Fast Five: Keys For Buffs Vs. Huskies

BOULDER — It's not difficult to figure out what the 3-0 Colorado Buffaloes must do Saturday against the 3-0, seventh-ranked Washington Huskies.

After all, the two teams played just nine months ago in the Pac-12 championship game, a game Washington won rather handily, outscoring the Buffs 27-3 in the second half en route to a 41-10 win. While many of the names have changed, there are still plenty of familiar faces on both sides.

More than anything, the Buffs need to do their best not to repeat the mistakes they made last December inSaturday night's rematch at Folsom Field.

The details:

1. Halt Washington's run game. While much of the attention last year focused on Washington quarterback Jake Browning and his fleet-footed receivers, the Huskies did the bulk of their damage with their running game. Washington bruised the Buffs for 265 yards on the ground — and the two players who accounted for the bulk of that yardage, Myles Gaskin (29 carries, 159 yards) and Lavon Coleman (18-101) are back this season. Gaskin is once again the feature back. He's averaging only 51 yards per game, but that's because his playing time has been limited, thanks to the Huskies rolling to big wins each week. A more telling statistic is Gaskin's yards per carry average, a very robust 6.4. The Buffs have to stop the Huskies on the ground and force Browning to beat them.

It won't be easy. Washington has a big, experienced offensive line that dominated CU a year ago. The Buffs must stay in their run fits, be disciplined inside and get some help from their inside linebackers to keep the UW run game in check.

2. Control the tempo offensively. A tall task against a stout Washington defense. In last year's game, the Buffs had just three offensive series that lasted at least seven plays. None of their last nine possessions lasted longer than four plays, and only one lasted longer than two minutes.

The Buffs can't afford to keep giving the ball back to the Huskies in a hurry. They need to control the clock, move the ball consistently and take advantage of the altitude edge. That means long, sustained drives that eat up yardage and clock — and produce points. The Huskies aren't prone to giving up big plays, but the Buffs do have the weapons to grind out lengthy drives, and they need to produce touchdowns once they get in the red zone. If they can do that, they'll be in the game down the stretch.

3. Keep it even on special teams. It's no secret the Huskies are outstanding on special teams, in particular punt returns, where Dante Pettis has a return for a touchdown in all three of Washington's three games thus far (and eight for his career). The Buffs can't afford to give Pettis the opportunity for one of his game-changing efforts. The Huskies are also solid in other areas of the kicking game. They have good coverage teams, a solid punter and a reliable kicker.

The Buffs have improved their special teams this season; this is a game in which they need to make sure those teams are ready to go. That means a good night from kicker James Stefanou and a mistake-free evening from punter Alex Kinney.

4. Run the ball. This goes hand-in-hand with No. 2, controlling the offensive tempo. In their last meeting, the Huskies stuffed Colorado's run game, limiting Phillip Lindsay to 53 yards on 19 carries, a paltry 2.8-yard average. That left the Buffs with too many third-and-long situations, and CU ended up converting just four of 15 third-down tries.

The Buffs' run game has been hot and cold thus far. Saturday would be a great time for CU to spring Lindsay loose for some decent gains early, force the Huskies to load up the box to stop the run game and give CU some openings in the passing game. To accomplish that, they will have to neutralize UW's two massive defensive linemen, Greg Gaines (6-foot-2, 322 pounds) and Vita Vea (6-5, 340). Not an easy assignment.

5. Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. The Buffs have done a decent job of protecting the ball this year — but they did have two turnovers (one fumble, one interception) in the red zone in last week's win over Northern Colorado. Fans will also remember the two CU turnovers to start the second half of last year's title game that turned a 14-7 UW lead into a 24-7 edge in a matter of minutes. Those are mistakes the Buffs simply can't make against the Huskies.

As for forcing UW turnovers, it won't be easy. When UW's Gaskin lost a fumble in the Huskies' win over Fresno State last week, it was the first fumble of his career, covering 488 carries. It was also the first fumble by any UW running back since the 2015 season. Meanwhile, UW quarterback Jake Browning has just one interception and eight TD passes in 78 attempts this season.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu