo offensive line some time to get in a rhythm, but when they did, they took advantage of the Rams lack of depth along the defensive line and pave the way for the running game to gain 243 yards on the ground.

The linemen also did a fantastic job of keeping Steven Montez and the pocket around him clean all night; the Rams didn’t sack him, and didn’t pressure him without bringing additional people.

Being physical was something that Tucker mentioned in his presser when he was introduced as the Buffaloes head coach. It will take time for him to recruit his guys, but the ones he has seem to buy into what Tucker is selling.