To make sure linebacker LaVonta Bentley’s sore foot was healthy enough for him to play last Saturday, the Colorado coaching staff gave him extra rest during practice.

Yet, one day head coach Deion Sanders saw Bentley jogging with defensive lineman Anquin Barnes. Sanders called it “one of the most touching moments” since he’s been at CU.

“I was like, ‘What is wrong with you? I just gave you the second half of practice off because I know your foot is messed up and your foot is hurting. You’re limping,’” Coach Prime said. “He said, ‘Coach, I got to get the big fella ready.’ He’s jogging with this guy, and he’s limping because he’s sowing into his teammate, trying to get him prepared, in shape to play this game.”

During CU’s 28-9 win against Colorado State on Saturday, Barnes made the first big play of the night, tackling Rams running back Justin Marshall for no gain on the second snap.

Barnes and Bentley — who had five tackles, a tackle for loss and forced a fumble that he recovered — helped set the tone for what became a dominating win for the Buffs.

From start to finish, the Buffs (2-1) were exceptional on defense and they now go into the Big 12 Conference opener against Baylor (2-1) on Saturday at Folsom Field (6 p.m., Fox) feeling confident not only in their star-studded offense, but also their suddenly stingy defense.

“We have some guys that are pretty good defensively,” Coach Prime said. “These guys, they want it.”

It’s early in the season and there are significant tests coming up in conference play, but so far, the defense led by first-year coordinator Robert Livingston has made an impact for the Buffs.

A year ago, CU finished in the bottom 10 nationally in points allowed (34.8 per game) and bottom four in yards allowed (453.3 per game). So far this year, the Buffs are near the middle of the country in points allowed (21.0) and yards allowed (374.3).

In the last six quarters, they’ve barely been touched, giving up a total of nine points.

“We knew what we had to do,” receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter said after the CSU game. “The front did their job. They got to the backfield, disrupted the quarterback, and we came out with the W.”

Defensively, CU gave up just 21 points and 334 yards in a 28-10 loss to Nebraska on Sept. 7 (the Huskers defense scored the other seven points).

Against CSU, the Buffs allowed just nine points and 340 yards. One big play, a 62-yarder in the fourth quarter, accounted for nearly half of CSU’s 131 rushing yards.

The Buffs want to be even better, though.

“No one’s satisfied with their performance,” Coach Prime said. “I think we finally got a darn sack, we finally got a turnover, we finally got a couple of picks, which was satisfying. But these guys play the game. They work their butts off in practice. They worked their butts off studying film. I think the average film time is probably three and a half, four hours per guy.

“Shoot, Coach Rob is doing a wonderful job, man, he really is.”

Livingston, who came to CU this offseason after a dozen years with the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals, is calling plays for the first time in his career, yet has been pushing a lot of the right buttons. The Buffs were slow out of the gates in the first two games, but had dominant second halves in both wins.

Saturday in Fort Collins was CU’s most dominant defensive effort under Coach Prime and it was the first time the Buffs held an opponent under 13 points since a 34-0 win against Arizona on Oct. 16, 2021.

The Buffs, who didn’t have any takeaways in the first two games, forced four on Saturday. Dayon Hayes had two sacks. The linebacker duo of Bentley and Nikhai Hill-Green combined for 11 tackles, three tackles for loss and the fumble recovery from Bentley. Barnes had a pair of tackles.

“DBs out there covering our butt off, the front did their job, got back there, forced a couple of fumbles, got some sacks, got in the backfield, made the quarterback hurry up through his reads to get him out the pocket,” Hunter said. “So we did what we had to do on the defensive side of the ball.”

The Buffs will look to keep it going this week against a Baylor squad that ranks 14th in the Big 12 in yards per game (381.0) and 12th in points per game (29.3).