A scouting report of the Colorado Buffaloes and Colorado State Rams ahead of Saturday’s game in Fort Collins.

Colorado Buffaloes

Head coach: Deion Sanders, 2nd season (5-9, 32-15 career)

2024 season: 1-1, 0-0 Big 12

Last week: Lost at Nebraska, 28-10

Rankings: N/R

5 Buffs to Watch

DL BJ Green: He and the rest of the pass rushers are hoping to finally rack up some sacks. The Buffs have just two on the season, both coming in Week 1. Green is still looking for his first sack as a Buff.

CB/WR Travis Hunter: The Buffs’ all-around best player was knocked out in the first half of last year’s Rocky Mountain Showdown, and he will look to make a bigger impact this year on both sides of the ball.

CB DJ McKinney: CU’s leader in tackles through two games with 14, he’s also had a pass breakup and a tackle for loss. He’ll team with Hunter in leading the charge to slow down the Rams’ passing game.

RB Charlie Offerdahl: He is atop the depth chart, and with Dallan Hayden out with injury, Offerdahl could have an opportunity to lead the run game. He’s rushed for only 19 yards on nine carries so far this year.

QB Shedeur Sanders: Aiming for a bounce-back game after he and the offense struggled at Nebraska last week. Sanders had a huge game against Colorado State a year ago, throwing for 348 yards and four touchdowns.

Colorado State Rams

Head coach: Jay Norvell, 3rd season (9-17, 42-43 career)

2024 season: 1-1, 0-0 Mountain West

Last week: Beat Northern Colorado, 38-17, at home

Rankings: N/R

5 Rams to Watch

QB Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi: In his first year as a starter in 2023, he threw for 3,460 yards and 22 touchdowns while completing 62.1% of his passes. He also had 16 interceptions — tied for the second-most nationally — but only five in the last six games of the season. Off to a bit of a slow start this season statistically, throwing for 261 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

WR/PR Tory Horton: One of the top receivers in the country, he caught 96 passes for 1,136 yards and eight touchdowns last year. In two-plus seasons with the Rams, he’s caught 175 passes for 2,363 yards and 16 touchdowns. This year, he’s caught eight passes for 96 yards in the first two weeks.

S Jack Howell: Earned first-team all-conference honors last season after leading the Rams with 114 tackles. He also had an interception and three pass breakups. In 2022, he led CSU with 108 tackles — the most of any defensive back in the country. He has 10 tackles and three pass breakups this year.

RB Justin Marshall: As a true freshman last year, he didn’t play until the last three games but wound up with 311 yards and two touchdowns on 57 attempts. He became the first player at CSU since 1974 to rush for at least 100 yards in his debut (119). He’s off to a great start this year, with 173 yards on 35 carries (4.9-yard average).

LB Chase Wilson: A first-time starter in 2023, he earned second-team all-conference honors. Wilson was second on the team with 107 tackles, including 8.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks and three pass breakups. He has 15 tackles and an interception so far this season.

When Colorado has the ball

Under Coach Prime, it has always been the passing game that dictates the Buffs’ success on offense. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders had a huge game in the opener as the Buffs beat North Dakota State, but never really got on track last week at Nebraska and the Buffs sputtered. Coach Prime continues to say he believes the Buffs need to run the ball, but he’s also said the Buffs won’t force it and they’ll take what is given to them. “When we had over 500 yards of offense (against NDSU), I didn’t hear all these questions (about the run game), but I understand it comes with the territory, so you got to ask it,” he said. “But game to game, it’s going to be something else.” The main key is getting the offensive line going, and there is likely to be some shuffling this week as the group has struggled. Defensively, CSU has not generated much of a pass rush, with only one sack and a couple of QB hits through two games. Although CSU isn’t projected to have a great defense, it’s hard to know how good the Rams are this year, because they’ve had two extremes in their opponents. They were dominated by national power Texas in Week 1 and slowed down lower-level Northern Colorado last week.

When CSU has the ball

The numbers don’t show it so far and the Rams were shut out in Week 1 by Texas, but they have some playmakers on offense. Sophomore quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi threw for nearly 3,500 yards last year, but he has been turnover prone with the Rams, with 19 interceptions to go with 24 TD passes. He has one of the top receivers in the country in Tory Horton and a talented young running back in Justin Marshall. The Rams are also usually stout on the offensive line and they have three returning starters from last year. On defense, CU has looked good in the second halves of the first two games but has been vulnerable early in games, and the Buffs are aiming to fix that. “It shouldn’t take getting punched in the mouth for us to come out and execute the calls like we need to,” defensive end BJ Green said. The Buffs also have struggled to get to the passer (two sacks vs. NDSU, none last week). “Sacks come in splashes, they come in like waves,” Green said. “So I feel like the dam is about to break. There’s just little things … just going back and being so critical upon yourself. Taking advantage of every opportunity we get.”

Special teams

CU has shown some cracks in its kicking game early in the season. Kicker Alejandro Mata is a solid 12-for-15 on field goals in his career at CU, but he had one blocked last week and has often kicked the ball low. Mata is 2-for-3 on the season, with both makes being chip-shots at 27 yards. Punter Mark Vassett didn’t have a great game last week at Nebraska, but he has put four of his seven punts inside the opponents’ 20-yard line this season. CSU has a strong kicking game led by Jordan Noyes, who has made his only attempt this year (from 20 yards) and is 16-of-20 since the start of last year, with a long of 55 yards. Punter Paddy Turner averaged 43.4 yards per punt last year, putting 18 inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. This year, he’s averaged 43.1 yards on 11 punts, with four of them more than 50 yards and three of them landing inside the 20.

Notables

• A year ago, the Buffs were solid in generating takeaways, with 20 (10 fumbles, 10 interceptions). That was the most by a Buffs’ defense since 2016. Through two games this year, however, CU is one of only nine FBS teams that have yet to force a turnover.

• The Rocky Mountain Showdown is being played in Fort Collins for the first time since 1996, when CU won 48-34. All-time, the Buffs are 23-7-1 against the Rams in Fort Collins, including four consecutive wins.

• In its last seven games combined, CU has rushed for only 298 yards on 176 carries, averages of 42.6 yards per game and 1.7 yards per carry. The Buffs have had 91 yards or less in all seven of those games, including four times with less than 40 yards.

• Since coming to CU, Travis Hunter has played in 11 games. As a receiver, he has 74 catches for 963 yards and eight touchdowns. This week he is aiming for a fourth consecutive 100-yard game, something no CU receiver has ever done.

• The CSU offensive line, led by center Jacob Gardner (who has started all 47 games of his career), has allowed just 15 sacks in 14 games since the start of last season. The Rams have allowed just one this year.

• This is the first time in program history that CSU will have seven guaranteed home games. This week is the second of three consecutive home games.

• CSU’s current streak of six consecutive losing seasons is the longest streak for the program since eight straight losing campaigns from 1967-1974.

• During the 2022-23 seasons, only five players in the FBS had more receiving yards than Tory Horton’s 2,267. All five were selected in the NFL Draft in April: Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. (pick No. 4, Arizona), LSU’s Malik Nabers (No. 6, N.Y. Giants), Washington’s Rome Odunze (No. 9, Chicago), Western Kentucky’s Malachi Corley (No. 65, N.Y. Jets) and Oregon’s Troy Franklin (No. 102, Denver).