• Colorado went live for 16 plays Wednesday in the run game, trying to ignite what’s been the underperforming aspect of the CU offense through three games. Head coach Dan Hawkins said the work by the offense Wednesday “was awesome.”
Running backs coach Darian Hagan has been at the pinnacle of the CU running game historically speaking. Hagan quarterbacked CU’s I-bone attack form 1989-91. Hagan has reminded his unit of how far its fallen. (The Buffs are ranked 116th out of 119 teams in the nation in rushing offense this week).
“It’s embarrassing,” Hagan said.
Missing from the Buffs in recent years, too, has been the swagger. Hagan said back in the day, the Buffs ran onto the field behind Ralphie and expected to win.
“We didn’t care who we were playing, we were going to win the game,” he said.
• While the run game has not produced like it needs to, and the Buffs are 1-2, team morale remains positive, starting defensive tackle George Hypolite said Wednesday.
“Coming into this week we feel like we have another opportunity to win a football game,” he said. “We’ve left Florida State behind us and now we’re trying to move on and beat Miami of Ohio.
“You hear guys talking about how Miami of Ohio does this in this formation, or that in that formation. That’s how you can tell as a team we’ve moved on.”
The RedHawks are 1-2. But Hypolite said he sees a potent opponent coming into Boulder on Saturday.
“They throw the ball very, very well,” he said. “They have a pretty big offensive line, and hey have a scatback (Cory Jones and Austin Sykes are Miami’s primary tailbacks), and he gets behind that offensive line and pops out. He’s quick and breaks a lot of tackles.”
They’re a very balanced offense.”
• Tight end Riar Geer was banged up in the loss to Florida State. But Hawkins said Wednesday he expects Geer to be available to play vs. Miami.
• Stephone Robinson returned two punts late in the FSU game, his first two return attempts of the year. Hawkins said Chase McBride will be the starter at that position again Saturday.