From the start, Colorado has had belief that it could be a good football team.

It was there last year, too, but now belief is producing results and confidence is growing as the Buffaloes keep piling up victories. On Saturday, CU (6-2, 4-1 Big 12) — ranked No. 20 in the College Football Playoff rankings and No. 21 by the Associated Press — will visit Texas Tech (6-3, 4-2) in a game that has plenty at stake for both teams.

CU has won two in a row and five of its past six, as it has achieved bowl eligibility and aims for more.

“Yeah, definitely it feels great,” linebacker LaVonta Bentley said. “We know that we’ve got to come out each and every game like last game (a 34-23 win against Cincinnati). We got to put our best foot forward. … We gotta go out and get it. Don’t look too far ahead.”

Although neither team is in the driver’s seat for an appearance in the Big 12 title game, both are in the hunt and can remain in the hunt with a win.

For CU, the season flipped after a 28-10 loss at Nebraska on Sept. 7. In Lincoln, Neb., the Buffs were humbled in the first half, falling behind 28-0.

“I think it was just a wake-up call,” punter Mark Vassett said. “We thought we were going to be really good coming out this season, and it was just a wake-up call that maybe we’ve got to work harder, and we’ve got to do more in practice and be more professional.”Linebackers coach Andre Hart has seen a shift in the Buffs since that trip to Lincoln because players have taken coaching and applied it. That’s produced results, which has, in turn, created more hunger.

“I think it’s just the confidence in the players,” Hart said. “The best thing for a coach, what you like to see is when you’re coaching a player, and he actually takes the technique and he takes the coaching and he applies it in practice, and it wins, then it goes to the game and he wins, and he’s excited. Now you have his full attention.

“Now everybody is like, ‘what next, coach? Teach me something else. I want to get better. I want to do that.’ So you’re seeing that now. The guys are buying into it. They see what we do works, the culture works, and it wins. What Coach Prime is building here at Colorado, they all want to be a part of it. So I think that’s the thing, just the enthusiasm to learn more because they see it’s paying off.”

As the hard work pays off with victories, the Buffs are seeing more buy-in within the locker room each week.

“Definitely, definitely, it just brings more confidence in everybody,” running back Isaiah Augustave said. “We already know that, like, we’ve got the ability and got the people to do it. That just brings more confidence to everybody.”

Texas Tech, meanwhile, went through its own midseason confidence shift just a week ago.

After a 5-1 start, the Red Raiders were blasted at home on Oct. 19 by Baylor, 59-35. That was followed by a crushing 35-34 loss at TCU the next week. Tech led 34-21 in the fourth quarter before coughing up that win.

The Red Raiders were in danger of a third-straight defeat last week at No. 10 Iowa State but rallied and stunned the Cyclones, 23-22.

“We turned around and won a great game; great team win on Saturday, and it put us right back in the mix,” Tech head coach Joey McGuire said.

No. 9 BYU and No. 17 Iowa State have been the front-runners in the Big 12 all year, but CU and Texas Tech are lurking and Saturday is an opportunity for one of them to make a statement.

“We just see an opportunity for the taking, so we’ve got to go get it, really,” CU cornerback DJ McKinney said. “One week at a time, 1-0 each week. That’s how we look at it. Just stay hungry.”