It took Colorado quarterback Sefo Liufau only two plays to set his 76th school record Friday night and only a few more to turn a rivalry game with Colorado State into an extended victory celebration for CU fans unaccustomed to such a stress-free evening.
Showing no effects of the Lisfranc foot injury that ended his junior season in the 11th game last year, Liufau broke the record for career passing yards on his second completion of the game on CU’s first possession, passing Cody Hawkins with an 11-yard swing pass to running back Phillip Lindsay.
By the end of the quarter, the Buffs were firmly in command, leading the outmanned Rams 21-0. Liufau completed 7-of-9 passes in the quarter for 150 yards – with a 60-yard completion to Shay Fields that set up Colorado’s third touchdown – and rushed for 37 more.
While the Rams sputtered, failing to gain a first down on their first six possessions, Liufau looked sharp. And when receiver Bryce Bobo dropped what should have been an 18-yard reception in the second quarter, Liufau came back to him two plays later and Bobo made up for his boo-boo with a one-handed catch good for 46 yards to the CSU 1-yard line. That set up a Lindsay touchdown that gave CU a 31-0 lead with less than three minutes remaining in the half.
Liufau finished the evening with 23-for-33 for 318 yards passing and 66 yards rushing on 14 attempts but felt CU should been more productive in the second half, adding only 13 points.
“The defense did a phenomenal job,” Liufau said. “They kept getting three-and-outs and I think as an offense, we should have punched the ball in a little more. We’re proud, for the most part, of what we put out there. I just think we left a lot out there as an offense.”
CU employed a no-huddle offense that put the Rams on their heels from the outset.
“Especially in the first quarter, they couldn’t really handle our tempo,” Liufau said. “We got off to a really quick start. We need to be able to sustain that tempo throughout the whole game. Teams haven’t seen that kind of stuff out of us. If we can keep that tempo up, I think a lot more good things are going to come.”
Liufau was upset about fumbling twice. It looked as if he took a blow to the head on the second one early in the fourth quarter while reaching for first-down yardage on a 10-yard scramble, but he said his head was “fine” and that he remained on the ground momentarily because he was angry with himself.
“Itap a real good feeling to be able to put one of those games out there like that, but there’s also a lot of things we need to work on,” Liufau said, thinking about the offense in the second half. “I think we could have put a lot more points on the board. We were not executing as well as we could. We were our biggest enemy tonight as an offense. I think we stopped ourselves the most.”