While Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter receive most of the praise for Colorado getting off to a 6-2 start this season, the biggest reason for the school’s turnaround likely has more to do with the performance of its defense.
According to ESPN’s Max Olson, first-year Buffaloes defensive coordinator Robert Livingston has helped the team significantly improve its stop rate (percentage of drives that end in punts, turnovers or a turnover on downs) and step up their second-half performance this season.
In 2023, Colorado allowed its opponents to average 34.8 points per matchup, which ranked 124th in the nation. This season, the Buffaloes rank 46th in the country in points allowed per game after their first eights contests.
Colorado’s pass defense was especially egregious last year, and it has been much better this season. After allowing opponents to pass for an average of 277 yards per game in 2023, the Buffaloes are giving up only 209 passing yards per matchup this season.
This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, though, since Livingston was previously the defensive backs coach for the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals for eight years before joining Colorado’s staff last February.
The Buffaloes’ defensive backfield emerging as a strength of the team was on display during the school’s most recent win over Cincinnati last Saturday.
In the victory, Colorado safety Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig led the team in tackles with eight, Hunter racked up a team-high four pass breakups, and the Buffaloes held the Bearcats to just 180 passing yards.
With Colorado’s defense performing much better than it did a year ago, there’s far less pressure on the team’s offense to put up as many points as possible.
The Buffaloes offense is still playing well this season (31.4 points per game), but the unit failing to score on a drive is no longer as detrimental as it was in 2023.
With Colorado more balanced on both sides of the ball, it has a 6-2 record for the first time since 2016. The Buffaloes’ latest win was also good enough for them to earn a spot in the AP Top 25 poll for the first time this season, and now they’ll head into their next contest ranked No. 23 in the country.
However, Livingston’s quick success with Colorado could result in him leaving next year for a head-coaching job at another school. But for now, he’s with the Buffaloes, and they’re going to see how far they can get with him helping lead the way.